in the layout nothing is visually changing except the point I'm moving, while the numbers all change.
Yes, true. As you move things around, the scale changes.
Wile moving point B around there's no way to keep BC1 at a fixed length - am I guessing that as long as it's 1.0 then it represents 100% length?
I don't know; are you? If you are, you're guessing wrong. BC
1 is, again,
***ALWAYS*** the length of the extended spring.
What I was describing was having only the single line representing the spring and to see it closed you'd change the angle of A. In other words, it would be more like a simulation of the real product rather than plotting simultaneously both open and closed.
Which is less useful than what I've provided you, unless you really have a burning desire to move mount points, then check the open setting, then move it to closed and check the closed setting.
the distance from A to C also needs to change
And it does, depending on the length of the extended spring and location of B. If you want it to be a particular length, just move B until it reports being that length.
If you want to be fancy, you could then define a circle with center on C
1 that passes through B and then modify B to be required to be on that circle. (That's a circular definition, though, so you'll be required to create some sort of intermediary object before you modify B.) This will prevent the scale from changing.
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