Using the Biad: How to Place Angled Dimensions with Only One Reference Entity
The scene:
You’re about to wrap up a SOLIDWORKS sketch with one angled dimension; but there is a problem…
You need to place the angled dimension on a line relative to absolutely horizontal and there are no lines that are horizontal that you can reference.
The solution:
The biad!
To use the biad:
- Select a line and a colinear vertex
- Notice the “biad Crosshair”
- Select one of the biad references to place a dimension relative to absolutely vertical or horizontal.
So what? Why is this useful?
Well It can take a sketch that looks like this:
And turn it into this:
Without so many construction lines clouding up our sketch, we improve sketch performance, and reduce fatigue on our eyeballs.
Hope this helps your sketching! Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Tech Support team with any questions.
Will Kefauver
Application Engineer-CSWE
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.