Understanding Scales and Scale Drawings - A Guide (2024)

  1. Caleb Frost on June 11, 2018 at 7:53 pm

    I have a question, about scaling. I have a 2D site drawing drawing 1:1. The site drawing is referenced on my cover sheet. The cover sheet is set to print at 1/4″ = 1′ but I want the scale of the site plan to be 1″ = 30′. I can’t figure out what the one scale factor is that I can use to scale the 1:1 drawing by to get it to come in to the cover sheet at the right scale.

    Reply

  2. Michael on March 23, 2019 at 10:05 am

    I have a question,I’m trying to draw a floor plan to scale of 1:50,but the measurement in the floor plan does not express if it is in meter, millimeter etc.. it only give the numbers like total length of the plan 1800, door length 90 etc.. how to draw this plan?

    Reply

    • Emma on March 25, 2019 at 6:13 am

      If the plan tells you the door width, you can work out what units the plan it in. You know the standard door width generally, is around 900mm – so it sounds like your plan could be in centimetres if it is saying the door width is 90…

      Reply

  3. ehsan on February 1, 2020 at 11:49 pm

    Hi there,
    i have a CAD drawing that is drawn in Meters (CAD Unit is meter)
    my page on paper space is on “ISO A1″ 841X594,. i was hoping to plot to 1:50 for equivalent of 1′ = 1/4” but the drawing is as small as a dot.
    i watched a youtube video that explained to do a custom plot scale since my drawing is drawn in meters and the CAD unit is in meter. custom plot 1paper unit to 0.05 drawing unit. when i did that visually the drawing seems okay.

    i have some questions:

    – first of all is this a correct scale?
    – if i am writing the scale under my drawing, what do i put there? 1 : 0.05 ?

    Reply

    • Emma on February 3, 2020 at 6:19 am

      The easiest thing to do would be to scale the cad drawing up to millimetres, this way the video will make more sense as you work through it. When you then enter the scale in the custom plot area it will be 1:50 and you will write 1:50 under your drawing. To scale the drawing, change the units of the drawing to milimeters first, this is in Tools. Check to see if the drawing lines are still in metres, if they are – Then go into your paper space, select all, type SCALE, ref point 0,0,0 and scale factor 1000. Hopefully this will work. Good luck .

      Reply

  4. Sal Romano on March 23, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    Hi I have various pdf vehicle drawings at various scales and they all need to be at the scale of 1:50. How do I convert in scale percentage from 1:15 to 1:50 scale. 1:35 to 1:50 and 1:10 to 1:50 I’m bringing in the pdf drawings into illustrator and then tracing them so they can all be viewed in at the same proportional scale

    Reply

    • Samuel on November 8, 2023 at 2:24 am

      Hi pls can send a video on building drawing like using scales and all that with the plan where we have bedroom,kitchen etc with the windows indicated and doors

      Reply

  5. Ed on October 14, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Hello,

    I’ve got a question regarding the scale on a view port. The scale shows 150 to 1. When l change it to 1:50 which is the scale that I normally use, the drawing becomes very tiny that I cant see anything. Any advise?

    Regards,
    Ed

    Reply

    • Emma on October 14, 2020 at 3:40 pm

      Hi Ed, is the drawing in the model space drawn at a scale of 1:1?

      Reply

  6. Colby on October 20, 2020 at 3:58 am

    Hi,
    I have a scale of 1:200 m using the scale ruler. My professor told me to show the computations I did to arrive at my chosen scale factor. Since it is my first time making a lay-out, I am not familiar about it. How can I show my computations?

    Reply

  7. Karl Griffith on January 8, 2021 at 12:01 pm

    What would the scale be on A1 if the original was 1:200 on A0?

    Reply

  8. Siyabulela on May 6, 2021 at 6:43 pm

    the floor of a school hall is 40m long and 20 m wide draw scaled diagram in a scale of 1:50

    Reply

  9. Jade on May 10, 2021 at 5:07 pm

    Hi emma. Im studying garden design but not getting the scale ruler. I assumed the ruler was converting it all for you. So 1 metre in reality i was using the 1 marker on 1:50 as thought it was already done. But a 60cm plant in 1:50 ive been told is 120cm on the ruler. Any scale ruler for idiots explanation plse as im now not getting what each whole number represents on each scale side.

    Reply

    • Emma on May 11, 2021 at 7:29 am

      Hi Jade, I think you were right the first time. The ruler does the conversion for you. So, if you have a drawing and it is at a scale of 1:50. You measure your plant and it is at the 1 mark on your 1:50 ruler, the plant is 1m. Likewise, if you want to draw a 3meter line at a scale of 1:50, you get your 1:50 ruler and draw to the 3 mark. Hope this helps.

      Reply

  10. David on July 14, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    Hi Emma. Please confirm which dimensions are placed on a drawing using a scale. For example using a scale of 1:100 and I have a length of 3000mm. Drawing the line on paper it would be 30mm long, is 30mm the dimension placed on paper or would I place 3000mm? Thanks

    Reply

    • Emma on July 15, 2021 at 6:34 am

      Hello David,
      If I’m understanding you correctly, you are asking what dimensions you should place on a drawing. You always want to place the ‘real life’ dimension on a drawing. So if you are drawing a wall, and the wall is 3m long, you will put a dimension note saying the wall is 3m long – even though you have drawn a 30mm wall. The goal of dimensions is to show the reader/builder the real life sizes of objects/constructions so it can be built. I hope that makes sense.

      Reply

      • David on July 15, 2021 at 4:00 pm

        Hi Emma, thank you for your rely. It does make sense:)

        Reply

  11. Kai Grey on December 20, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    Finally a great post on scaling!!! I have a hard time with numbers and never seemed to understand it untill you walked me true it in this post. Many thanks!!! Done pulling my hair out now

    Reply

    • Emma on December 21, 2021 at 11:23 am

      Thank you!

      Reply

  12. Intellect Architects on April 15, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    Thanks for the post, you really did great. I will certainly refer to it if need be.

    Reply

  13. jeny lee on December 11, 2022 at 7:20 pm

    Hello, hope someone can help me out on this question cause i’m very confused at this point.

    I have a drawing on the model space in cm. I need to plot at a scale of 1:50 on an A0 paper. The units in the paper space are in mm.
    I don’t understand how I should scale it, inorder to get the desired result using the zoom command.

    I tried using a scale factor of 1/5xp but in the preview, part of the drawing is missing, why is that?

    Please, any help would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!
    :

    Reply

    • archiadmin on December 12, 2022 at 2:57 pm

      Hi there.
      I think the easiest thing is to make sure the units match in your paper space and model space. That way, everything should work much better when you come to using scales in your view ports etc.
      You can adjust your paperspace by going to the page set up manager while in paperspace and setting everything up in mm. From there, when you scale the viewport, say at 1:50 it should be correct. If you continue to have issues, feel free to drop me an email – emma@firstinarchitecture.co.uk

      Reply

    • archiadmin on December 12, 2022 at 2:58 pm

      Sorry, one other thing. I would recommend you work in mm in your model space ideally. So convert everything to mm in both model space and paperspace.

      Reply

  14. Aysha sultana on March 11, 2023 at 11:01 pm

    Hi there,
    I just wanted to say how useful I found this! Normally I struggle reading masses of information but this was really well explained and I learned a lot. Very much appreciated!

    Reply

    • archiadmin on March 13, 2023 at 7:08 am

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply

  15. Glenn Baird on May 22, 2023 at 9:20 am

    Hi and I hope that you can help me here!

    I have a plan drawn to a scale of 1:50 drawn on A3 paper for submission via an online portal to a planning authority in UK.

    Unfortunately my printer/scanner only accommodates paper up to A4 size. I can have my A3 plan sized down to A4 at a local printer so that I can use it on my scanner for transfer to the portal site.

    Will this interfere with the scale drawing when the planning authority look at it? Do I tell them it was originally on A3 and they can size it back up again?

    Or if I just take a photo of the plan, would that work or am I being rather naive here?!

    Many thanks in anticipation.

    Glenn

    Reply

    • Emma on May 23, 2023 at 7:00 am

      Hi Glenn,
      This is a bit tricky.
      If you have the A3 scaled down then it will no longer be at 1:50 scale. Can the local printer scan the document at A3? Then you can send to planning at its original size of A3 to the correct scale. The Planning department will not scale drawings up or down, they need the drawing to be correct when they receive it.
      A photo of the plan will not be acceptable for the planning department.
      I would recommend speaking with your local printer and seeing if they can scan in at A3 and send you the digital file.
      Best of luck 🙂

      Reply

  16. Rod H on July 27, 2023 at 4:01 am

    Hi. You sometimes see a plan with the scale shown as 1:100 at A3. Isn’t the plan always 1:100 no matter if you change the physical size of the plan (eg change paper size).
    I would have thought that it makes sense to use “at A3” when you use a scale bar which gives you unit measures on that page which would actually change if you changed the paper size. Thanks.

    Reply

  17. Pulane Mofokeng on February 29, 2024 at 12:58 pm

    Greetings
    I do not have a scale ruler but rather an ordinary school ruler. I have been tasked to draw a floor plan in terms of a 1:50 scale. What are the steps to fit my information(e.g 240m wall) into an A4 paper? Your help would be appreciated.
    kind regards

    Reply

  18. Ken on March 19, 2024 at 7:34 am

    Hi. I’m a civil engineering student and not well versed about architectural drawings, particularly the scaling part. I have an as-built plan here for a 2-storey building where it shows that a double-door has an opening dimension of 2850. The scale is 1:60M and if I understand your blog here, the real scale would be 171000. Assuming that the unit of measurement used is in mm, do you think the scaling is followed or not? I’m really struggling which to follow huhu. Thanks is ever you do respond to this.

    Reply

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