Before I go to 3d print a drawing, I just want to choose one of the views (front view) and have that view printed 1:1 scale onto a piece of paper so I can make sure the part is the right size. Is this possible?
Before I go to 3d print a drawing, I just want to choose one of the views (front view) and have that view printed 1:1 scale onto a piece of paper so I can make sure the part is the right size. Is this possible?
John, I'm sure you remember the blue Dykem days of sheet metal. We used to scribe out end views of parts that were difficult to measure for angles and things like that. bend them and lay them on the layout to check. It worked very well over the years. Sometime later and we were doing a lot of angle work. The drawings were Pro-E saved as dwgs. I would open the view and scale it correctly and print the end view on the paper. We had a laser that was dead nuts without resorting to any inaccuracies. That saved the layout/scribing work and I could print a new one in seconds for every run of the job. I do know how to measure bends like this very accurately and I did that to check the bend deductions on the first runs. After that it was match it to the plot.
Fully agree I have seen them way off.
You ask to print a view. Place a view in a drawing. Set view scale to 1:1. Print (*) Actual Size.
It sounds like you are trying to print a view of a part or assembly from the design interface when it is open. There is no way that I know of to achieve scale when printing "Current screen image" views. Drawings are intrinsically scaled by definition.
To echo John's caution about accuracy of print results, I would inspect 3D printed results with calipers and appropriate scaled rule (yardstick, micrometer, w.e).
You may proceed as intended, but it would be hard to know which printer (paper vs 3D) had failed if they don't match.
The only way to get "reasonably close" to true 1:1 scale is to adjust your print settings - IF your printer will allow it".Then use those prints size settings as your CUSTOM 1:1 print style.
If trying to print a slddrw drawing - it will depend on your printer settings and the ability to change the settings.
Using Draftsight you can adjust as shown below.
Assuming you are printing on 8.5 x 11 paper - Make a drawing that has an 8.0000 x 8.0000 square on it and then print it using your printer set to 1:1 scale (there should be actual decimal numbers that will also show up in your print form).
Then measure - exactly - the actual printed square on the page. Now you will need to determine the error in each direction and then divide that number by 8 (since you are printing an 8" block). That is the error per inch in the print out of the printer. You can then setup a custom "User Defined" printer setting with these numbers added or subtracted from the print. It will probably take some trial and error but you can get there.
Way to show us that there is a way Rick McDonald - that would be a good one for both
and....
What are your most impressive tricks of solidworks, Please spread.
John Stoltzfus - I took your suggestion and added it to What are your most impressive tricks of solidworks, Please spread.
Thanks Rick McDonald - it has happened many times here on the forum where, this or that just can't be done, then along comes somebody that proves me wrong, this buds for you
I wouldn't suggest double checking the model per the print size... If your dimension in the part file sketch 1.000015 you can be assured that the model is 1.000015 at that point.
Most printers do not print accurately, depending on the printer drive mechanism...