Chuckar

My Feedback: (1)

Hello I have a set of plans that are in dwg format what I would like to do is convert them to a tiled PDF is this possible or is there a service that can print them out for me thanks in advance.

Lnewqban

I believe that you can print the drawing to a PDF file first; then select the tile option fro printing from the PDF file.

Campgems

No, you have to tile before printing to PDF. When you print to PDF, it looks for installed printers and their settup. The output will be limited to the printer size. There are a couple of Tile Print programs that will do what you want.

Do a Google on Tile Print PDF and you will find about all you need. Some free, some not.

I discovered a feature on my Epson Ink Jet printers to allow for Roll feed. I ended up buying a second printer of the series that will print 13" wide paper and up to 27Ft long. That works for about anything I need, although a big 1/3 scale built up wing is likely to have a cord greater than 13" so tile printing is required there. My drawing program allows for that and I can select the tile size from the print menu.

Most all blueprint shops though will print a full size print from your DWG format file. Just make sure it isn't a copyright file.

Don

davidgeorge212

When you print to a pdf, it doesnt actually print it on a paper printer. It saves it as a pdf file. You can then take the pdf file and open it in adobe reader and print it there in a tiled format

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

I can convert them for you Chuckar if you would like me to. Contact me off the board if you would like and we can discuss it.

Chad Veich
[email protected]

renamind

If you have adobe acrobat and ABviewer you can open the DWG with ABviewer and print to PDF file.


Greets,

Renato

Chuckar

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks everyone for the help I will try some of of your sugestions and let you know.

grh_70

"I discovered a feature on my Epson Ink Jet printers to allow for Roll feed. I ended up buying a second printer of the series that will print 13" wide paper and up to 27Ft long."


Don,

Could you please elaborate? I have been looking at the Epson Worforce 1100 inkjet which is advertised as printing up to 13" by 44" long.
do other models have this user defined long length capability?

Thanks, GeneH

Campgems

Gene, my two printers are the Epson 870 (8 1/2" wide) and the 1280 13" wide. Both were advertised at something like 44" max length, but the later drivers give you more length than you will every need. Both printers are considered Old Iron now, but the still do the job. I am considering a new PC, and that will mean Windows 7, and I'm not sure they will work on that O.S. I've been sticking with XP and I know at some point, I'm going to be forced into upgrading, and the compatability problem is going to raise it ugly head.

Don

Added, I stand corrected on the max length, it is 129" on Win 2000 and later OS's. 10 ft should be long enough for most things though.

Don

John 38

I kept my old computer with windows 98 because XP/7 kept paging forward giving me a blank page every 2nd page on my plan prints on an old canon bj330 inkjet which handles 14" continuous paper. thorw out nothing till you are absolutely certain you wont need it

john

grh_70

Don,

Thanks for the info.

I checked and Epson does not show a win7 driver for the 1280. I also checked the list of printer drivers
included by MS in win7. No Epson 1280. The current successor to the 1280 is the Photo Stylus 1400.
It has roll feed capability; but also a lot complaints about ink. The less expensive Workforce 1100 has
13" x 44" banner printing capability but no roll feed. It is available for $100 currently on sale and has better reviews as used for our purposes.

Meanwhile I found a couple of good condition used 1280's for sale on Craigslist. The quandry: buy a 1280 with roll feed
and outdated driver which I could print from my XP laptop, or hand cut from rolls and hand feed using the 1100 (and possibly be driver limited to 44" max. length).

I am inclined to buy a good used 1280.

GeneH

Campgems

Gene, I bought my used 1280 and although they shipped with the roll feed, there wasn't one. I forget the company, but I found a complete roll feed on the Internet and it was quite reasonable. I was just checking my receipt for the roll feed paper and it's been three years since I got the 1280 setup. Ibought my paper from Graytex Papers. Shipping is a killer, so I bought two rolls (100ft Rolls of 24lb white bond). Total price was close to the printer price, $70.38 with shipping. The paper is a nice stiff paper, just right for prints. I use Rhino 3D for my CAD software and Rel 4 provides the printing ability you need.

My main use is for making templates for cutting. I'll lay out a set of ribs or whatever on a 3" or 4" x 36" rectangle and when I get the nesting the best, allowing for the band saw, I then lay out enough of them to fill the 8 1/2 or 13 inch wide paper and print them out. I cut out the sheet rectangles and then 77 spray the back and stick it down on a piece of balsa or ply as the case may be. If you cut the wood within a day, and sand it to the print line, the paper will peal right off the wood without any residue of the spray. Rhino lets me print at something like one pixel wide lines. When I sand to that line, the part is as accurate as any laser cut part.

By the way, Ifound out a few months back that after you print the long page, you hit the paper feed and it moves the paper out for a cut. Cut it square and then hit the feed again and it pulls it back ready for the next print. Paper handling is a skill you need to learn fast. Iscrewed up a print and the printer user defined setup for the paper, and I burnt about a third roll of the paper before I got it to stop feeding. You can't rewind the paper, your best bet it to cut it and make a mini roll out of it. It doesn't pull back without damaging the edges or ripping. This is going to be a problem with any of the roll feed printers though. They all feed at a very slight skew to hold alignment to the edge rail in the printer. When you try pulling it back, the skew is in reverse and it goes down hill from there. When you get the paper length right and it is working, you can't beat it for the quality of print out you get.

Don