What's new
By:

Atom3D: Print 2D drawing: Crash

I

IdeasVacuum

Senior Member
Ouch - just tried printing a 2D Drawing and Atom3D crashed right of the screen the moment I selected 'print'. Tried again, crashed again. The preview is perfect........

This is V28 Build 28227 on Windows 11 Pro 64bit v 10.0.26100 - first time I have needed a print with this version of Atom3D, didn't have an issue with the previous version.

Has anyone else experienced a similar printing issue? Work-around I have used is to export to PDF and print from Adobe.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
DavidJ said:
Check for updated printer driver.
Click to expand...
Well, I updated the driver (Canon 3250) but Atom still crashes. It might be because Atom is not respecting the printer properties. Via Atom you set the printer properties (Windows dialog pops up). I set landscape A4, print quality high. In the Atom Dialog I set current sheet, scale to fit and print black & white.
Atom briefly displays "Printing Page 1 of Document" - then crashes off the screen. I have tried various other combinations of settings but the result is always the same.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Have you tried publishing to PDF and then printing the PDF? That's what I have to do in order to get the print to properly fit the sheet. If I just print scaled to fit I end up with a large margin around the drawing. However, If I first publish to PDF and then print the PDF it fits the sheet better.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
HaroldL said:
Have you tried publishing to PDF and then printing the PDF? That's what I have to do in order to get the print to properly fit the sheet. If I just print scaled to fit I end up with a large margin around the drawing. However, If I first publish to PDF and then print the PDF it fits the sheet better.
Click to expand...
Yes I have, as mentioned in my post. Works every time!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Why would you use 'scale to fit' unless printing on a totally different size of paper? Surely you want the drawing to be as close to stated scale as possible.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DavidJ said:
Why would you use 'scale to fit' unless printing on a totally different size of paper? Surely you want the drawing to be as close to stated scale as possible.
Click to expand...
I'm printing on A4 (perfectly adequate), I don't have a plotter for large scale stuff. That can't be so unusual amongst the Atom3D Users.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The problem with "scale to fit" is that in the end you don't know the scale.
I would pick the paper size you can print and then scale the drawings so they fit.
Then you know what you are getting on the paper.
I also print to A4 (only), but have never used scale to fit.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dwc said:
The problem with "scale to fit" is that in the end you don't know the scale.
I would pick the paper size you can print and then scale the drawings so they fit.
Then you know what you are getting on the paper.
I also print to A4 (only), but have never used scale to fit.
Click to expand...
So far I simply haven't needed to know the scale, just the shape of the objects and their dimensions, safe in the knowledge that the scaling doesn't misrepresent the shape. Since the person in the workshop working from the drawings is me, all is well - no borders/title block either.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dwc said:
The problem with "scale to fit" is that in the end you don't know the scale.
Click to expand...
When I went thru mechanical drafting and design in Tech College we had on all drawings, starting with the hand drawn ones, a note stating DO NOT SCALE DRAWING, which meant for the user not to take measurements off the drawing with a rule or tape measure and hope to build a correctly sized part. It had nothing to do with choosing "scale to fit" on a printer dialog.
At work we had a note on the drawings stating "DO NOT SCALE DRAWING", meaning of course to rely on the dimensions and don't use your greasy rule or tape measure to take any measurements from the drawing to check against the part - just use the given dimensions, no matter if the drawing is full size or printed on 8.5 x 11. In SolidWorks, we usually used D size drawing templates and printed on B size paper. The main reason was that we had multiple printers that printed in A or B size. If we needed C or D size then we needed to use a large format printer, or pen plotter, that cost a lot more and was not very economical in cost of ink and paper. We bought A and B size paper by the pallet. The only issue I found was that D size drawings got reduced down approximately 50% when printed on 11 x 17 and the text and notes became a little difficult to read. I tried to remedy that by doubling the font height of dimensions and then they were a lot more legible when printed.

There were a few times that we needed to make/print template drawings at full size. In those cases we did use a large format printer but then checked the print with rules or tape measure to make sure the print came out correctly sized.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Using scale to fit to get a print of (say) A3 or A2 sheet on A4 paper is understandable.

A lot more insidious is having scale to fit enabled when printing an A4 sheet to A4 paper, but on a printer which doesn't support edge to edge printing - you'll get a few percent reduction which won't be obvious to the eye, but could be enough to cause problems if using the print as a template to spot through onto the workpiece.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
When I created my drawing templates I created them exactly to size, A=8.5x11, B=11x17, etc. My printer, Epson Workforce WF-7610, is capable of printing a 1/4" margin so I have no problem printing A and B size drawings to A and B size paper without having to scale to fit. As I was working on the templates I ran test prints and all the margins and title blocks came out correctly as designed. C and D size drawings get scaled appropriately when scaled to fit on B size paper.

Most all my wood working projects are small enough so I only need B size drawings.
Certainly nothing like these drafters need...o_O
large format drawing.jpg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
HaroldL said:
When I created my drawing templates I created them exactly to size, A=8.5x11, B=11x17, etc. My printer, Epson Workforce WF-7610, is capable of printing a 1/4" margin so I have no problem printing A and B size drawings to A and B size paper without having to scale to fit. As I was working on the templates I ran test prints and all the margins and title blocks came out correctly as designed. C and D size drawings get scaled appropriately when scaled to fit on B size paper.

Most all my wood working projects are small enough so I only need B size drawings.
Certainly nothing like these drafters need...o_O
View attachment 45578
Click to expand...
That image reminds me about drawing (aka "lofting") aircraft wing panels 1: 1 with flexible canes held in shape with heavy "mice" and gravity fed ink pens that were only good for one line between refills!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top