Drawing from Design... 1:1 not 1:1

[THRobinson75]

I'm still very new to Fusion360 using the free version...  and well, someone tried explaining to me why importing a DWG file from Illustrator wasn't 1:1 and I still don't get it to be honest. Now... I've made the design in Fusion360, I want to print it 1:1 so go into Drawing, choose 1:1 and prints fine... but not 1:1. For example, I have one edge exactly 50mm, when I print it's 33mm.

How do I print 100% to scale? and why is Fusion360 always changing the scale it seems?

[ClintBrown3D]

Hi @THRobinson75 

I can't speak for Illustrator being 1:1, but once you import the geometry, you should be able to check. If the data had come in from AutoCAD for example, it would be 1:1.

If your drawing view is 1:1 but is not printing out at the correct scale, there are a few things to consider, firstly, is the paper size of your drawing sheet and your printer the same? Next, is your printer scaling the drawing to fit the page, check for a 1:1 option in your print dialogue (might be under advanced settings, print size, or something similar, each printer is different).

I hope that helps.

[laughingcreek]

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@ClintBrown3D wrote:

...Next, is your printer scaling the drawing to fit the page, check for a 1:1 option in your print dialogue (might be under advanced settings, print size, or something similar, each printer is different).

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Do we have access printer settings in fusion's print dialog?  I thought not haveing the print dialogue was part of the issue with the related "files print at 97% instead of 100%" printing issue (years old, still exists) .  for that case the work around is to create a pdf file first and print that, but of course that option isn't available to hobbyist.  ( I don't think.  hobbyist lic won't save .pdf's, right?)

[THRobinson75]

Paper size switched to A4 worked... maybe because free version I don't get a print dialogue box, apart from choosing a printer and OK. No options to scale at all. Other issue is when picking A4, it comes up with size mismatch errors because of course the printer is set up for 8.5x11. I can click through it and finally prints 1:1. I've looked around and can't seem to find a way to tell Fusion360 to use 8.5x11, which is weird given how many Americans I'm sure use the app. I'm in Canada so should use metric.

I guess basically, setup the printer as A4 not 8.5x11 because not seeing the option in Fusion360.

Hobbyist wise, no... no PDF or anything actually, just print I think. I can't print and choose Acrobat as a printer though.

Import is still bothersome. If drawn in Illustrator then saved as a DWG and imported. Basically have to measure it when imported, then figure out what % it's off. For this project, the parts were off by 25-35%, but different per part.

I'm mostly just learning to flat stuff for guitar parts like pickguards and such, eventually guitars. Sadly, the hobbyist version just got restricted again from a few features and making me wonder if I shouldn't find another app to use. This seemed to be the #1 used and lots of resources, but no point learning it if in a year I can't use it anymore.

[ClintBrown3D]

Hi @THRobinson75 

The drawing size is set up when you create the drawing, it is the template size.

Print dialogue in the commercial version of Fusion looks like this:

Once you hit print, the print dialogue comes from your printer driver/software.

If "parts were off by 25-35%" I would suggest looking at the units, you might be importing inch units into a metric template.

Hope that helps.

[laughingcreek]

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@ClintBrown3D wrote:

...Once you hit print, the print dialogue comes from your printer driver/software....

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how do we get it to do that?  mine just starts printing after ok.  no additional dialogue with access to typical page scaling options.

[ClintBrown3D]

Hi @THRobinson75 

As mentioned before, it all depends on your print driver and printer software. Some of them give you options, others do not. This is a Windows/printer manufacturer setting, not a Fusion setting, and every printer is going to be different.

But you can try, go to "Printers & Scanners" in your Windows System settings:

Click on your printer and choose "Manage".

In the Manage window, click on "Printing Preferences".

You may see some settings that you can change on this tab, otherwise, click on "Advanced", see if there are any settings for page size, scale, etc.

Remember that each printer is going to be slightly different and some may expose more settings than others.

I hope this points you in the right direction.

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[laughingcreek]

Ok, let's back up and get a baseline set.

in drawings, when I go to "file-print", I get this dialog box

at which point selecting print starts the print job.

are you getting something different?

for every other program on my machine I get this when I select print-

[ClintBrown3D]

Hi @laughingcreek 

I get the same print dialogue (the white one from Fusion). I have done some investigating, and my understanding is that Fusion uses the default settings for the printer that you choose. The second dialogue does not come up. So if the printer is set up to "fit" the page rather than print 1:1, then the scale will be off.

Hope that helps.

[laughingcreek]

these are my default settings-

We were told at the time the print option was added to fusion, a decision was made to override 1:1 print settings and instead print to fit to insure that the boarder gets printed on the page.  I'm really not kidding.  this was said with a straight face and everything.   It's being done by fusion and not the printer driver.  work around is to not include the border.  This has been an open issue that comes up with some regularity since every since the print option was added.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm.... OK. I have to say that this was before my time. I'll add it to the backlog and see what I can do, I can't promise anything, but at least it's on my radar.

[ClintBrown3D]

Today we shipped improved printing options, you now have control over the scale of your prints, and we have options for offsets etc.

Please give it a try once you have updated to the latest version. We'd love your feedback.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/november-2022-major-product-update/#Drawings