Question about U-Don's Los Angeles-class submarine

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dhanners

Active Member
Mar 16, 2004
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st. paul, mn, usa
I was contemplating having a go at U-Don's Los Angeles-class submarine and printed out a page just to see if the scale calibration thing was right, and I've got a problem. Or maybe I don't.

Every time I print it out -- no matter what settings I use -- the 1 cm calibration mark measures out to about .95 cm, while the 1 inch calibration mark measures out to 31/32nd of an inch. Is this normal? Is this considered close enough to start printing stuff out, or are they supposed to match perfectly?

It looks like a nice model. I just don't want to print it out just to wind up having all the dimensions out of whack.
 
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dhanners

Active Member
Mar 16, 2004
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st. paul, mn, usa
BARX2 said:
Could it be that your printer is shrinking an A4 size design onto Letter size paper? I'm not looking at the model, but that would be my guess.
Click to expand...

I've told the printer not to shrink the thing, and I've also told it to print it out as if it were on A4 paper, but I get the same results every time.

I'm wondering if it just might be that the calibration marks themselves are off a hair (or maybe my ruler?) or if it's just some strangeness in my printer.
 
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dhanners

Active Member
Mar 16, 2004
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st. paul, mn, usa
Well, nothing I've done seems to work right. I've tried setting the printer to A4, I've tried scaling it to fit the paper that's in there (8.5x11) and on and on but it never comes out correctly, and in fact, it cuts off some of the bottom of the pages. So I think I'll just have to go to a copying shop and do it on legal-sized paper or something like that. Dang. It looks like such a nice model, too.
 
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dhanners

Active Member
Mar 16, 2004
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st. paul, mn, usa
BARX2 said:
Well, I should have said that I set Adobe reader to fit to printable area. I set the printer properties to A4. It seems to have printed OK. Are you using Adobe or some other PDF software, like Foxit?
Click to expand...

Boy, you got me. I dunno about all that computer stuff. I did, however, convert the thing to a .pdf and then told the printer to scale it to A4 paper, and it caught the whole thing. However, the 1 cm calibration line is just a hair over 9 mm long, and the 1 inch calibration mark is 29/32nds of an inch long.

If I knew it was shrinking it along both the X and Y axis, I could live with it and go from there....
 
Ron Caudillo

Ron Caudillo

Creative Advisory Consultant
Staff member
Moderator
Feb 8, 2004
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Davenport, Iowa
My printer shrinks along one axis only too. If I print a perfect square, one side (along the length of the paper) is shorter than the side along the width of the paper. My printer is 3 years old so I think it has to do with worn rollers. It would be nice if the print driver allowed one to specify an aspect ratio offset to compensate for this.

Best Regards,
 
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dhanners

Active Member
Mar 16, 2004
142
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st. paul, mn, usa
I tried virtually ever setting I could cajole out of the printer last night and nothing seemed to get it to print out correctly. So I've downloaded the files to a thumb drive and tomorrow I'll head to my local FedEx/Kinko's to print it out on legal-sized paper; hopefully that will do the trick. Yeah, it'll cost me money, but at this stage of the game, I'm willing to pay to end the aggravation....
 
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aphelion16

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Feb 8, 2007
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This may be a stupid question, but why can't you print it at home on legal size paper ?:confused:. I had my local print shop cut me a sheaf of legal 110 #. They have been very helpful when I come in asking for some strange paper or size. I finally took in a model to show them what I was doing. Cutting just about any weight card stock does not seem to be a problem, they get it in huge sheets.
In fact I get packs of 11" x 17" 67 #/148 g/m2 cover stock from Staples and trim it as needed on my cutting board. :wave:
 
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dhanners

Active Member
Mar 16, 2004
142
93
31
st. paul, mn, usa
aphelion16 said:
This may be a stupid question, but why can't you print it at home on legal size paper ?:confused:. I had my local print shop cut me a sheaf of legal 110 #. They have been very helpful when I come in asking for some strange paper or size. I finally took in a model to show them what I was doing. Cutting just about any weight card stock does not seem to be a problem, they get it in huge sheets.
In fact I get packs of 11" x 17" 67 #/148 g/m2 cover stock from Staples and trim it as needed on my cutting board. :wave:
Click to expand...

That's not a dumb question and yeah, I'm slapping myself upside the head wondering, "Gee, why didn't I think of that?" So maybe I'll just head down there and buy paper instead....
 
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