topic Re: Printing graph paper in AutoCAD Forum

Printing graph paper

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 06:00:13 GMT

Hello.

At work we have AutoCAD 2017. I managed to draw a grid 2 mm x 2 mm no problem. Trouble is, I need really big graph paper, and this (I thought) could be achieved by printing my grid to our large format printer (A2), but the layout is always US letter. When I change the paper size, I get a scaled down little box in the corner. I want 2mm x 2 mm over the whole page (with a border). I can make it bigger, but it doesn't scale, it stays at US letter size where of course it is a lot smaller than 2 mm x 2 mm and useless to me.

How do I print my A2 graph paper tomorrow or the next day? I need it on Saturday (and in case you're on the other side of the world, it is Wednesday evening in New Zealand right now).

Helen

Re: Printing graph paper

imadHabash — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 06:32:52 GMT

Hi and Welcome to AutoDesk Forum,

Let's start from attached screencast i prepare it for solving the issue,waiting from you any other questions.. Good Luck

Re: Printing graph paper

john.vellek — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 14:55:36 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

I am on the other side of the world but this process is so easy I am sure you can meet your deadline!

Select the paperspace layout
Rt-click the layout tab and select Page Setup Manager.
Select New to create a new page setup

You will now see a window that looks just like a plot window.

Select the printer (system printer - not a customized PC3) in the Printer/Plotter field.
Then select Properties.

You can now filter Paper sizes to show only the metric sizes and you can use Modify Standard paper Sizes to adjust margins if necessary.

Here is a link to a prior post that shows the process.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Printing graph paper

john.vellek — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 20:48:09 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post or @imadHabash's helped you with your problem. I know you need to get this done before Saturday so I was hoping to see an update from you in this thread.

Please add a post with how you decide to proceed and your results so other Community members may benefit.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts fully solved your issue or answered your question.

Re: Printing graph paper

Kent1Cooper — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 13:52:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

.... I managed to draw a grid 2 mm x 2 mm no problem. Trouble is, I need really big graph paper, and this (I thought) could be achieved by printing my grid to our large format printer (A2), but the layout is always US letter. When I change the paper size, I get a scaled down little box in the corner. I want 2mm x 2 mm over the whole page (with a border). ....

If you draw a border, and draw an ASSOCIATIVE HATCH in it with a USER-defined Hatch pattern at 2mm spacing going both ways [i.e. Double], then you can set up any sheet size you like, and simply Stretch the border to fill the sheet appropriately, and the grid will follow and fill the border, maintaining the 2mm spacing between grid lines no matter what the size of the border and sheet.

Re: Printing graph paper

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 16:04:55 GMT

Hi. Thank you fur all your help. I couldn't get it to print, except fur a
really little one that was useless. Possibly a printer error.

Helen Widdicombe
027 419 1675
kaliana1974@gmail.com

Re: Printing graph paper

john.vellek — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 16:30:20 GMT

Hi Helen,

I thought I would give this one more try for you.

You will see in the attached video I created a rectangle with the size of an A2 sheet. 594x420

Then, I created a user defined hatch at 2mm and double in order to see a 2mm grid.

Next, I switched to paper space.

I started page setup and selected a printer (AutoCAD PDF in this case)

I then selected my paper size of A2.

Lastly, I panned inside my viewport so the gird filled it and then I verified that my scale was set to 1:1

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Printing graph paper

Kent1Cooper — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 17:03:07 GMT

@john.vellek wrote:

.....

You will see in the attached video I created a rectangle with the size of an A2 sheet. 594x420 .... I created a user defined hatch....

Next, I switched to paper space. ....

For this kind of thing [we're talking about graph paper, after all], you may as well just draw the border at an appropriate size and Hatch it in Paper Space directly. Then you don't need to deal with a Viewport to look into Model space from there, getting the Viewport scale right, etc. If the grid is the only thing in the drawing, Plot the Extents in the What-to-plot options under Plot Area, and at 1:1 in the Plot scale area, and A2 in the Paper size area. Very likely you'll want to Center the plot, though that may depend on how you sized the border in relation to the sheet size, the actual plottable area of an A2 sheet on your particular plotter, etc.

[You can also just do it all in Model space, and Plot it from there in the same way -- you don't need to Plot from Paper space.]

Re: Printing graph paper

jsiegel-vanderweil — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 17:22:33 GMT

call me old fashioned, but i would not trust a hatch to create an accurate grid.

instead, i would set the snap to 2mm, draw lines and copy them across and down.

lastly, i would assign a 40% screen color and .022mm lineweight so the grid comes out light.

hope this helps...

Re: Printing graph paper

RobDraw — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 11:10:43 GMT

@jsiegel-vanderweil wrote:

call me old fashioned, but i would not trust a hatch to create an accurate grid.

You're old fashioned. Hatches have been used extensively to create accurate grids. I've seen it on many architectural drawings for ceiling grids.

@jsiegel-vanderweil wrote:

instead, i would set the snap to 2mm, draw lines and copy them across and down.

Why not use ARRAY?