Printing A3 Drawings

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

My trusty but ancient Roland 8 pen plotter finally gave up the ghost the other day so I bought an A3 Canon BJC800 printer but it prints my drawings in either A4 on half of the paper or a larger drawing but in a much reduced area.

I'm using a program called DesignCad and have 2D and 3D versions but have only tried the 3D one so far.

The plotter used DFX files and produced drawings in the actual size of the drawing.

I have a few ideas to try but can anyone help with suggestions?

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

DFX files and a Canon Printer

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

The basic set up of the printer will give you options of the size of print you want, when i start a print session the box comes up and I can specify BW, size of format A4 or A5 etc. and the orientation as portrait or landscape.

Do you have on screen menus? From these you can see how to do it.

Clive

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Check for 'scale to fit' option in the printer dialogue (typically it should NOT be selected).

Look for alternative ways to access printing from the CAD software – I have come across software where this can make a difference. I presume the sheet set up and any print options within the CAD package are set correctly since they've worked before.

Check for newer printer driver available from Canon support web site.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I have a brother all in one MFC-J4510DW that does A4 and A3, if I don't set the printer right for A3 I get part of the drawing at the right size but on A4 so its just a case of making sure I have A3 set and also Landscape and not portrate. It comes out spot on for size.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

As others have said you have to make sure that the drawing size and the page size are set to A3. (best done at the start of a new drawing) This is in addition to telling the printer software to print to A3

A few years ago I was pulling my hair out over a situation such as yours until I figured it out.

Nick

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I have found that my Sons use printers and never go into the set up and the result is very poor colour pictures and odd sizes, It is imperative to set the parameters of what you want the printer to do. Set the type of paper and the size and whether B/W or colour and the number of prints. Most set ups also give advanced settings to give tweaks to what you want it to do.

Best to explore what your printer can do by experimenting.

[egaParticipant @ega]

Brian Hutchings:

Is your Canon a current model? And are all its features supported?

I have found that an otherwise OK printer can become less useful when there is no dedicated driver for the latest OS and you are limited to the in-OS driver with much reduced capability.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Some printer drivers have a mind of their own. Both at home and at work I've had difficulty with Canon, Epson and Hewlett Packard printers costing from £160 up to over £35,000.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Funny how printers vary.

I've run out of toner for my trusty HP laser and had to use the samsung to print a PCB transparency. Lovely dense print, but the lower resolution is very noticeable

Neil

[Alex CollinsParticipant @alexcollins55045]

Used HP Toners are a great source of Buffer Springs !!!!

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Problem solved, I'm selling the Roland Plotter and have returned the A3 Canon BJC800 printer to the supplier as faulty.

A couple of days ago I took my newish PC into PC World for a (free) checkup and had a look at printers to try and identify one that I might be able to pick up on ebay.

I was surprised to find a new Brother A3 & A4 printer for £62!! The A3 printing means feeding in a single sheet of paper at a time but that's fine as I don't need to do lots of printing in A3.

I printed out one of my drawings made with DesignCad  and checked a dimension. It was spot on using a steel rule.

I'm grateful to all who answered my questions, they may help someone else but for now, all is well (apart from the cost of new cartridges for the Brother that is.)

Edited By Brian Hutchings on 29/01/2016 10:55:00

[BikepeteParticipant @bikepete]

Great that it's sorted.

In such situations I usually 'print' to a PDF first (using e.g. the free CutePDF printer driver, which works with just about any Windows program) to check it looks as it should. Then print the PDF to paper. Adobe Acrobat (which you use to open the PDF) has a print dialogue box which is more helpful than most, and it shows a wee preview of what you're printing and how it fits onto the paper.

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

I have been using a Brother A3 scanner/copier/printer for my business for about eight years now, and have been very pleased with it. The prints are certainly more accurate and nicer to handle than the smelly and inconvenient diazo prints I grew up with.

I use refilled cartridges from Portsmouth Ink Store (usual disclaimer) with no problems at all, and I am sure there is somewhere near you that can offer the same service at a considerable saving on the Brother price.

George

[egaParticipant @ega]

There is something to be said for using genuine cartridges for the warranty period.

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Good point!

George

[Author]

Posts