User Template Border HOwTo

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ov10fac
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User Template Border HOwTo

Post by ov10fac » Thu Jan 11, 2018 5:12 am

Ok, I have a drawing. The 1:1 drawing is about 9' by 6'. I want to use one of the template borders for the drawing, but they are either too big or too small to fit. I know there is a simple way to "scale" the border to fit my drawing, but I have not found the way. So, that being said, can anyone tell me how to scale the border to match the drawing size?

Thanks.

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Husky
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Husky » Thu Jan 11, 2018 5:43 am

For your print:
What is the Paper size?
You know already the print scale?
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ov10fac
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by ov10fac » Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:24 pm

I feel like a complete dummy. About 1AM today I figured it out. Just selected the template and used the scale tool to scale it to the correct size, which I believe is what everything I read said to do. I think I was confused because every article I read just said to scale, and I was looking for a drop down like in gimp to scale the drawing.
Anyway, pretty easy when you know how to do it.
Thanks.

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Clive
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Clive » Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:32 pm

Well done for working things out.

What you actually did was entirely correct, in that, you always draft up in real 1:1 scale, then scale the drawings appropriately to the border size you need to work with. Commonly scales would be 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:10, 1:20, 1:50, 1:100 and so on- of course you could scale at any uncommon scale too!

Regards

Clive
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ov10fac
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by ov10fac » Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:39 pm

Maybe I am not doing it correctly, but here is my approach. I do an outline of the drawing I am working on. Just rectangles with the approx dimensions of the parts I am going to design. Then open a second drawing with the border and scale it so it is the right size for my drawing. Then just copy and past the part outlines into the new drawing with the scaled up border. Seems to work like a champ. But I may be doing it wrong. I think the way I am doing it retains the 1:1 scaling of the actual parts, while changing the scale of the border to match the desired size.

Thanks for responding.

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Clive
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Clive » Fri Jan 12, 2018 9:43 am

If your 1:1 drawings are not so big in real life then of course you could fit them into a bespoke size border as you say, but imagine you are drawing an Areoplane, then in this case it wouldn't work so scaling down and fitting into a common size border would be the way to go.

If you are the only one who is working from your drawings then you could make the border any size you wish, but if you were sharing work with others then best practice would be to sync everything and use common border sizes, bearing in mind others may need to print out too!

Usually all borders and title blocks would be kept within the same drawing file, the latest QCAD versions now have added paper space layouts intended for laying out the final drawings, a place if you like away from the normal drawing area (model space) where you can scale drawings and finalize the drawing ready for printing.

There is nothing wrong with your approach, however you may find it more efficient to keep your borders and drawings all within the same drawing file.

If I'm working on a furniture/cabinet design I would draft at full scale then afterwards scale down and annotate and fit into a regular size border and title block ready for sharing as this would be for a customer or company.

If I am designing something for cnc laser cutting or mill work then I would draft again at full scale and keep at full scale for the final output needed - but, if I need to share the design intent only with someone else then I would scale down to fit a regular border size and send them this instead.
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ov10fac
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by ov10fac » Fri Jan 12, 2018 5:14 pm

Think I understand what you are saying. I do keep the border and the drawing in the same file. I just change the border size to fit the actual drawing. Then when I go to print I scale to the paper size I'm using. That way my drawing is always at 1:1 until I actually print it out. The only issue I have is merging the border and the drawing into a single drawing. Right now the procedure I use is:

1. Make my drawing. Mine I pretty simple. Right now I am designing a Fly Rod building lathe. So I have made drawings of all the major components and kept them at 1:1 scale. Then I can copy and past into a larger drawing when I get ready to put the whole thing together.

2. Then I measure the drawing to determine the maximum dimensions. Once I have those dimensions I open my border dwg file, or do a "file new from template" and open the border. I then use the "select all" and use the scale tool to make it big enough to hold the drawing.

3. Lastly I go back to the drawing, do a "Select All", and copy it. Then back to the border drawing and past from clipboard into the boarder. Hence a 1:1 drawing inside the border.

4. When I get ready to print it, I use the "fit drawing to paper" tool to fit it on the paper I am using, normally 8X10 standard printer paper.

For my projects this process seems to work pretty well. I would think it would work well no matter what size drawing I was making, of a 747 or M10 bolt. But I am a real novice at this CAD stuff. The last time I did this kind of drawing, I used T-Square, Triangles and compass. Yea, I'm pretty old.

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Husky
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Husky » Fri Jan 12, 2018 7:52 pm

With that already maintained knowledge I think you can simplify the process. May I ask you a few basic questions:

You are familiar to start your drawing from a QCAD template?

What are your hardware print possibility's? ANSI A, Landscape / Portrait?
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ov10fac
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by ov10fac » Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:23 am

With that already maintained knowledge I think you can simplify the process. May I ask you a few basic questions:

You are familiar to start your drawing from a QCAD template?

I can think of two ways. First from the File menu use "New From Template". the other way is to double click on the template file.

What are your hardware print possibility's? ANSI A, Landscape / Portrait?

I have several printers. All can print standard 8.5 X 11 and 11X 14. One is laser the other is ink jet. Yes they can both print portrait and landscape mode.

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Husky
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Husky » Sat Jan 13, 2018 7:15 am

Thanks.

Ok, this is one of multiple approaches to accomplish this task. Maybe you like it - maybe not. We'll see ... :wink:

I'll attach a drawing which can be also used as a template. For the moment you can just open it as a normal drawing to play with it.

Let say you have drawn something in inch, overall size of the drawing is around 15" by 10". You need to print it on an ANSI A sheet / Landscape.

This said - 15" x 10" doesn't fits on an ANSI A without scaling. Proper scale would be in Imperial 1"=2" or in Metric 1:2.
(1"=2" is only an example scale - it will work with every scale)

Now your homework .... :shock:

Open my drawing which I prepared but otherwise it is empty.

Draw a rectangle 15" by 10" as usual. This stands for your drawing.

Go to the Block List, select "ANSI-A L" (L stands for landscape), click insert Block.
Now this block is attached to your Mouse pointer BUT keep an close look of the option bar before you place this block!

Remember: The print needs to be scaled down to the half of the normal size. That means your Border needs to be scaled up two times.
Always opposed!

So - determine for this case the scale for inserting the block. The text format doesn't matter. You can use 1" = 2", 2:1 or 2.
Husky-2018.01.12-02.png
Husky-2018.01.12-02.png (45.33 KiB) Viewed 12155 times
Place the block around that what you need to print.

Next step - Print dialog: Launch "Print Preview", write the scale in 1" = 2", 1:2 or 0.5 the result is the same.
Check the proper Paper orientation / position and you are ready to print.
Imperial template with ANSI A Blocks.dxf
(180.18 KiB) Downloaded 481 times
What do you think?
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ov10fac
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by ov10fac » Sat Jan 13, 2018 5:37 pm

Wow, much easier and faster. I like it a lot. The part I was missing was the drawing with block list attached, but nothing actually showing. I downloaded a set of dwg borders (I think in fact they are yours), but everything is already visible so I can't insert a block as they are already inserted. Ok, I see what is going on. I deleted the drawing (layers) and the block list remained. Now I can do exactly what you demonstrated.

Many, many thanks for the tip and short cut.

John

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Husky
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Husky » Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:11 pm

You're welcome! :D
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lphilpot
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by lphilpot » Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:27 am

Clive wrote:Usually all borders and title blocks would be kept within the same drawing file, the latest QCAD versions now have added paper space layouts intended for laying out the final drawings, a place if you like away from the normal drawing area (model space) where you can scale drawings and finalize the drawing ready for printing.
I don't know whether this is a QCAD-specifc question or a more generic "CAD knowledge" question (or, lack of CAD knowledge, in my case! :wink: ), but can you please explain how to use the paper space layouts to "store" scaled drawings with title blocks? *

I understand what Husky wrote about inserting a title block and scaling the drawing to fit (although for some reason blocks insert upside-down... currently researching the cause of that). But I'm not sure if I understand how to save specifically scaled final drawings. In fact, I'm not sure that my assumption of saving a scaled layout without affecting the drawing / geometry in model space is totally correct (something I vaguely recall about viewports and scaled paper space vs. model space in DraftSight / AutoCAD, which may or may not apply here).

* I assume you're referring to the "Layout1 (*Paper_Space1)" and/or "Layout2 (*Paper_Space)" blocks that appear just under the model space in the block list, i.e.:

Image

If I just overlooked the topic in the manual, please rub my nose in it. :wink:

QCAD Pro 3.19.2 on 64-bit Linux, by the way.

Thanks!
Len
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Husky
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by Husky » Thu Feb 01, 2018 8:22 pm

lphilpot wrote: (although for some reason blocks insert upside-down... currently researching the cause of that).
... keep an eye on the option bar during inserting. :wink:

I've seen that your question is meant for Clive. Maybe he is not available - is it Ok if I pick up your question?
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lphilpot
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Re: User Template Border HOwTo

Post by lphilpot » Thu Feb 01, 2018 8:35 pm

I was just replying to a comment that Clive made, but I'm open. It's 100% OK if you or anyone else wants to educate me. :wink:

Thanks.
Len
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