QCAD.org Forum

Hi Newb alert ....

I've seached the forum and established you can have either Imperial or Metric spacing.

So my question - is it possible to mix them for example with different layers ?

I'm tring to leartn QCAD by doing some 2D drafts of my current project - a Metric dimension case with Project circuit board (Vero) that has 1/10 of an inch hole spacing. Looking to create a drilling guide for (18) LEDs and (24) Switches mounted on project board to go through the case fascia.

Hope I've explained it clearly

... should add MAC, M1 chip, latest download of Pro (shareware)

jalapeno wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 02, 2025 1:41 pm

latest download of Pro (shareware)

Never heard of QCAD Pro shareware.
Especially because QCAD Pro is on a personal licence and thus never shared among users.

Perhaps you mean QCAD Trial with the Pro plugins disabled, the QCAD Community Edition (CE).
Then please post on the QCAD Community Edition forum.

jalapeno wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 02, 2025 1:39 pm

So my question - is it possible to mix them for example with different layers ?

A drawing uses or imperial units or metric units.
There is no relation between layers, drawing units or the Grid.

Basically all values in CAD are unit-less.
1.23 units can stand for anything: 1.23mm, 1.23inch or even 1.23km
The unit only really matters when converting between units or when scaling to fit well defined paper sizes.

When the drawing uses inches then the grid can be divided decimal or fractional based.
But that is merely displaying the values differently.
In decimal notation the Grid will be 10 based.

When metric you can't use something else than 10 based because of an unattended bug.
Grid spacings of 25.4 or 3.175 are for example not functional when scaled automatically according the zoom state.

Regards,
CVH

Yes Qcad Trial.

Thanks for response, though not sure if I can do what I need with QCad.

A colleague uses TurboCad and can create mixed grids to precisely place objects with Snap to Grid

jalapeno wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 03, 2025 8:10 am

can create mixed grids to precisely place objects with Snap to Grid

Need to imagine how a mixed Grid would look like.
A Grid point every mm, a Meta Grid line every 10mm, and then just aside the 25mm Grid point yet another Grid point ...
... Might get confusing when both layers are visible and the Grid would be Layer related.

Would be possible In QCAD using 2 GUI Viewports with different Grid spacing.
See Drawing Preferences.
Working in the left panel using mm and in the right panel using a grid based on 25.4mm or 3.175mm.
As said, an unattended bug prevents the Grid in the right panel to auto scale according the zoom state.

A certain geometry may relate to a certain Grid preference.
Remark that in CAD layers are not really intended to group geometry.
Then it is a bit logical that there is no relation between Layers, Units and Grid spacing.

Regards,
CVH

Will give that a go, thanks