Scaling off Acad drawings sent as pdfs

After bad previous experience with free pdf creators, just found CutePDF, thanks to recommendation on this forum - it works great, tho I read it can't handle Wipeouts?

 

OK so I send pdfs of my A1 sheets (architectural 1:50 elevations) to suppliers for quotes. How do they scale off dimensions, if they aren't set up to make A1 prints? Is there anything I can do to make it easier (other than figured dimensions)?

Include a scale bar in the drawing

Done that, but still difficult, if they print off bits of the A1 pdf onto A4 sheets, or if they view by scrolling on screen, so either way the scale bar is out of sight.

 

Is it easy to establish the %age enlargement that willl result in true 1:50 scale, when they print bits on an ordinary printer?

 

Is there nothing that can work as a Measure tool in pdf viewers?

People are so used to printing a PDF file with the Page Scaling set to "Fit to Printable Area". Try and educate them to have the Page Scaling set to "None", set the view to what they want to see, and set the Print Range to "Current View", and they should have near enough scaling.

Does that mean the pdfs I make must be A4 size? i.e. not just make pdfs from my A1 paperspace layouts?

I would not include a scale or a scale bar on any PDF. You should not be encouraging scaling off of a PDF. It sets a bad precedent.

I would not include a scale or a scale bar on any PDF. You should not be encouraging scaling off of a PDF. It sets a back precedent.

I always thought the intent of adding a scale bar (not to be confused with a noted scale) was to be able to determine the plotted scale; as in the case of plotting to 11x17 when the drawing was set up for 24x36 (not quite half-size).

I would not include a scale or a scale bar on any PDF. You should not be encouraging scaling off of a PDF. It sets a back precedent.

Why's that, if it can be done accurately and reliably? Mind you, this is building industry not mecheng. Quantifying square metreage of blockwork for quote purpose would be scaled off fairly roughly, whether manually from a paper drawing, or by taking Distances on screen. Figured dims only when it comes to actually building it.

how accurate do you need to be? Very few printers print to the same scale in X & Y anyway so you are unlikely to ever do this correctly.

No great accuracy - just to get it close to 1:50, when it could end up 1:40 or 1:70 by guesswork if there's no systematic way of setting the scale near enough right on the receiver's printer, accepting that ordinary printers aren't meant to be as scale-accurate as plotters.

Does that mean the pdfs I make must be A4 size? i.e. not just make pdfs from my A1 paperspace layouts?

 

You make your PDF file at the proper scale on the proper sheet. Then A4 sheets can be printed off at your scale if the Page scaling is turned to None.

I have just made an A1 sheet at a scale of 1 to 200, then opened it up in Acrobat Reader, got the view I wanted, turned Page Scaling to None, and checked Print Range Current View instead of whole page, and on the printed A4 sheet, the scale bar scaled spot on. Experiment and see

What is the point of producing the PDF in the first place? Is it to elicit bids on a project? If so and accurate bids are crucial then I could see where you would want to have a scale bar or the drawing done "to scale" and noted as such. Still, would you want to have a cost estimate for a house, a bridge, or an industrial building generated off a set of PDFs the size of a normal sheet of paper?

how accurate do you need to be? Very few printers print to the same scale in X & Y anyway so you are unlikely to ever do this correctly.

 

I have just made an A0 PDF with two scales bars at right angles to each other, and printed off an A4 sheet from the whole A0 with Adobe Acrobat, and each scale bar measured spot on.

 

I know that faxes are notorious in not being able to keep both scales the same.

I have just made an A0 PDF with two scales bars at right angles to each other, and printed off an A4 sheet from the whole A0 with Adobe Acrobat, and each scale bar measured spot on.

 

I know that faxes are notorious in not being able to keep both scales the same.

I guess things have moved on since I was in the industry then.