The measure tool in SolidWorks defaults to showing 2 decimal places, which can be restrictive. Typically when I’m working in CAD, I like to see at least 4 decimal places for imperial measurements (eg 1/16” = 0.0625”). I also like seeing measurements in both imperial and metric units as there are still parts in FRC designed around the metric system (e.g. brushless CIM class motors like the NEO Brushless V1.1 and Kraken X60 have an outer diameter of 60mm).
Luckily, you can change how the measure tool displays measurements:
- Close all open SolidWorks windows
- Open a new part
- Open the measure tool (in the Evaluate toolbar tab by default)
- Click “Units/Precision” in the measure window
- Enable “Use custom settings”, make sure the first length unit is Inches and turn up the number of decimal places
- Enable “Use Dual Units”, change the units to Millimeters and turn up the number of decimal places
- Click OK
Your measurements should now look like this:
