Plotting

[Lee.]

Laszlok,

 

That works good.

 

It's not as slick as 9 but it will do for now.

 

Thanks again.

[Thad]

I find that clicking on the little white paper will cause the image to move, but the text (file name, scale thingy, and WCS) doesn't move with it. Also, after using print preview, the part moves, but not to where it showed on the little page. If I exit out, the part moves on me again.

 

BTW Lee, if you click property in Matt's screen shot above, you'll get back to all the plotter settings that you're used to seeing in V9.

 

Thad

[Lee.]

It's driving me nuts.

 

I have looked at all the options.

 

Yesterday, I selected a size of paper and it would not show up until I exited out of plotting and came back in to it.

 

I wonder if anyone out there has a Winline Driver that will work with MCX.

[Thad]

Lee,

 

What do you have your paper settings at?

 

We used to be able to create a custom paper size of 36 X 150 when using a 36" roll. Then in the plotter settings, check off "save roll paper" and it would automatically put the part in the lower left corner of the paper and not print any blank space. Now this doesn't seem to work.

 

I've found the best thing to do is adjust the paper size so it's just bigger than that part. Otherwise, I get tons of wasted paper printing off the file name and path that's 2 feet away from my drawing.

 

Maybe if we work together on this we can figure something out.

 

Thad

[Thad]

Also, I've noticed if you change the scale, then go into the plotter settings and select paper size, when you return to the print page, the scale has gone back to the default 50% and is greyed out. If I reset the scale to 100%, it's plots close to 200%.

 

Thad

[Lee.]

Thad,

 

i went in to my driver settings.

 

Start menu/ Settings / Printers etc.

 

I changed the scale there to 100%. That fixed that.

 

It's sure not as intuitive as V9.

 

Also in 9 it would not print the shading, now you have to make sure to unshade before printing, or you'll expend alot of ink.

 

I'll keep posting and yes maybe we can figure this mess out.

 

Lee

[Thad]

When you plot, do you have the scale factor show up at the bottom right of the page? If so, does it ever say 1.0000 when printing full scale? It always says something just smaller for me... .99801, .9978, .99755, .99785 are some scale factors on the plots sitting right in front of me. Shouldn't it say 1.000 when plotting full scale?

 

Thad

[Lee.]

The bottom right corner on mine give the dimension that equals the distance between the end of the line, similar to V9 F9. I think.

 

So depending how big your job is and how long that line is, that'll be the dim.

 

I just printed a test at 100% and the distance says 0.99785

 

and that is what it measures.

[Lee.]

If you look at your normal design screen, you'll see the gizmo in the right corner.

 

Now pan in and out, you'll see the numbers changing.

 

I think thats what your seeing on your plot.

 

HTH

[Thad]

I'll get back to you tommorow.

 

Thad

[LaszloK]

Other forum members have complaing about 100% plotting. The scale in the lower left corner always measures exactly 1.000 but the geometry is usually not 100% but the .9980179 that is displayed above the scale line. True 100% is a matter of scaling geometry then plotting. For many plots, the 99.8% thing works, but for those producing comparator charts it is a PITA.

[Thad]

quote:

---

So depending how big your job is and how long that line is, that'll be the dim.

---

The line is always 1 inch long. Just like a legend on a map.

 

quote:

---

I just printed a test at 100% and the distance says 0.99785

---

It seems to me that it should say 1.000 if I'm plotting full scale. This is probably close enough for anything that we do. We don't do a lot of plotting from MC but if we plot off a die design and some of the details are 3 ft long, it would be nice if the scale wasn't off by .070.

 

Thad

[Lee.]

Thad,

 

Sorry, I didn't know that the line was 1" long.

 

Probably pretty dumb of me.

 

I hope it's not out, because we do plots sometimes 6 feet long and they have to be acurate to .01

 

I'll look into it.

 

Lee

[Thad]

quote:

---

Sorry, I didn't know that the line was 1" long.

---

Technically, I think it's one unit long, whatever your denomination is. If it says .99785 and you're working in inches, I'd say that one inch would really be .99785 long. That would make your full scale print .155 short overall. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me on this.

 

Thad

[Lee.]

I'll make a big print today to test it and report back.

 

Lee.

[Lee.]

Very Interesting, I just created lines 40 inches apart

 

They plot measuring 40.1"

 

This not good.

 

Lee.

[Matt Berube at Ferron Mold]

Lee,

 

What do you get if you plot the same 40" lines in Version 9 ?

 

I was complaining a lot about plot not being accurate until I tried the same thing in both versions and realized the accuracy issue was my printer... And I think it was only 1 direction too...

[Lee.]

I just tried that and it measures 40.03"

 

This could be tape measure error.

 

I don't have a long accurate measuring gizmo.

[Thad]

quote:

---

the accuracy issue was my printer... And I think it was only 1 direction too...

---

Matt,

 

Are you saying that you have to get rid of the backlash on your plotter?

 

Thad

[Matt Berube at Ferron Mold]

Well Thad,

 

I know you're just kiddin'

 

That test was actually done on a laser printer. I don't remember ever accurately checking the plotter. In 5 years at this job I've only had cause to print a transparent layout one time so I guess it's not that big of a deal for me...

 

I think there actually are "backlash" adjustments for the plotter somehow...

[Lee.]

I wish someone from CNC would chime in.

[chowquoe^]

Just for grins, have you tried to plot with any other software? We recently purchased a new HP plotter and its scaling is way off, I had to actually go back to the old 430 to get an accurate overlay.

[Lee.]

OK, heres the results using three different software and accurate tools to measure with.

 

AUTOCAD 2000 Dead On !! 40"

 

MC9 40.015 - 40.020

 

MCX 40.100 - 40.110

 

Whats up with that?

 

Autocad and MCX used the same driver.

 

MC9 I use winline.

 

Lee.

[Lee.]

Thad,

 

What do you think of this?

[Thad]

Assuming your numbers are right, I'd say there's a flaw in MCX's plotting.

 

Typically, I don't work with plots, but the die room does. It's not a huge deal for me, but regardless, we should be able to plot something and it come out to the correct scale.

 

Thad