Templot Club Archive 2007-2020
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posted: 17 Dec 2007 01:23 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
I think I have now finalised my track plan and whilst having printed reduced size plans am now at the stage of printing full size. I have some questions. The layout is large at 18' square and to print on A4 sheets will require 284 sheets, each of which will have to be aligned. Questions. 1. I was considering sending a file to a professional printer to have the plan printed full size on plain roll. This has raised other questions. a) How do you save a print file? I understand how you save a box file of templates. Is this what an external printer will require? Will an external printer need Templot software to read the file? If they don't have the software, how will they calibrate their printer? I was hoping plans could be printed on wide rolls (up to a metre?) to reduce errors. If this is not possible or prohibitively expensive, then I am left with A4 printing on my home printer 2. Can you select say 10 pages at a time or do you have to select all 284 pages and then select from those printed pages once printed? At present it is taking about a minute to print each page when I select a 1/12 size reduction. Will it take say 5 hours to print all 284 pages? My printer is a HP Pro K550. I am really pleased with the plan I have created. Although it has taken many hours to refine, it is infinitely quicker than the several failed attempts I have had to date of trying to build a complex layout by trial and error. I now know the track will fit in the space. I know the pointwork that is required and I know there are no problems with the design. Overall, I'm most impressed with Templot. |
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posted: 17 Dec 2007 04:19 from: Martin Wynne
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Gordon S wrote: I think I have now finalised my track plan and whilst having printed reduced size plans am now at the stage of printing full size. I have some questions. The layout is large at 18' square and to print on A4 sheets will require 284 sheets, each of which will have to be aligned. Hi Gordon, See my reply to your similar message on RMweb: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=184567#184567 If you save a DXF file from Templot, you can have it printed on a wide-format roll paper printer at a digital copyshop. These go up to 36" wide. For an example of such a roll paper print, see Nick's Fremington project on RMweb: DSC_0049.jpg  A BOX file will be meaningless to a copyshop, it must be in DXF format. To create a DXF file from Templot, click control > storage box... and then on the storage box menus click the files > export DXF... menu item. Read the Help notes on the DXF dialog window. For printing purposes, make sure you set it for 2D output (much smaller file size) and make a note of whether the file is in inches or mm -- the copyshop will need to know this. If it is a reputable place handling CAD drawings they should have checked their roll printers for calibration from their CAD software, but it is worth asking. You may want to try them with a small section of the layout first and measure it. You can create a DXF from a section of the layout only, by selecting the templates as a group and then clicking the selected group option on the DXF dialog. But for a large plan it is very difficult to handle and stick down long rolls of paper. It's often easier (and less expensive) to use individual pages printed in Templot and trimmed to the red lines. This is about 100 times easier if instead of printing on ordinary 80gsm office paper, you print on something a bit thicker. I recommend at least 160gsm paper for printing Templot template pages (available in packs of 250 A4 sheets from Staples and elsewhere -- the last time I was in there it was on a BOGOF  offer, buy one get one free.)160gsm paper is almost a thin card. It cuts very cleanly with a craft knife on the red lines, and the pages can be physically butted together like tiles in a way which you can't do with thinner paper. Also this way you don't have to finalise the design of the whole layout and print it all in one go. I think it is risky to leave the paper templates in place between the track and the trackbed, because you are then relying on the paper for strength, and in damp weather it is likely to lose integrity. My preferred method is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/templot/message/7652 (There I referred to 3/4" veneer pins, but having measured my stock, they are actually 1" pins.) If this is not possible or prohibitively expensive, then I am left with A4 printing on my home printer. The time to print varies a lot between printers and also depends on the print quality setting. There is little to be gained in using the best/letter-quality setting, and using the photo setting will take forever. A print at 300dpi using economy/draft/normal or whatever will be entirely adequate as a track construction template, much faster, and use less ink. You don't have to print them all in one go, and I strongly recommend that you don't. Almost certainly, as you start sticking down the pages, you will have ideas for modifications. Seeing the thing full size always looks different from on-screen or small scale prints. I suggest that you print smallish areas of you plan in draft form, lay them out, stand back, add some rolling stock or buildings, etc., -- and be prepared for fresh ideas! Also, the timber-shoving work is quite tedious, and much less daunting if you finalise and print only small sections of the plan at a time. The file methods in Templot are designed to let you break up your plan into sections and work on different bits of them -- that's why Templot doesn't use the Windows Document Model. To save a section of your plan as a separate file, select a group of templates and use the save group function. To add it back onto the pad, use the add from file function. To have different sections in different colours, use the marker colour (screen) and mapping colour (print) options. To print only a section of your plan, select a group of templates and then use the print > print group only menu item. In addition, on the print pages dialog, you can click the print page, omit page and next row buttons to select which individual pages to print or not print. So if you have changed just an odd one or two, you can print those only again. If your printer can print on roll paper or z-fold banner paper, Templot can print in that format and avoid most of the end-wise page joins (but such paper is not available in 160gsm thickness unfortunately). Many folks use Telex roll paper for such printing. Cue an update report from Paul? There are lots of handy tricks you can use when printing -- a lot depends on your printer and I can't cover everything in one forum message, sorry. See for example: topic 283 or http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=205409#205409 regards, Martin. |
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posted: 17 Dec 2007 19:27 from: Paul Boyd
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Martin wrote:If your printer can print on roll paper or z-fold banner paper, Templot can print in that format and avoid most of the end-wise page joins (but such paper is not available in 160gsm thickness unfortunately). Many folks use Telex roll paper for such printing. Cue an update report from Paul?Nothing new, I'm afraid! I'm still using 216mm Telex roll quite happily in the absence of anything thicker. It's a bit difficult to get anything that sort of width, never mind a choice of weights  I like the idea of using thin card though - I've never thought of that for Templot. I have printed up to (I think) 160gsm on my Canon - I know it was way over the spec but worked fine. Every now and then I have a look on eBay at various Epson printers that can handle A2 roll paper. Then I see the prices they go for and look away again! |
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posted: 17 Dec 2007 20:23 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Many thanks as always for such a comprehensive answer. | ||
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