sw2008 need help with dimensioning

With the dimension tool active, Shift-click to place the dimension as Min or Max for each arc.

use tangent arcs and draw a centerline from quadrant to quadrant and dimesion the length of the centerline. If you wish you can also draw a centerline from midpoint to mid point of the the horizontal lines. You can also draw a point coincedent to both centerlines to locate the button if you wish.

Bob

Max for each

Ah ha. Great thanks.

Oh man, I can't believe I didn't think of something that easy to work around the issue. Thanks for the help.

However, when you find yourself creating stuff (centerlines, planes, etc) that doesn't actually generate geometry, then one must question whether there is a better way. In your case, you merely asked about getting the proper dimensions in place. You were given the method to do it on the fly. But for those cases where the dim already exists, you can go to the properties of that dim and tell it to be max, min, or center. It's good to know your options. :-)

WT

My solution was based on the question , two weeks experience with SW and 4 weeks experience with Inventor. With more experience I would probably come up with a different solution. I like to use combinations of dimensions and constraints that make it easy to change the part later on with the least amount of work.

Bob

That's the beauty of hanging around here - you get to see and learn all kinds of things. Some you may rather not,,,,, but most stuff is valuable. You answered correctly, and I added something to it. Good job.

WT