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SW printing capabilities...

SW printing capabilities...

SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Is it just me or is the solidworks printing functionality useless?
Whenever i need to print special views out of a drawing (like quick 1:1 zoomed-in-views for the guys on the shopfloor) i need to save the sw drawing as a dwg file...open up autocad and use the printing options there, which are easy to use and work like charm.  Even Autodesk's Inventor's printing options were far superior.
I've tried the 'selection' option in the print window, but the view-frame doesn't even show up now when i select the 'custom scale' option in sw.

When will sw finally improve their printing functionality??

RE: SW printing capabilities...

I have never had a problem with printing using any of the options.

What version of SW?

Have you tried the screen capture then print from an image viewer?

PDF?

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

The printing functionality is not useless, just a matter of learning how to use it.
I would use screen capture as CBL suggested, or just change the scale of the view.
IMO, saving as a DWG makes the file useless.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Im using sw06-sp3
I just find the printing in sw very limited.  Im trying to print a 1:1 area on a certain part of the drawing sheet on an 11x17", instead of printing the full size "D" size drawing on the plotter. (trying to save a tree).
Is there a way to isolate an area on a typical drawing and print that to a specific scale?

Ive been using sw since '02...but still find sw falls behind as far as printing is concerned :(
I guess autodesk has coined the printing functionality.

RE: SW printing capabilities...

You have to remember you are working with a parametric software, not a 2D sketching software. If you want to print how you mentioned above, please follow our suggestions above.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Taking a screen capture of the sheet pretty much blows all scaling out of the water.  I dont think that is a professional thing to do.
Im not talking printing 3D pictures...Im looking to isolate specific 2D detail drawings (.slddrw) views and  plot them out 1:1.  Surely ymost of us have used autocad or something like that in the past and had to generate scaled plots of an entire drawing or just partial sections of a drawing.

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Change the scale of the view you want to print to 1/1 or create a new view that is 1/1. You need to forget ACAD when working with SW, 2D vs 3D.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

when printing a selection of a drawing, make sure you are zoomed out before printing.  I have only encounter the missing selection box when I am zoomed in on the area I am trying to print before selecting the print button.  But if I am zoomed out and see the entire drawing, then hit print, choose selection, then change the scale, I always get the box.

SolidWorks 2006 SP3.1
Intel Xeon 2.8GHz 2GB Ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX3000

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
I agree Heckdogg, zooming out does fix the problem with that window not showing up.  The only issue now is that if you print it out 1:1 and measure it with a ruler, it's hit and miss weather its accurte or not.
Alot of guys on the floor like to place certain parts on a 1:1 plot for quick reference of size and accuracy (sort of like a paper version of a shadow-board).

Now CorBlimey, try printing that view 1:1, then measure it with a tape measure.  Do you get 8.5" for the hole pitch?  Sometimes it works, sometimes i find it is out of scale.  I have a feeling it can be caused due to the sheet scale itself, and the printing scale set.

Any chance a "Print Preview" button will be added to the print window eventually? ;)

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Quote:

The only issue now is that if you print it out 1:1 and measure it with a ruler, it's hit and miss weather its accurte or not.
And this is precisely why all drawing formats have "Do Not Scale Drawing" somewhere in the title block.

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Quote:

1:1 is metric, 1/1 is inches.
I wish someone would get that into the head of SolidWorks. In 2005 they gave us the ability to choose which we want on Detail/Section scales, but the "Sheet Scale" property still reads "1:1" with no options (that I'm aware of).

(If this is fixed in 2006, then I'll find out in a few weeks when we finally  upgrade.)

RE: SW printing capabilities...

I did turn it in to them a couple times. I have had someone there ask me "What's the differnece?". Oh well.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

D3sign3r ... I have often used that method to get a full size scale and have never had a problem. Is the scale way off or just slightly

I have no idea about the "Print Preview" function being added, but how would that help anyway?

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Just would be nice to know what im printing before i hit the print button. (like is my sheet nice and centered on the page)

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Quote:

1:1 is metric, 1/1 is inches.
While I agree the 1/1 notation is to be used on imperial drawings, a scale by definition is unitless 1:1 or 1/1 or 1=1 means 1 unit equals 1 unit no matter what actual unit the measuring stick is calibrated in.

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

I agree. It is indicated in ASME standard. I don't have it here now to look up chapter.
But, it was just a FYI here anyway.
Anyhoo ... printing at 1/1 most likely will not get you an accurate print. It's in the printers/plotters, not the CAD software. Most printers/plotters will get you very close. A lot of companies do not print a dwg that indicated a scale. They will indicate "NTS" or "Do not scale this dwg", etc. I think SolidWorks corp sees this and has not been a factor. Now that more ACAD users are coming on board, maybe the print function will be expanded.
D3sign3r, turn in an Enhancement Request.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Quote:

Just would be nice to know what im printing before i hit the print button.
File > Print Preview

Quote:

(like is my sheet nice and centered on the page)
If your border is centerd on the sheet (standard template?) and your views are centred in the border ... why wouldn't it be?

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
ctopher, i would definitely send in a request...if i knew how.  I have lots!  lol

Corblimey, couldnt they put a 'Print Preview' button in the print window aswell...would be handy.  Plus, when some of us are tinkering with scales and custom views it would be nice to know that the print coming out matches whats on the screen.

2D prints are a very inportant part of Mechanical Design. You could have the perfect, solid model or assembly on screen, but it means nothing if it's not presented correctly on paper for the vendors and assemblers to work with.  Hence why it would be nice if the printing features were a bit more versatile in sw (...and not so 'microsoft windows generic').

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Have you been to the SW site?
http://solidworks.com/pages/services/subscription/Enhancements.html?pid=383

We do 2D dwgs in SW. Not good if it were exactly like ACAD.
A lot of us are getting away from prints anyway. 3D modeling allows us to send the model for manufacturing without the creation of dwgs.
If you want to be proficient in SW, I suggest thinking like SW. It's a different world from ACAD.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Well im all about keeping current...but there will always be the 'old school' vendors and fab shops out there that cant afford fancy equipment that accepting parasolids, nor can they afford a licence of any high-end cad software that matter sad  So i gotta deal with both ends of the spectrum.
The Design Engineering field is such a vast field...i suppose its tough for any cad company to cater everybody.

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Quote (ctopher):

1:1 is metric, 1/1 is inches
You peaked my interest because I was under the impression that 1:1 was metric, and 1=1 was imperial.  

Searched online for ANSI standards , and found "Engineering Drawing Practices Aerospace and Ground Support Equipment" from the John F. Kennedy Space Center.  
http://www-lib.ksc.nasa.gov/lib/DOCUMENTS/GP435v1.pdf
(not sure if that document is supposed to be public because I can't access the top-level website).  

Page 46 of this pdf, section 2.4.2 "Indication of Scale",
"The scale shall be indicated as a decimal or common fraction".  I just used the SW default scale notation and never thought twice about it.  

Flores
SW06 SP3.0

RE: SW printing capabilities...

smcadman,
Thanks. I did find the difference between the two in a ASME or ANSI standard. But, I don't have them right now to look up. I'll keep searching.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

The "=" is/was used when actual units are/were shown ... 1"=1'-0" or 1/8"=1'-0"

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Quote (D3sign3r):

I agree Heckdogg, zooming out does fix the problem with that window not showing up.  The only issue now is that if you print it out 1:1 and measure it with a ruler, it's hit and miss weather its accurte or not.
Alot of guys on the floor like to place certain parts on a 1:1 plot for quick reference of size and accuracy (sort of like a paper version of a shadow-board).

Quote (ctopher):

Anyhoo ... printing at 1/1 most likely will not get you an accurate print. It's in the printers/plotters, not the CAD software. Most printers/plotters will get you very close.

I would have to agree with ctopher, at least with the 3 or 4 different plotters and printers we have in our building here, when we print 1:1, we could get 3 or 4 different "scales" of the part.

This has happened everywhere that I have ever worked at, weather it was using SolidWorks or AutoCAD.  I have always been told it is just a combination of the resolution of the printer/plotter, and the orientaion (portrait or landscape) you are printing to.

SolidWorks 2006 SP3.1
Intel Xeon 2.8GHz 2GB Ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX3000

RE: SW printing capabilities...

when printing 1/1 for scaling off dwgs, I always include a not that the dwg will tolerance +/- .10. I actually talked to someone at a plotter company, and they told me that no matter what anyone says, the best tolerance a plotter pin will hold will be .1...

this is the reason why one should never scale off a plotted dwg... if you want to do this, take the time to draw a part with pencil.


Wes C.
------------------------------
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...

RE: SW printing capabilities...

I've just made some tabloid size test prints to a HP Deskjet 1000C, and a Toshiba ES230, and a letter size test to a HP LaserJet 2550L. All of them are accurate to within .005" over 12" (using a steel rule & eyepiece). Maybe I've just been very lucky, but I've never had a problem.

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

.1 seems kinda big? I have used a plotter/printer that was +/-.004

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Im guessing .1 tolerance was based on the old ribbon dot matrix printers back in the day. I belive laser printers are pretty reliable.
When i used to work with autocad 14 a few years ago, and print drawings 1:1 on the old hp laser printers, the results were pretty accurate.  If I wanted extreme accuracy, i'd bring my drawings to a aircraft facility and print off their ploters that are calibrated frequently ;)

RE: SW printing capabilities...

I'm CBL and Chris, the last two years I printed hundreds of drawings for a steel cutting table (with an optical contour tracer), they were all within 2mm on a meter (in the paper feed direction) and spot on perpendicular to the feed direction. These drawings were between 200mm and 8 meters in length, generally around 3/4th square meters.
The drawings were printed on the following printers:
HP Designjet 430 (an oldie, most drawings were printed on this one)
HP Desingjet 130nr
HP Desingjet 500
Canon W6400Pg
We actually checked the drawings often, just as a precaution (before wasting a couple 40mm steel plates).

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer/AI student

RE: SW printing capabilities...

wes616 ... that's gotta be .10mm (.004")?

cheers
Helpful SW websites  FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: SW printing capabilities...

CBL, that's makes sense. When he typed 1/1, I assumed in inches. 3eyes

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: SW printing capabilities...

Sorry guys...

.01" (inches)... my goof... I feel like an A$$

Wes C.
------------------------------
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...

RE: SW printing capabilities...

(OP)
Well I submitted several enhancement requests to solidworks, one regarding Printer options.  It would be nice to have some more plotting control in later revisions. 2thumbsup

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