Working with mm - Problems with scale in paper space (layouts)

[jhwang39]

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a project where all of my dimensions are in mm. I drew everything in model space in full scale. I, then, went over to layouts and tried to determine what scale to use to dimension everything. My biggest dimension is 167 mm. I expected to be able to use 1:1 or 1:2, but those scales are too zoomed in. The scale that seems to work is 1:25. Why is that, and is there a way I can fix it?

Thanks

[MSasu]

You have set the paper size in Page Setup? You should chouse there the paper that you intend to print on (presume A3 or A4 since you draw in mm).

Regards,
Mircea

[Dana W]

Make sure your paperspace units are not inches. 1:25 is the approximate conversion ratio for inches to mm.

[rkent]

Depends on the size of the paper in paper space. Did you use a border with metric or imperial dimensions? Same for the viewport?

[jhwang39]

I checked paper size in page setup. It's set to 8 1/2 by 11 inches, which is right.

How can I check paperspace units and dimensions of the border and viewport?

Thank you!

[MSasu]

So, the size of your page is now 8.5 x 11 units - for this reason you cannot use 1:1 scale. You will need to choose a metric size: A4 (297 x 210 units) or A3 (420 x 297 units). Then your 1:1 drawing of 167 units will fit well.

Regards,
Mircea

[ReMark]

What DWT (template file) did you start with? Was it acad.dwt, acadiso.dwt or a different one? You may have mixed apples (imperial) with oranges (metric).

[Dana W]

OK, so according to the OP, 1:25 scale fits well. Model units are mm. I bet paper units are inches. By the way 167 mm (6.57 inches), the OP's longest (apparently overall) dimension fits pretty much anywhere on an 8 1/2 x 11 paper at full size.

jhwang39, on your layout dialog you will see the Plot Scale area, of course.

Make sure there is a 1 in the input field next to the dropdown button. That is your paperspace unit. Click the arrow and change it to mm instead of inches. Below that, make sure there is a 1 in that unit input field as well. That is your modelspace unit. Now the combination will say that 1 mm = 1 unit. ( one model unit = 1 paper unit ). Before changing this, with your paper units set to inches, 1 mm = 1" is what you were trying to use for a scale. That's why 1:25 worked a lot better. 1" = pretty much 25.4mm.

Now select 1:1 as your plot scale. It might have changed itself to "Custom" while you were fixing your units ratio.

You will see your paper size change to 216 x 279 up there in the preview tile too. At least mine does.

For What to Plot, select Layout. Good to go? Let us know.

[Dana W]

I checked paper size in page setup. It's set to 8 1/2 by 11 inches, which is right.

How can I check paperspace units and dimensions of the border and viewport?

Thank you!

Click the layout tab, right click anywhere in paperspace or select page setup manager off a menu if one pops up. I think you have to right click the layout tab again to get the paperspace menu to come up instead of going right to the page setup manager. Anyhow, once you are there, see my prior post.

[BIGAL]

In your layout the first thing you should have done is draw a title block even if its just an outline this title block should be at true size in your case 8 1/2x11 would be
215.9-12 x 267.4-12 203x267 the slight decrease is that your printer can not plot to the edeg so I have allowed 6mm most laser printers use about 5mm for the edge. once you have this box create a MVIEW window then zoom E if you have the Viewports toolbar open you will see a number appear this is the fit scale this is a ratio of 1m = 1000mm v's what fits enter a new number, say 22.3 then it would become 25 exactly this is a true scale 1000/25 otherwise use the predefined scales.

You then plot the layout at 1:1 and it should work perfect