Plotting old drawings to scale

[swojcik]

I have been out of school sense 04 and am having trouble remembering how to setting up other peoples drawings to scale. I belive it has to do with scale factor, but I cant remember how to calculate that. Then once you get the scale factor dont you have to scale the whole drawing so when you select a scale of a view port in paper space it will plot to scale? I also have the plot scale in the page setup manager set to 1:1. When I look online things are not clicking I need the help of an actual person.

 

Thanks,

[ReMark]

Welcome to the forum swojcik.

 

You're saying then that these old drawings were done in CAD just as they would have been done on the drafting board. Right?

 

So, for example, if it were a drawing of a floor plan of a house, it might be scaled 1/8"=1'. The scale factor is 1/8*12 or 96.

[swojcik]

Thanks,

 

well these drawings are from our customers and when I type in ltscale I get 48. I cant remember how to do the math for scale factor and how to apply that to print to a certain scale. For instance, Plot that same drawing at 1/16"= 1' on a Arch D. Am even using the correct terms or am i way off?

[ReMark]

How old are these "old" drawings anyway? Were they done back in the days when there were no layouts (formerly referred to as paperspace)?

 

Since the introduction of layouts (paperspace) the advice given is that objects stay in model space and are drawn full scale. If a house is 40 ft. x 28 ft. that's exactly how it is drawn. Then we switch to our layout. The title block and border go here. They are drawn at a scale of 1:1. I won't get into text (like notes) or dimensions because there are two schools of thought on that at the moment (neither is any better than the other IMHO; it's a matter of how you were taught and the company's way of doing things). Anyway, a viewport is established in the layout and it is this viewport that a scale for the model space objects is applied to. Of course there is a correlation between the size of the paper we intend to plot on and the scale of our viewport. The scale cannot be so large that our entire model can't fit. You are at liberty to set the scale to whatever suits your needs.

[ReMark]

Ltscale=48? My guess is they are 1/4"=1' scale. 1/4*12=48. If they were 1/16"=1' that would be 1/16*12. When it comes time to plot one of these old drawings just select 1/4"=1' from the list of scales presented. Before actually sending a plot over to the printer do a full preview. That will show you if the drawing will fit on the paper size you have selected (24x36).

[swojcik]

The age of these drawings very. So how do get the scale factor of an older drawing?

[swojcik]

This is what i cant remember how do you get 48 out of 1/4" 1' Im reading something that say it means its reduced 48 times but i dont understand the math.

[ReMark]

You're mutiplying a fraction ( 1/4 ) and a whole number ( 12 ). That's what gives you the 48.

 

So, 1/8 x 12 = 96, 1/2 x 12 = 24, 3/4 x 12 = 16. And at 1" = 1' the scale factor would be 12. See the way it progresses? The smaller the scale the larger the scale factor. 1/16 x 12 = 192!

[swojcik]

Wait i understand now, 1 divided by 4 is .25 then 12 divided by .25 is 48. So this mean i can only set my view prt to 1/4 = 1'? and if i want to change the viewport to 1/16 = 1' I have to rescale the entire drawing so it would calculate to a scalew factor 0f 192? Sorry im retardid and I can understad if im frustrating, but i think im close to getting this.

[ReMark]

Let's backtrack a moment.

 

Were the drawings originally done entirely in model space?

 

Were they also drawn "to scale" as though they were done on a drafting board?

[swojcik]

Ok this is starting to make sense. How these drawings are set up is random, so lets take this one i just got sent to me. the scale factor is .5 dimscale is 0'-1" and there is no peper space. But i want to plot it to Arch D.

This is how i have page manager set up. page area is set to layout, and plot scale is 1:1. paper size is Arch D. Now my viewport in paper space is set to 1/16" = 1'. If i where to take a scale mater and set it to 1/16"=1' will it measer a door at 3 feet?

[ReMark]

I'm not really concerned about the scale factor or the dimscale at the moment. I just want to see how this drawing is going to look on your sheet of paper.

 

You have a D-size model space drawing that you want to plot at a scale of 1/16"=1'. Once plotted you want to be able to take an architecture's scale (maybe one of those triangular ones with multiple scales on it?) and measure a door that you know to be 3'-0" and have it scale correctly. Right?

 

If the entire drawing was done in model space, including the building, the title block and border, the notes and the dimensions then there is no need to set up a layout just to plot it. Plot from model space. Yep, that ability hasn't disappeared from AutoCAD. In your plot dialog window set Paper Size to Arch D (or equivalent), set Plot Scale to 1/16"=1', set Plot Area to Extents or Display and then click on Preview. How does it look? Too big, too small or just about right? Do NOT set Plot Scale to Fit to Paper!

[rkent]

If you know the size of the paper you want to end up with (Arch D) then simply plot to extents, scale to fit. Then if you must have it exact, look at what scale autocad gives you in the plot dialog after you have set the plot as I described above. It will be close to a standard scale, like 24 for 1/2"=1', 32 for 3/8"=1', 48 for 1/4"=1', 96 for 1/8"=1', etc. So uncheck the fit to scale, type in the right scale factor and plot.

[coastalcad]

Hello, I get having a drawing area that fits my building and am able to plot the area to scale by layouts. Would you address the use of the dimension style manager to set up the the scale. Using mvsetup to set up a drawing we select our drawing size and scale factor. Does the dimension style manager always have to be reset for different sizes and scale factors?

[ReMark]

Coastalcad:

 

It would be best if you posted your question as a new thread rather than tacking it onto the end of an entirely different question. You'll get more responses that way. Thank you.