ME105 Printing/Plotting

Printing and Plotting

1. Drawings should be printed/plotted only when absolutely necessary
2. Each printer/plotter is supplied with drivers and manuals
3. From the File Pull Down Menu use Plot to open the dialogue box

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 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Printing and Plotting – Important Settings
 Select the appropriate printer or plotter connected to your computer
 If it’s a new printer, first configure it in order to access it
 If necessary change the Properties of the printer/plotter e.g.
 Select the appropriate paper size (A0, A1, A2 etc) depending on the available
and connected printer as well as the desired output and number of copies.
 What to Print/Plot
1. Display – prints what is visible on the graphics window
2. Limits – prints what is available depending on the limits set for the
drawing
3. Extents – prints the drawing to the extents of the graphics window
4. Window – Users can select a window or portion of a drawing to print
 Whichever option is taken, it is essential to have the correct display of what
needs to be printed in the Preview Window of the Print/Plot dialogue box
 Plot Scale – Drawing to be printed can be scaled up or down depending on
the size of output paper. Advisable to use full scale by setting limits of each
drawing in line with paper size.
 Plot Offset – Distance from the edge of paper to the drawing boundary WRN
 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Model Space Viewports - Exercise
 Activate the top right (3D view) and make Shaft the Current Layer
 Add a cylinder, R30, height 200 at the bottom center of Cast Base
 Make Oring current layer, add a torus (R40, tube rad 10) on top of
the flat surface of base wrapping the outer cylinder
 NB: Notice the automatic updates in all viewports

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 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Model Space Viewports - Exercise
 Activate the top right (3D view) and make it a Realistic (Rendered)
image through View – Visual Styles - Realistic

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 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Model Space Viewports - Exercise
 Use the VPORTS command to create/save the model space viewports

 Name your viewport to Cast Base Assembly and save by clicking OK

 The Model Space viewports are complete but can only be printed one
viewport at a time, hence the ates in all viewports
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 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Paper Space Viewports - Exercise
 Click on Layout 1 to turn to Paper Space or set Tilemode to 0
 A white background paper appears. This represents the paper for
printing
 The dashed line represents the printable area
 Before importing the viewports, set the paper size to A3 via File –
Page Setup Manager

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 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Paper Space Viewports - Exercise
 If necessary zoom all to see the entire paper and printable area
 Make Title Block your current layer
 Open another AutoCAD drawing with your title block and place it
side by side with your current session on viewports.
 Select contents of the Title Block and drag it to your paper space
 Adjust if necessary so that the Title Block fits in the printable area
 Make Viewport the current layer
 Insert the named viewport (Cast Base Assembly) through View –
Named Viewed Ports and select it.
 Use the lower left and upper right corners of blank area of the Title
Block and use the option Fit to fill the area with the 4 viewports.
 Viewports in Paper space can be activated by clicking on their
boundaries and properties adjusted right clicking on it
 Scaling of the models can be done under Misc – Standard.
 The viewport boundaries can be removed by turning off viewport
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 ME105 Printing/Plotting
Model Space Viewports - Exercise

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