Snap to middle of a dimension line

[ACADuser]

I often use the middle of the dimension line to snap to in Autocad.

Is there any way to snap to the midpoint of a dimension line?  Right where the Dim text resides.

[glennw]

Alan,

Depending on the situation, there may be alternatives to what you are trying to do.

Can you explain in more detail or draw a quick picture of what you are trying to do. 

[ACADuser]

Most often when I am doing framing I draw a rectangle to get the area of load.

In that picture attached I need the middle of the beam SPAN.

I use a dimension to measure the exact span needed for calculations & the I draw a rectangle from the middle of the span to the middle of the roof (in this case lower left of the rectangle). Then I stretch the rectangle on the dimension side to the roof edge & now have the area of load applied to the column.

In my example the middle column is decorative.

[SNestor]

Why not create a “cad detail from view”...in the cad detail view draw a line in the center of the dimension...then “paste and hold position” in the plan view.  

[ACADuser]

Way too much work IMO.

I just draw extra lines in plan & then delete them but that would not be necessary with the DIM Snap

[Chopsaw]

3 hours ago, SNestor said:

Why not create a “cad detail from view”...in the cad detail view draw a line in the center of the dimension...then “paste and hold position” in the plan view.  

 

If I am following along with what you are trying to say Steve.  I see the logic however Cad Detail from View does not change the properties of the dimension line or text.  This has been requested as an option for other purposes but is not possible yet.

[glennw]

Draw your polygon for the whole roof area on the right hand side of the ridge (twice the area you want).

Make sure that Midpoint Snaps are toggled on - it's easier if it is the only snap toggled on.

Grab the top side of the polygon and drag it down and snap it to the midpoint on the side of the original polygon.

 

Or...

Draw the polygon twice the size as described above.

Select the top side of the polygon.

Select the temp dim and after the size type in "/2" - without the quotation marks.

The polygon will reduce to half the size of the original polygon.

This will eliminate the top half of the polygon.

If you want to eliminate the bottom half, select it by the bottom side and divide by 2.

 

There are probably several other good ways as well.

[ACADuser]

Just to expand on the example of snaps needed as I work my way through the porch beam loads. I needed 4 Dim snaps and they are measuring the beam spans.

 

[ACADuser]

As an aside see attached beam design for BE2. It illustrates the flaw in the area method. The Bearing load is higher due to the asymmetrical loading of that beam with the girder truss.

 

 

Krutsinger BE2.pdf

[SNestor]

9 hours ago, Chopsaw said:

 

If I am following along with what you are trying to say Steve.  I see the logic however Cad Detail from View does not change the properties of the dimension line or text.  This has been requested as an option for other purposes but is not possible yet.

 

Yea...you are correct.  I wasn't at my computer to try this before posting.  But...just thought "Cad Detail from View" turned every item into a "line"...but, I guess not.  

 

Learn something new everyday with Chief...