titleblock consistency

our engineering dept is running CAD 2004/WIN XP and plotting to choice of HP 1050C, HP 5000 Laserjet, or HP 2600 dn Inkjet. Our dilemma is printing figures and drawings with consistent margins. example, reports containing multiple figures, scaled-report sized plans, etc. we have been trying to come with a titleblock which prints in the same position on a sheet of paper every time. oh, how simple life could then be! problem it seems is that each printer has different leading/trailing edges and printable areas, nothing i do seems to accomplish my goal. (setting the printable areas to match for 8.5X11 and 11X17 printers included) help anyone! PPPLLEEAASEE

 

We have several different plotters which we send standard 36x24 title blocks
to.To get them ALL to plot out exactly the same from EVERY printer we have a
36x24 rectangle ,(representing the sheet edges), placed around our title
block, with the title block positioned in the correct location within this
"sheet boundary". Then, for plot area, we just window the points of this
rectangle, select 1:1 as the scale, and click on "center the plot". Since
that centers the "sheet boundary" rectangle on the sheet, it never plots,
because it's outside the printable area, but the title blocks inside the
rectangle will always be in the correct location on the sheet, regardless ff
plotter or margins.

John

HP 1050C, HP 5000 Laserjet, or HP 2600 dn Inkjet. Our dilemma is printing
figures and drawings with consistent margins. example, reports containing
multiple figures, scaled-report sized plans, etc. we have been trying to
come with a titleblock which prints in the same position on a sheet of paper
every time. oh, how simple life could then be! problem it seems is that
each printer has different leading/trailing edges and printable areas,
nothing i do seems to accomplish my goal. (setting the printable areas to
match for 8.5X11 and 11X17 printers included) help anyone! PPPLLEEAASEE

 

John, would you be willing to give more specifics about your plotters and
settings. What you stated is exactly how I want mine to work (LDT 2004,
HP1050C) but when I use "center the plot", I still get a finished product
that has a larger margin on the top. I have side-stepped this by using
custom "plot offset" values, but being a perfectionist I would rather have
center the plot work.

Thanks in advance for further info.
-Justin

 

Justin - just carefully review the steps I stated. This works fine for our
1055CM, 1050C, and TDS600 plotters, using standard page sizes and margins
for all plotters. I don't know what else to add.

Good luck - John

 

Did you set up a custom paper size, or use one of the existing paper sizes?
Did you make any adjustments to the non-printable edge of paper?

I started with the same method you are using, using the original paper sizes
and no modifications. My 1/2" border was too large on top and too small on
the bottom (I assumed it was due to some sort of leading edge problem)

Did this work for you "out of the box" or did you tweak any settings in your
driver/paper sizes/margins to get the AutoCAD part to work like you
describe?

Sorry about all of the questions, but I would be VERY happy to duplicate
your results following your exact steps!!

-Justin

 

All settings are default - no custom paper sizes or margins at all. What do
your plot previews show? If they look correct but plots still aren't
centered I'd check the menus on the plotter to be sure something hasn't
changed.

That said, I've only set up our stuff for 36x24 and 42x30 plotting to all
plotters - all our 8.5x11 and 11x17 only go to LaserJet printers, so I
haven't tested these smaller sizes.

John

 

Also, I could probably post a sample 36x24 drawing with title block in the
customer files forum that would more clearly demonstrate what I'm talking
about.

John

 

I think we are already on the same page here. For some reason mine doesn't
work out of the box. The menus in the 1050C plotter are all default as far
as I know, the manual was pretty cryptic on the subject. I will re-check
them because I believe that's where the problem is in my case.

Thanks for the help,
-Justin

 

We do almost exactly as John indicated. The only exception is that we plot to "extents" and require that only one title block sheet be used in a drawing file, and nothing should be shown outside the 24x36 border. Works for the three plotters we have, the Ricoh 470W, HP 2000cp and the HP 750C Plus.

Dave LaComb
University at Albany