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When you select a dimension on a drawing (the dimension can be a model item or a reference dimension), a small symbol appears above and to the right of the dimension. If you click the symbol, the Dimension Palette expands. The Dimension Palette enables you to:

• Add tolerances

• Specify dimension precision

• Assign styles (favorites)

• Apply parentheses

• Center the dimension between the witness lines

• Apply inspection dimension

• Offset the text with a leader

• Establish horizontal and vertical justification

• Add text on top, before, after, and below the dimension value

The Dimension Palette appears when you select a dimension and disappears when you move the cursor away from it. The Dimension PropertyManager still appears, but the Dimension Palette pops up right next to the dimension, making it very easy to use. Figure 17.15 shows the Dimension Palette.

FIGURE 17.15

Adding text and tolerances to dimensions using the Dimension Palette

The Dimension Palette seems to be the most convenient place to make these alterations to the basic dimension itself.

Adding Tolerances

You can add dimension tolerances in the Dimension PropertyManager, which you can activate by selecting the dimension that you want to modify. Available tolerance types include:

• Basic

• Bilateral

• Limit

• Symmetric

• MIN

• MAX

• Fit

• Fit with tolerance

• Fit (tolerance only)

Note

You can also add tolerances to dimensions in models; the tolerance is brought in with the dimension if you use the Insert Model Items feature.

Refer to the Tolerance/Precision panel shown in Figure 17.11. The appropriate number entry fields are activated when you assign the corresponding tolerance type to the dimension. The tolerance types that are available in SolidWorks are shown in Figure 17.16.

FIGURE 17.16

The available tolerance types in SolidWorks

Changing precision values

In SolidWorks, precision means the number of decimal places with which dimensions are displayed. Typically, SolidWorks works to eight places with meters as the default units. You can create templates that use up to eight places as the default setting, and then change the number of places for individual dimensions as necessary. The first of the two boxes under Precision is used for the dimension precision, and the second is used for tolerance precision.

You can change Precision values for individual dimensions in the PropertyManager for the dimension as well as the entire document by choosing Tools⇒Options⇒Document Properties⇒Units.

Using Geometric Tolerancing symbols

The full range of Geometric Tolerancing symbols is available for control frames, datums, datum targets, and so on. You can use the Geometric Tolerance dialog box to build control frames. This dialog box is shown in Figure 17.17. For commonly used Geometric Tolerance symbols, you may want to create and use styles.

FIGURE 17.17

The Geometric Tolerance settings

Using Dimension Styles

You can use dimension styles to apply many items to dimensions. Styles were formerly known as favorites in SolidWorks. Unlike notes, this is not limited to fonts and formatting. Some of the most common uses of dimension styles are

• To add standard tolerances to dimensions

• To set precision values for dimensions

• To add text, such as TYP, to a dimension

• To add a commonly used GD&T (geometric dimensioning and tolerancing) reference

You can save styles from one document and load them into another document, even between document types. For example, you can load part dimension styles into a drawing.

When a style is updated from an external file, any document that it is linked to also updates. In addition, you can break links to external styles (with the appropriate button on the Styles panel). Otherwise, dimension styles have very similar functions to the other types of styles; the functions of all the buttons on the Styles panel are the same.

Aligning Dimensions and Annotations

When you place dimensions and annotations