preview looks correct but prints wrong

[crosscad]

I am using ACA 2008. I am printing on 11x17 to a printer, in AutoCad my preview looks perfect but when I print it shifts my drawing to the left so instead of being centered the first .75" of the drawing have been cut off. I am printing to a .pc3 file I have created so I could encrease the margins of the standard 11x17 print area to the edge, I can also see in ACA preview that the dashed line, or print margin is where it should be...Any ideas??

[johnnybean]

It Sounds Like Your Using A Generic Autocad Titleblock .

You Could Draw An 11x17 Rectangle And Position It Around Your Drawing As You Would Like It Positioned On The Page Then Move The Rectangle Into Defpoints Layer And Select Plot Extents . Really Your Title Block Should Be 11x17 To Center Properly .

Hope This Helps.

Cheers

[BIGAL]

Sorry jonnybean but your title block is not 11x17 thats the size of the sheet of paper very few printers will print 100% of a sheet.

 

You should always check the printer manual for what is the actual print area not just what software says the margins are.

 

Your title block should fit just inside this margin area we use 1mm inside and never have a problem. We also have full sheet markers which are paper size and this helps centering the plot but they do not plot. We use predefined and saved sheet sizes so you do not have to set every time this is in our drawing templates but you can "import" at any time out of another drawing.

 

Ps (ex plotter dealer)

[crosscad]

thanks for the help...but the size of the title block is not the problem the title block is probably 10x16. The problem is that ACA preview shows me the print margin dashed, I can see everything fits inside and is perfectly center, w/ the plot dialouge box offset x&y at 0,0. THEN when it plots it somehow shifts to the left and cuts off a half inch of the entire title block. The problem is that ACA sees it being set up perfectly but the printer does not! HELP!!

[ReMark]

Are you specifying a X,Y offset in the plot dialog window?

 

Have you tried enabling the Center the plot option?

[crosscad]

No, offset x,y coordinates are both set at zero. Yea, I was trying to set up the layout correctly instead of having everyone to window or use extents, you can't center the layout opt. can you?

[ReMark]

You're centering the plot whether you are plotting from a layout or directly from model space. Enable the option then hit Print Preview. What does it look like? If you aren't going to use this option then you have to assign a X and possibly a Y offset. It's an either/or thing. It cannot be both. Try it both ways and check the results. Forget for the moment what Print Preview is telling you. The proof is better seen on paper anyway.

[BIGAL]

Are you plotting to pdf I have had this problem with a pdf driver, looks fine plot sheet and it moves, use another driver and it gives diffent plot answer.

 

For our particualr purpose we rotated the drawings 180 then plotted and preview said we were wrong but when reprinted as a paper copy via pdf plotted out was perfect for stapling etc