topic Re: Cannot print exact scale in Fusion Support Forum

Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Sat, 02 May 2020 20:49:31 GMT

I work with Fusion 360 on a new iMac.

Today I've made a drawing ment to print out on a 1:1 scale to use as an overlay on the real item.

But when printing (either as PDF or else) I cannot get it to print at the exact scale. I can change the percentage of printing but when at 100% it's not exact 1:1 it's a few mm off ( on a total of 180mm) so I've adjusted to 101% and 102% but both just not fit exactly. I would have to print at 101,5% to be exact. But this is not possible. Why isn't the output printed correctly? And more important what else can I do?

Best regards Rob

Re: Cannot print exact scale

jhackney1972 — Sat, 02 May 2020 21:10:32 GMT

This issue has been around a long time. Here is a link to an October, 2019 post talking about the same issue.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

davebYYPCU — Sat, 02 May 2020 22:06:22 GMT

As I have no idea what you are printing,

a 1:1 print by the Drawings setup?

For templates take the profile and save as dxf.

Printing dxf - 1:1 has never been a problem. All 2d profile cutting relies on it.

Might help....

Re: Cannot print exact scale

jhackney1972 — Sat, 02 May 2020 23:05:00 GMT

@Fusion24A is referring to printing a Fusion 360 2D drawing either to PDF or DWG or printing directly using Fo;e -> Print command. Printing for a Fusion 360 2D drawing to DXF works as expected and to scale. Exporting from the model to DXF also produces a accurately scaled drawing.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

davebYYPCU — Sat, 02 May 2020 23:35:20 GMT

Are you saying, Fusion Drawings can output DXF? (Last time I checked was DWG or PDF)

Are you saying use Fusion Drawings and the time overhead, (that don't print 1:1) over

Save Sketch as DXf?

Re: Cannot print exact scale

jhackney1972 — Sat, 02 May 2020 23:52:28 GMT

Yes, outputting the drawing as DXF works, you get a 1:1 scale transfer, the PDF and DWG do not. Sure, DXF from model sketch works great and is not a part of this forum conversation.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

davebYYPCU — Sun, 03 May 2020 06:17:27 GMT

Ok. All good.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Sun, 03 May 2020 08:16:50 GMT

@jhackney1972 Thanks for the link 👍🏻 I've searched in the database (always do that) bus seemingly not good enough.

I downloaded already the newest version of Fusion but seemingly the error is stille there.

I designed a aluminium clampingplate for a small mill with holes to screw bolts in to fasten the workpiece. It's a small design so fits on a A4. I was planning to print it out, sticjk it onto the plate to serve as a guide where to drill or mill the holes exactly. But when printing did not work out as exact as expected that plan went out of the window.

But I'll try the other printout option (DFX) that was mentioned by @davebYYPCU . 👍🏻

Keep you posted...

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Sun, 03 May 2020 07:57:45 GMT

This is what I designed:

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Sun, 03 May 2020 08:14:48 GMT

I've treid the DXF export, following challenge was to view them but autodesk has the autodesk viewer for that: https://viewer.autodesk.com/

Hopes where high 😉but when printing I cannot get it on 1:1 scale on A4, the DXF viewer decreases the size adds text and I did not find a possibility to set the 1:1 scale preference.

Any tips?

Rob

The viewer screen:

The print screen of the viewer, I Chose the print by system dialogue screen (more options):

This was the result in preview mode:

Re: Cannot print exact scale

davebYYPCU — Sun, 03 May 2020 09:45:07 GMT

It should not be so difficult to do -

I can't read the interface language, but the keywords to look for, are

Fit to paper - Off.

Scale - 1:1

Might help....

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Sun, 03 May 2020 10:49:23 GMT

I've searched for this option but did not manage to find it. I cannot print the DXF file 1:1 by the viewer

I can share the DXF file:

https://autode.sk/2SuIKox

Maybe to try?

Re: Cannot print exact scale

davebYYPCU — Sun, 03 May 2020 11:11:26 GMT

Your link takes me to Viewer.

Print settings for me is, - default

and change this to 100%

But print with this setting I got 65mm wide for the 180 mm - crazy.

@TimeraAutodesk any ideas.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Sun, 03 May 2020 11:27:41 GMT

Yes, thats what I encounter also. If I set it to 100% then I get the small version.

Thanks for trying! 👍🏻. So I know I'm not alone in my confusion...😉

Re: Cannot print exact scale

andrew.de.leon — Mon, 04 May 2020 05:32:20 GMT

Hi @Fusion24A,

Sorry to here your having problems with Fusion 360 Drawing's direct printing. After reading through the thread, what you are trying to print (the 245x180 plate) should print 1:1 on an A4 sheet. I've attached a photo of a similar part I created with steel rule for reference. Since you're wanting this as an overlay template, I created the drawing using the ISO drafting standard, mm units and A4 sheet size and placed the base view at 1:1 scale. I then turned off the title block and border since they're not needed (this doesn't impact print scale) and added annotations. I'm also running a MacBook and printed to my Epson ET-3600 (A4 printer) here in my home office.

Currently we do have some limitations with Direct Print (or File > Print) as mentioned by other users. Current, we use the rule -- if the available paper size on the printer is equal to or larger than the sheet size, use scale "1:1" and if the available paper size on the printer is smaller than the sheet size, use scale "Fit to Paper".

In regards to PDF Output, we always output the sheet size at 1:1 scale. So if you output an A3 sheet, you'll get a 1:1 A3 sheet in your PDF. Printing this to scale on an A4 printer is the tricky part and depends on the tool being used to view the PDF and printer. I tend to stick with Apple's Preview or Adobe's Acrobat Reader for viewing PDFs.

Hope this helps, and please let me know how you get on with this.

Cheers, Andrew

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Tue, 05 May 2020 18:43:56 GMT

Hi @andrew.de.leon Thaks for responding to my issue and trying things out. I seems your drawing is a real 1:1 print. I cannot figure out what I can do to get that result.

I'll try again to make the drawing. Follow your steps and see what will come out the printer.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Tue, 05 May 2020 19:29:09 GMT

Here printing from drawing:
https://autode.sk/3fnaXYq

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Tue, 05 May 2020 19:29:47 GMT

and printing the PDF:

https://autode.sk/2z9wB1N

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Tue, 05 May 2020 19:34:58 GMT

Unfortunately no better result

@andrew.de.leon Maybe you can send me your PDF file? It worked for you.

Then I can print that on my printer to see where it goes wrong.

Re: Cannot print exact scale

Fusion24A — Tue, 05 May 2020 19:48:21 GMT

I've made a totally new drawing from scratch. Same issues. 🤔