topic Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale in AutoCAD Forum

Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

andyhanson — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 08:42:57 GMT

Hi All,

Apologies for asking this question again as I know it crops up a lot from my searches. However I have been unable to solve my issue due to a poor understanding of how Autocad uses scale when printing.

I have a site plan produced by a company of our property location which they provided as an A3 printout and also provided us with the DWG file. The plan was printed onto A3 with a scale of 1:200. Having loaded the DWG file into Autocad the units appear to be set to metres as when I measure a known building on the plan it is displaying as metres. I am trying to produce two PDF files of the plan. The first I want as the company produced it in 1:200 scale on A3 paper. The second file I want again on A3 but with a scale of 1:1250. This is for a planning application and they need plans with these scales.

I have been experimenting with the export function and adjusting the scale but have so far failed to produce a scaled print. Can anyone walk me through the method used to produce the two files I need with the scales I need?

I'm using Autocad on a MAC if that makes a difference.

Many thanks for any guidance.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

leothebuilder — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 14:00:13 GMT

Welcome to this forum.

Printing viewports to scale takes a while to explain......

There are some videos available, here are a few I found doing a Google. There are lots more that explain this.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/2605e6e3-4d06-4343-9274-8953e305e5a6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45uNMl4rI_o

http://www.cadtutor.net/tutorials/autocad/paper-space-exercise.php

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

andyhanson — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:17:09 GMT

Many thanks for the reply and links.

I've read and watched all those and attempted to replicate what they did. However whatever I do I can't get the plan to print to an appropriate scale. I've created a new layout with A3 dimensions in mm (420x297mm). I then managed to get the drawing onto this layout but when I go to print and select a scale of 1:200 the resultant print has a tiny blob in the bottom left of the printout! I'm a bit lost at where to go next as I'm obviously doing something fundamentally wrong.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

Patchy — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:26:51 GMT

Attach your drawing and get it done faster.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

andyhanson — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:28:35 GMT

OK I've attached the drawing. I really wanted to work this out myself so am keen to learn where I've being going wrong.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

leothebuilder — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:29:40 GMT

If you have a viewport layout in "paper space" already properly scaled at say 1:100 you should not in the plot dialog box set this to print at 1:200 scale.

You should print "per space" or layout to scale 1:1. (the viewport determies the scale, not the plot)

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

leothebuilder — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:40:26 GMT

First you need to set your units correctly.

Enter DDUNITS on the command line and set what you want to use.

You have a decimal drawing that uses inches.

Set your units to millimeters or meters. Architectural plans usually millimeters in Europe correct?

Then I would place your title block in layout space and create a viewport to whatever scale you want to display this site plan.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

leothebuilder — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:47:48 GMT

P.s. I just figured you were using meters as units which surveyors noramally use.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

leothebuilder — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:49:51 GMT

Here's the file with the title block inserted using meters and viewport at scale 1:200

You don't get the whole drawing onto that sheet size, you may have to increse scale to 1:400 or 1:500

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

andyhanson — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:50:39 GMT

Yes correct, the plan is in metres. So if I create a new layout with units in mm and draw a rectangle A3 size (420x297mm) will this work or do I have to stay with metres as the original plan is in metres?

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

leothebuilder — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:55:25 GMT

You can stay with meters, you just have to set your sheet at 0.42 x 0.297 (meters) rather than 420 x 297 mm.

If you want to use millimeters, you would have to scale your drawing in model space x 1000 (1 meter = 1000 mm) and than you

can use a tile block that is 420 a 297

If you are using metric, you should use metric linetypes. It looks like you;re using imperial linetypes.

Start with a metric template is best,

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

Patchy — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:57:35 GMT

Try this and see:

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

andyhanson — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 20:11:39 GMT

Thanks for all the replies and your time on this.

As I mentioned this is a plan drawn up by an external company and they supplied the DWG file. I've no idea why they've done it the way they have. I had assumed they had printed the paper plan they also provided using the DWG file they sent. The paper plan we have is on A3 and contains the entire site all scaled to 1:200. They also produced a second plan scaled to 1:500. Again they provided a DWG file of this scale as well.

It would appear from what you're all saying and demonstrating that it isn't possible to print the entire map onto A3 at a scale of 1:200? I therefore don't understand how they managed to print it to scale on A3. I'm confused, which is easily done!

Edit:

Just double checked and I'm incorrect - sorry. The 1:200 scale map is printed on A1 not A3. The 1:500 is printed on A3! So I'll go back to the drawing board now and try doing it at A1 size.

Re: Printing Existing DWG Drawing to Scale

Patchy — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 20:18:49 GMT

A quick calculation would tell you it's impossible.

the Vertical grid = 100 m = 100.000mm scale 1:200 would need 500mm of paper of horz. length

Then A3 is not enough.