toolpath printing

[tboiesan]

What would be an easy way to print(plot) the toolpath currently displayed on screen ? ( something similar to hardcopy from file menu)

[Luther_Heggs]

First - change your screen background to bright white (color #15) and your toolpath color to black (#0) via your screen/cfg settings.

Second - Backplot the operations you want to plot.

Third - Push the 'Print Screen' to capture and copy your monitor's display to your computers paste buffer.

Fourth - start up mspaint.exe (or any other graphic editor that will open and create an empty file for you). Hit the key and the 'V' key simultaneously in the graphic editor's open file window. This will "paste" the contents of your computer paste buffer into the graphic file. From there you can print/save/edit however you want.

Fifth - reset your screen/cfg colors.

Note: Bright white (color #15) will not print anything. That is why you choose it for your background. Saves on ink. Black (or any other non-white color) will print. If you have a color printer, choose any other color than white and it should work ok.

[Luther_Heggs]

I meant to type "Hit the CTRL and V key to paste" in the previous reply post.

[Allan Brown]

How about the V8 "Graphical Setup Sheet" option. Check the Help function for details.

[tboiesan]

Thanks for sugestions,

I was using print screen method and invert colors in paint. the only problem was that the resolution is limited by the screen resolution.

as for the "Graphical setup sheet" it will only print the entire geometry fitted to page width - witch in some cases is too small.

Idealy woud be to have an option to show present displayed toolpath at "hardcopy" command.

[jenks]

I use the method described (printscreen,MSPaint, paste, print) for various tasks that I need to accomplish. But, I have a problem that no one can help me solve. Whenever I print it is printed on four pages. I know it must be a simple button to push or box to check in the print dialogue, but I can't find it anywhere. Can someone give this fool a clue.

I'm using Windows NT, an Epson 1510 stylus printer and MasterCam V8. Thanks.

[CycleTimeCharles]

Before printing do a "Print Preview" Then you will see that you may need to change your margins or change the size of your image. In Mspaint you can do that by going Image, Stretch and Skew

[Bullines]

How about saving the toolpath as geometry?

(NC Utils | Backplot | Display | Save As Geometry)

Then print that like you normally would.

[Charles Davis]

Bulliness has it right. Just remember to save your file just before doing this. Then make sure you turn Save as Geometry off right after you backplot, or you'll just keep creating these entities on the screen.

Then re-read your file back in, which is easier than trying to delete the backplotted geometry.

[Mark H]

Bullines and Charles Davis bring up excellent points, but what I would add to this is that I'd make sure that I changed levels to a designated backplot level and then do the backplot. This way I could delete all entities on just that level or keep them if need be. Just my 2 cents.

[johns]

There is a freebee called PrintKey 2000 on the Windows shareware sites. It will do a direct print of the full screen or a selected rectangle directly with Alt-PrintScrn. No graphics software or fooling around. If you use a black background, set the defaults to invert colors and select black/white instead of color. Remember that any screen capture or printing will only be as sharp as your screen resolution, then the quality of the printer. You can't get a sharp print at 480 x 640 screen settings.

[Toby]

Jenks,

In MS paint there is a dotted line square at the top of the toolbar. punch this and drag over the area you want to keep. punch control c (copy) and go to file new. Once a new screen pops up type control v (paste) and your selected area will paste in leaving all the other junk out. Keep in mind you can only fit so much on a 81/2 x 11 sheet of paper so I usually only print page 1. I hope this helps.

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Toby Baughman

Magic Mfg