Topic: Another problem with Printable Area and paper location.

[Krushert]

What The heck is going on?  I have paper edge starting left and below 0,0.  What is causing that?

I had to make a few artistic changes to the title block and I decide to do a little housekeeping to the file.  During this housekeeping It was asked if we can get more white paper on the left edge to provide more of a binder strip and also not have to hit the center the plot box.  I discovered this by drawing a 24x36 rectangle, and set the limits to 24x36. (We plot by limits in paper space.)  I plotted this 24x36 Rectangle and the lower left corner is inside the paper and the upper left is of the  paper.  How can I move the paper's lower left corner to 0,0? 

Using an HP DesignJet 1050c with an Optimized driver.

[ronjonp]

Maybe PLOTOFFSET variable?

[Crank]

This a bug in ACAD (even in 2008).
Turn of the display (preview) of the printable area. Turning it on changes your limits.

[Krushert]

Maybe PLOTOFFSET variable?

No go on this plotoffset variable.

This a bug in ACAD (even in 2008).
Turn of the display (preview) of the printable area. Turning it on changes your limits.

Crank please explain further.

The limits are not changing, still 0,0 by 36,24.  The paper's corner is not at 0,0.  I got out the Micrometer and measure the distance.  The paper's corner starts at -0.202,-0.208 from zero.

[dtkell]

Don't printers/plotters have built in margin limits?

[Crank]

Crank please explain further.

The limits are not changing, still 0,0 by 36,24.  The paper's corner is not at 0,0.  I got out the Micrometer and measure the distance.  The paper's corner starts at -0.202,-0.208 from zero.

What I meant was that if someone opens a drawing with the 'Dispaly printable area' on, the limits of the layout will change.
Recently we had one user with this setting on. It took me quite some time to figure out who was causing the changing limits and after that what was causing it.

But if your limits don't change, did you check if your title block wasn't moved before you started?

[Krushert]

I am at home so I dont if that is checked or not. 

I am currently (well not at home) repositioning my title block with a 24x36 rectangle.  The paper is offset to this rectangle.   I will print a pdf and post it to show what I am talking about. 

[Krushert]

Okay I have attached an image.

Interesting note: The paper is shifting the shifting the to the left and down the amount of "printable area" margins that is set up in my Plotter PC3 file.  I thought that those margins are suppose to work in from edge of paper and not shift the paper accordingly for the objects.  I am plotting by limits (24,36) or a view of my limits. 

Very perplexing.

[Crank]

I think you have two problems:

• Your title block isn't located at 0,0
• Your plotter must be calibrated again

[Rob...]

I think dtkell is on the right track. A 24x36 rectangle will not print on a 24x36 sheet. Focus on making the rectangle smaller by moving the upper right corner until it is inside the plotter margins until the whole rectangle plots. Then stretch the rectangle from the left to allow space for the binder. Use plot preview to save paper.

Rob

[Krushert]

I think you have two problems:

• Your title block isn't located at 0,0

If you are referring to the lower lower corner of the title block has to be at 0,0. that is not what I want.  I want to shove my title block as far right as can (and still have the right edge of the TB print) with in the Printable area.  My TB measures 23" x 34.5".  I am doing this because, we bind our our drawings together and we don't want information covered up by the binding strip.

• Your plotter must be calibrated again

.

Okay so where do I do that and how.   :| :?
 I know Autocad.  The box and printers and what-not I very little.

[Krushert]

I think dtkell is on the right track. A 24x36 rectangle will not print on a 24x36 sheet. Focus on making the rectangle smaller by moving the upper right corner until it is inside the plotter margins until the whole rectangle plots. Then stretch the rectangle from the left to allow space for the binder. Use plot preview to save paper.

Rob

Rob this is what I originally went in to do.  But I noticed that the paper lower left corner is -0.2,-0.333 from 0,0.

[Chuck Gabriel]

Here is what I do to ensure my titleblocks appear where I actually want them on the paper.

1)  Run the plot command.  Select your plotter and the desired paper size.  Then do a partial preview.  Take note of the printable area listed in the partial preview dialog.

2)  Add two points to your titleblock that represent the lower left and upper right limits of the printable area you determined in step one.  You may have to fudge the points inward a little bit to get this to work.  Make sure the point objects are on a printable layer.

3)  Position your titleblock relative to those two points as if they were the edges of the paper.

4)  Plot by limits or extents, and the two points should force AutoCAD to include your margins in the plot instead of trying to "optimize" them away.

I hope that made sense.  Good luck.

[Crank]

[...]  I want to shove my title block as far right as can (and still have the right edge of the TB print) with in the Printable area.  My TB measures 23" x 34.5".  I am doing this because, we bind our our drawings together and we don't want information covered up by the binding strip.

Then your drawing won't be to scale.
I advise you to make a different title block then with the binding strip in it. That way your drawings will be to scale.

.
Okay so where do I do that and how.   
 I know Autocad.  The box and printers and what-not I very little.

Prepare yourself to a little frustration, but the result will be rewarding.

First of all you must have write permissions to the location where you printer and plotting settings are stored. If those settings are on a network you can first make a local copy and change search paths with the options command.

Now start the plot command. Select the right paper size, .ctb and plotter. The choose the Properties of the printer.

Another window opens where you can change all kinds of plotter settings.
Choose Plotter calibration. Then you can start a wizard.
Fill in the width and height of a rectangle that will be printed on a test plot.
After you've made the test plot you can measure the real distances. It may take a few times before your rectangle is exactly to scale.
Now your plotter is calibrated to plot to scale. Settings are stored in the just created .pmp and .pc3 files.


The next step is to position your title block. Insert it at 0,0
Before you go further, I advise you to draw diagonal lines to the border extents (limits).
Start with a plotter offset of 0,0 and center the plot. Choose the right orientation.
Some plotters have a white border on one side. If that's the case you can choose to plot upside-down.

Make a page setup (number them ) and after that a test plot. If the title block isn't on the right place you can adjust the x and y offset. A lot of plotters have a white border. With a ruler you can check if the extended diagonals go through the corners of your paper.

When the result is OK, you can remove the fault page setups and keep the right one for your templates.
Now copy the files back to the protected environment on the network. (backup first)

Nb.: Some plotter drivers have a mind of there own (Océ is a good example). Changing the offset doesn't change a thing. If you wish you can change the settings on the plot server then.