Templot Club Archive 2007-2020
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 19:42 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
I have finished my layout design which is 5.6m square. Part of the layout is a large terminus 5.6m long and just under 1m wide. I have grouped all the elements of the terminus together and used the export dxf file process to send a file to a print company who are endeavouring to print the terminus plan on continuous roll paper. The problem I have is that they are only seeing an A3 plan and not the full size. I have read the dfx help notes and sent both a "scale unchecked" version and another where I have checked the "scale" box and seen that the scale is set at 100%, both with the same result, they are only seeing an A3 file. Any ideas? Has anyone generated a large plan using dfx files? I have asked Martin and he can see no reason for it but suggested posting here. I will have to mail the file if required, as it is 8gb and too big to post. Regards Gordon S |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 19:59 from: Jim Guthrie
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Gordon S wrote: I have finished my layout design which is 5.6m square. Part of the layout is a large terminus 5.6m long and just under 1m wide. I have grouped all the elements of the terminus together and used the export dxf file process to send a file to a print company who are endeavouring to print the terminus plan on continuous roll paper. The problem I have is that they are only seeing an A3 plan and not the full size.Gordon, I've had problems before with DXF sizes and it is usually down to a mismatch of Metric v. Imperial - i.e. Templot generates a file in metric units and the recipient application is set up for Imperial units, or vice versa. It might be worth checking this out since I don't think the DXF file standard actually carries any identifier of what the source units represent. Jim. |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 20:08 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Thanks Jim, but just checked with the printer again and he assures me he has millimetres set on his machine but is still only seeing A3 as the size of the plan. Gordon S |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 21:06 from: Brian W Lewis
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Gordon S wrote: Thanks Jim, but just checked with the printer again and he assures me he has millimetres set on his machine but is still only seeing A3 as the size of the plan.Hi Gordon! If A3 is just over half a metre long, and you're expecting about 6 metres, that sounds to me like one of you is quoting dimensions in centimetres and the other is interpreting them in millimetres. Just a thought, Brian W Lewis |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 22:21 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Interesting thought Brian. Just checked the Templot software and it most definitely says mm/inches in the export dxf setup page. Martin is there any chance that it is somehow giving the output in cm rather than mm or just a decimal place in the wrong place? The printer is adamant he has it setup for mm. The file is 8mb, but happy to mail it to anyone if you can read a dfx file. Apologies for the earlier error ....it is 8mb not 8gb! |
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| Last edited on 11 Feb 2008 22:24 by Gordon S |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 22:38 from: Martin Wynne
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Gordon S wrote: Martin is there any chance that it is somehow giving the output in cm rather than mm or just a decimal place in the wrong place?Hi Gordon, Just got back in. There's nothing wrong with your DXF file. It opens fine in TurboCad. It's in mm and it's 6 metres long. The printing problem may be the large Y-offset from the grid datum. Give me a while to re-arrange it. Do you know which software the printing firm are using? The export from Templot contains only the drawing data, no paper or page sizes at all. The track plan should display on the screen, and the operator can then set up the page margins around it, usually in "Landscape" format. If it's displaying as A3 pages, that is simply the printer default. The operator needs to change the page size to fit the track plan. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 22:47 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Thanks as always Martin. I'll ask the question tomorrow. Unfortunately it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that they know what they are doing.... |
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posted: 11 Feb 2008 22:58 from: Martin Wynne
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Gordon S wrote: Unfortunately it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that they know what they are doing....Hi Gordon, That's always the problem. You can hardly blame them -- printing a 6-metre long track plan is hardly the sort of job which crops up every day.  I have looked at setting up a track-plan printing service here. Then the operator at least knows what you want! But to make it viable prices would have to be about 5 times the sort of figures you were quoting on RMweb. The consumables for the HP DesignJet printers cost a small fortune.regards, Martin. |
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posted: 12 Feb 2008 04:46 from: Martin Wynne
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Hi Gordon, Part of the problem may be that your file is too wide to fit on 36" wide roll paper. Try removing some of the templates from the group and re-exporting the file. I don't know the minimum margin sizes for the printer, but to be safe you should try to have a file which fits within 35.5" or 900mm width. You could create a background shapes rectangle of this size and shift it over the terminus as a guide. (Unless the printing firm say different, of course. Some printers are now 42" width.) By the way, I noticed that you haven't done much timber shoving! Admittedly it's a long job to shove a large plan like that, but it seems a shame to have a full print made containing timbering conflicts.As a trial I installed a driver for a 36" DesignJet printer. Such printers cost typically around 2K, so the driver is all you're getting at present! I set up a "custom form" in WindowsXP for a page 36" wide x 240" long (3ft x 20ft) and the DesignJet driver happily accepted it. For information about how to set up custom forms, see my previous message at: topic 224 - message 1096 Then in TurboCad I opened your DXF file and set up to print it on the DesignJet at 36x240 Landscape. Here are the dialogs. You can see in the preview area that your plan is too wide to fit the white paper area: gordon_print2.png  gordon_print1.png  You will notice in the layout dialog I needed to set a Y offset of 157" to move the white paper outline up under your track plan. That's because your Templot grid origin is down below the bottom left corner of the preview area. Without the physical printer I can't actually see if it prints, but the TurboCad setup dialogs acepted these figures without error, so I'm confident it would work. You might want to forward these screen shots to the printing firm, although you would think this stuff is daily meat and drink to them.  regards, Martin. |
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posted: 12 Feb 2008 14:26 from: Gordon S click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Thanks as always Martin. Of course you are right above shoving timbers, but there are a lot of points and after I had done a couple I decided that it would be easier to adjust the plastic sleepers on the SMP track to fit between the pcb sleepers of the pointwork...Whilst shoving the timbers would certainly enhance the appearance of the plan, I would still have to move sleepers on the SMP track, so decided the process was actually redundant. The plan is really to show exactly where track will be laid rather than building all the track on the plan as it were. At present I am generating separate plans for each point and building them as stand alone modules. I have measured the plan and between the outside edges of the outer track sleepers is 883mm so it's all pretty tight to get within 900mm or 36" (914mm). I pick up on your suggestion though and see if I can fit it into a rectangle as you suggest. Thanks again for your help. I will send the screen shots to the printer and see what they come back with. Just had another quote in this morning for £25 + P & P so the <£15 price I have already had appears good value. Regards Gordon S |
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