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pimm15-Moonstone
15-Moonstone
April 22, 2015
Solved

What's the trick for plotting full size?

  • April 22, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 10732 views

I have a die model that I wish to plot out as a drawing.

I can get the plotter to pick up the plot request but I don't see how it is possible to print out the model at full size which I need.

I have tried the actual size option which results in a smaller size.

I have tried the 100% size, which results in a very small size.

I don't see any other option that would actually give you the correct size. Is this possible?

Plot Size.JPG


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Best answer by dgschaefer

You cannot print from the model to a specific size. To print a specific scale, you need to make a drawing. it wasn't clear to me if you were trying to print from a drawing or the model.

The drawing then needs to be a sheet size that matches what your printer has available, the views need to be set to 1:1 scale and then, as Stephen indicated, you need to tell Creo to print to that sheet size and to print 1:1 scale.

Then, assuming your printer doesn't "scale to fit", you should get a full scale print.

3 replies

S
23-Emerald III
StephenW23-Emerald III
23-Emerald III
April 22, 2015

Make sure in the Creo printer configuration dialog, the sheet size is set appropriately and the model is set to full plot/scale 1. Sometimes it helps to turn off format...sometimes.

printsize.jpgfull-plto.jpg

A lot of the time, printers will do some sort of scale to fit sheet so I also do trial and error checking on the print out in both the horizontal direction and vertical direction. Then I adjust the printer scale in your image above to correct scaling issues.

I used to have to print out full scale patterns for burn table parts. Had to be perfect otherwise we were making scrap. It can sometimes be a challenge to figure out all the places that "scale" the printouts.

P
pimm15-MoonstoneAuthor
15-Moonstone
April 22, 2015

Stephen,

It appears your plotter has some print options that ours does not.

I might experiment with the % of Normal Size to see if I can get close.

With our other CAD system the scale is true size.

I'm also noticing that when I try plotting from the model the 100% is really small, and when I plot from a rough drawing the 100% scale is quite a bit larger.

S
23-Emerald III
StephenW23-Emerald III
23-Emerald III
April 22, 2015

The screen shots I am showing are the printer configuration within Creo, prior to printer specific options. Go FILE - PRINT and its the GUI box that pops up first.

I don't ever print directly from the model so I don't know what 100% scale would mean in that case.


M
MartinHanak24-Ruby III
24-Ruby III
April 22, 2015

Paul,

what width+height is assigned to the boundary of view of die model on the drawing (approximatelly) ?

Martin Hanak

P
pimm15-MoonstoneAuthor
15-Moonstone
April 22, 2015

Martin,

Are you talking about a setting on the drawing or in the printer settings?

I can't seem to locate this.


M
MartinHanak24-Ruby III
24-Ruby III
April 22, 2015

Paul,

I am talking about size of your model when printed in scale 1:1. I need to know what format size is suitable for your model.

Martin Hanak

D
dgschaefer21-Topaz IIAnswer
21-Topaz II
April 23, 2015

You cannot print from the model to a specific size. To print a specific scale, you need to make a drawing. it wasn't clear to me if you were trying to print from a drawing or the model.

The drawing then needs to be a sheet size that matches what your printer has available, the views need to be set to 1:1 scale and then, as Stephen indicated, you need to tell Creo to print to that sheet size and to print 1:1 scale.

Then, assuming your printer doesn't "scale to fit", you should get a full scale print.

P
pimm15-MoonstoneAuthor
15-Moonstone
April 23, 2015

Sorry for being slow to reply it's been busy here.

Yesterday I was able to talk with someone in tech support with PTC.

He was able to help me finally to get the result I needed. What he had me do was very close to what Doug has suggested with 1 twist. He had me make my plotter as the Default Printer. He had me print my layout and everything came out very close.

I did have several things contrary to what allowed this to work correctly. It was just difficult to know what the correct sequence had to be.

D
dgschaefer21-Topaz II
21-Topaz II
April 23, 2015

Glad you got it working.

You should look into printer Configuration Files (*.pcf) where you can pre-define all the options in those dialog boxes. Once configured properly, in Creo 2 and earlier with the dialog boxes that Stephen posted, they'd appear in the "Destination" tab. Not sure how it works in the new ribbon dialogs in Creo 3.

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