New to AutoCAD how to print plot plan correctly?

Longstory short, I need to make an 11" x 17" copy of my plot plan for a propane tank installation. I drew everything out the best I could to scale, however I think I may have chosen the incorrect scale. The original complete area was suppose to show 92' x 234' but my actual proposed area is only in a 14' x 10' area. So when I went to print out a PDF everything was super tiny. The original idea was every 2 cubes/squares = 1 foot.

I've tried several ways to the best of my knowledge to correct the problem even attempting to reduce it to 50' x 100' but I seem to get the same problem where if I choose to print it it wont display the Linear Dimensions I have set (as it will print it out super tiny). I even thought of maybe trying a standard 8.5" x 11" then blowing it up at kinko's but same issue.

Can anyone advise or correct the issue for me? I feel pretty heavily defeated for the day I had chosen to try CAD as an attempt to save time but failure has found me.

I have attached the file for any guru's out there willing to lend me a hand.

CAD Help.dwg

Hi and welcome to the forums!

I am sure there is a quick and dirty solution to get what you have done out on a proper size, but since I am not of an imperial nature I can't help you with that.

I can however do my best to explain the long solution to get your drawing in working order.

1. At the bottom of your screen you have two tabs: Model and MAster. Highlight everything that you have on the Master-tab (ctrl+A) and Cut and Paste it to the Model-tab.

2. Scale (command SCALE) everything that is now on your Model-tab so that it's drawn at 1:1-scale. This is the most important thing in autoCAD, always draw at scale 1:1 in Model space. As to what factor you need to use to get it to scale, I can't help, I am a metrics only kind of gal.

2a. Right-click on your Master-tab and choose Page Setup Manager. Click Modify and select the printer you want to use and the paper size that you are after. Make sure that you have Plot Scale set to 1:1.

3. On the Master-tab, create a Viewport (command MVIEW). Double-click inside the viewport to activate it, if you do not see your drawing in the Viewport, double-click on your scroll-wheel to zoom everything.

4. Double-click outside your viewport do de-activate it.

5. Hightlight the viewport, bring up the Properties-palette (command PR) and assing a Scale to the Viewport. This is your plot scale.

This should get you started. Don't worry if it looks like just too much - almost everyone feels a bit overwhelmed until you get a hang of the use of scale in autoCAD.

The first thing you should know is that all your geometry belongs in model space. The second thing you should know is that everything you draw in model space should be drawn FULL size no matter if it is as small as a paperclip or as large as an aircraft carrier. FULL size. The third thing you should know is how to set your units. You used the default setting of "decimal" which means everything you draw is going to be done in inches. If you want feet and inches, such as 5'-6", that's called "architectural". If you want decimal feet and inches, such as 5.75', that's called "engineering". The choices are available via the UNITS command. One can also set the precision of these units as well in the same dialog box.

If you copy everything you drew in your layout, over to model space, you are going to have to scale it up by a factor of 12. To do this you will have to use the SCALE command.

Now, you state that you would like to plot this on an 11x17 piece of paper. And correct me if I am wrong but you would like to plot this at some sort of scale? Do you want to use an architectural scale (ex. - 1/4"=1'-0") or an engineering scale (ex. - 1"=20')?

BTW...you will also have to change your Dimension Style to reflect what unit format you are going to use for your linear dimensions. Is it going to be architectural or engineering? Are you familiar with the DIMSTYLE command?

Your "hatch" pattern for the 18" thick block wall is made up of individual lines. Did you explode the hatch or is that actually the way you drew it?

Right now you have your geometry, text and dimensions all sitting in what is known as a layout. Layouts are said to be in "paper space". Paper space is where we place our title block and border. It is also where we create a viewport. What is a Viewport? It is a "window" that allows us to see the objects we created back in model space. It is the viewport, not the layout and not the objects in model space, that a scale is assigned to. Are you familiar with any of this?

For further information about viewports refer to this thread: http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?72972-Things-you-should-know-about-Viewports.&p=498169#post498169

BTW...I looked at the page setup you have for your layout called "Master" and here too you made an incorrect choice. You elected to use an ANSI 11x17 paper size. The very first thing you should do is select your printer/plotter. Why? Because the paper sizes available to you are determined by the printer/plotter you are using.

Will you be creating a title block and border for this drawing?

Do you know how to load different linetypes?

Are you familiar with creating layers via the Layer Properties Manager? Do you know why layers are important to a drawing?

Do you know how to create a text style?

Have you gone through the tutorials here at CADTutor or anywhere else for that matter?

Do you have a good after-market AutoCAD book?

Now, you state that you would like to plot this on an 11x17 piece of paper. And correct me if I am wrong but you would like to plot this at some sort of scale? Do you want to use an architectural scale (ex. - 1/4"=1'-0") or an engineering scale (ex. - 1"=20')?

 

Your "hatch" pattern for the 18" thick block wall is made up of individual lines. Did you explode the hatch or is that actually the way you drew it?

Looks like I want to go with architectural scale. Also I individually drew the lines for the block wall as I wasn't sure how else to go about it. I kind of dove right in with yesterday being my first day on Autocad 2012. I remember using CAD about 6-7 years ago in high school but memory has failed me.

 

BTW...I looked at the page setup you have for your layout called "Master" and here too you made an incorrect choice. You elected to use an ANSI 11x17 paper size. The very first thing you should do is select your printer/plotter. Why? Because the paper sizes available to you are determined by the printer/plotter you are using.

 

Will you be creating a title block and border for this drawing?

 

Do you know how to load different linetypes?

 

Are you familiar with creating layers via the Layer Properties Manager? Do you know why layers are important to a drawing?

 

Do you know how to create a text style?

 

Have you gone through the tutorials here at CADTutor or anywhere else for that matter?

 

Do you have a good after-market AutoCAD book?

Looks like I'm not off to a good start As to your 7 questions I'd have to answer in the negative. Im kind of working under a deadline (Friday) and was hoping I could dive right into CAD, its a lot different from what I remember, so everything I generated was from tinkering around. My computer does not have a printer, I was hoping to get this printed at Kinko's so I didn't select a printer but it sounds like this may have been something to important to overlook.

Yes, you're off to a bit of a rocky start.

So what exactly do you need at this point for a finished product?

Who came up with this design? I ask because one twelve inch diameter "crash post" to protect the propane tank is inadequate. And you show a two foot wide curb. When you walk down a sidewalk in your hometown, that six inches of concrete out by the edge of the road is a curb. I've never seen one two feet wide.

Right now it's not looking so good but here is your 11x17 layout in portrait orientation viewed through a viewport. Not sure what you did with the text but it got all jumbled up. There is no North arrow, no border and no title block. All text and dimensions are in model space.

Yeah, from what I'm reading it looks like I drew everything in my layout tab instead of my model tab. I can more or less get the printing orientation right but when I preview it as a PDF, even when I zoom it it doesn't look like it will display the distance measurements as its to small. I'm thinking I need to scale down or not use all of my drawing as if I print it out in its current state, the unit measurements will be unreadable. I also need to get the units to display in architectural style too instead of 2.00

You can set your dimension style to display the dimensions in an architectural style (ex. - 12'-0"). You can also "cheat" a little and on the Fit tab of your dimension style dialog box, under the Scale for dimension features area, set Use an overall scale of: to a value of 12. It won't be elegant but it would work. And I would not use the Standard font. I would use something like RomanS. But you will have to create a new text style.

Forget using the "Scale for dimension features". The scale factor would have to be something like 72, 84 or 96 to be readable when plotted. Better off dimensioning in your layout. Your dimensions will have to be made "associative' in the options dialog box on the User Preferences tab.

What else do you need? You have not provided much in the way of detail and I dislike asking more than once. Work with me here OK?

Now I see what you did with your text. It looks like you used MText but for some reason it got compressed when I scaled it.

The radius on your curve is 52'-7 3/4". A bit odd. What criteria did you use to set it?

The wall above the propane tank is shown as being 5' thick. Is that correct? What is the wall constructed of?

I went ahead and changed my dimensions to architectural style and it now accurately reflects the measurements. As to what im trying to do, I want the 11x17 print out I'm trying to generate be easy to read as I will be turning it into an inspector for building and safety. However when I do the text print outs on PDF everything looks tiny like my example.

I'm probably in the wrong mindset or haven't scaled properly. But ideally when this prints out I as a plot plan I want anyone that reads it to be able to say something like "Oh the distance between the wall and the tank is X feet". As of now I am not able to do this because it to tiny in its current state. I'm thinking of truncating some of the northern and western walls so it zooms in specifically on my work area as I can't think of any other way to get it to show "larger". I apologize for not being direct in my request and I really do appreciate your help. Looks like I will still need to adjust the mText but that is my next priority compared it to printing out properly.

 

The radius on your curve is 52'-7 3/4". A bit odd. What criteria did you use to set it?

 

The wall above the propane tank is shown as being 5' thick. Is that correct? What is the wall constructed of?

The tank diameter is suppose to be 36 inches. Unless you are referring to the curve for the curb. The damn curb curved at some degree that I was unable to determine so I kind of just eyeballed it. But in real life it maintains its 1 foot width until it contours back into a straight line. I could have been more accurate in this matter but I figured if I at least showed that it was a curb and it curved then it might pass.

Also, we intend to build the wall out of cinderblocks that if I remember correctly the dimensions were 8 in. x 8 in. x 16. I'm getting the feeling that in autoCAD that "close" isn't good enough. I take my hat off to all the users who do everything to perfect scale, its difficult to do first time round.

The wall above the tank is 2.5 feet. My measurement units were incorrect initially. Its a brick wall that it is made of.

Also as the curve on the curb. I just used the Arc line. I was unable to determine the true curvature so I did 40 degrees on CAD to reflect that the curb did in fact curve. However the real curb maintains its 1 foot thickness whereas mine I think isn't uniformly 1 foot wide at some parts.

I'm assuming you need to show the entire 184'x200' piece of property right? If so, you will have to use an engineering scale for the viewport not an architectural scale. It won't affect anything you are doing in model space.

You will be required to have a North arrow on the plan, show any offset lines as called for by the zoning regulations, and in many cases since you have a driveway shown it has to connect to a street which you haven't shown.

The wall above the tank is 2.5 feet. My measurement units were incorrect initially. Its a brick wall that it is made of.

 

Also as the curve on the curb. I just used the Arc line. I was unable to determine the true curvature so I did 40 degrees on CAD to reflect that the curb did in fact curve. However the real curb maintains its 1 foot thickness whereas mine I think isn't uniformly 1 foot wide at some parts.

You now have changed the wall thickness from 5' to 2'-6" and the curb from 2' wide to 1'. Regarding the curb, it's not how a civil engineer would lay it out.

By my calculations an engineering scale, for your paper space layout viewport, of 1"=20' will fit everything you currently have on an 11x17 (ANSI B 11.00x17.00) in portrait orientation.

Forget using the "Scale for dimension features". The scale factor would have to be something like 72, 84 or 96 to be readable when plotted. Better off dimensioning in your layout. Your dimensions will have to be made "associative' in the options dialog box on the User Preferences tab.

So where do we stand here? Did you make any progress or did you give up?

The tank diameter is suppose to be 36 inches. Unless you are referring to the curve for the curb. The damn curb curved at some degree that I was unable to determine so I kind of just eyeballed it. But in real life it maintains its 1 foot width until it contours back into a straight line. I could have been more accurate in this matter but I figured if I at least showed that it was a curb and it curved then it might pass.

 

Also, we intend to build the wall out of cinderblocks that if I remember correctly the dimensions were 8 in. x 8 in. x 16. I'm getting the feeling that in autoCAD that "close" isn't good enough. I take my hat off to all the users who do everything to perfect scale, its difficult to do first time round.

OK....now the tank diameter has changed. I think I need to stop working on this until you have presented all of the correct information. I was willing to knock this out for you but you keep changing the parameters. Curves in roads and driveways are not laid out in some random way and what you have shown would probably not get the green light from a planning and zoning committee. AutoCAD is very accurate when it needs to be but a lot of this accuracy is dependent on the CAD tech. The use of the right units of measurement, setting the right precision of those units, the use of OSnaps and Orthomode or Polar tracking. Many of us have designed all kinds of intricate and/or complex things that have been fabricated/built/manufactured that demanded far more accuracy than the plot plan you are attempting to create.

So, where do we stand at this point? Today is Thursday, September 27th. What have you accomplished? What can we do to help you? Speak up as time is running out.