Help getting a pattern printed from a 3D model!

January 11, 2020 8:33 AM

I am totally driving myself nuts trying to get a a pattern printed of the sides of this case design on thingverse.

Several months ago I managed to export a vector of the sides so I could print it in illustrator, but I can't even remember how I did that. Using the last free version of Sketchup? Something that opened the .dxf online? I really can't remember.

I'm not even sure I'd exported the side pattern (the one you can see from the top view) to vector properly. I'm terrible at 3D modelling, though I used to be an ace at Illustrator 15 years ago.

But I found (now that I've borrowed a scroll saw, bought some wood, etc...) that I'm not sure if the vector version I have in illustrator is even at the correct size. And if it is I can't get it to print from Illustrator or Inkscape to the proper size, no matter what setting I've tried.

I've overlayed a ruler with inches set to Illustrator's grid. No dice. It always prints off about 1/16th of an inch. I've tried every setting I can find. It's driving me crazy. I've probably spent 12 hours on this and have a huge stack of misprints...

Does anyone have any advice? Know of a way to grab a design off a .skp or .dxf file and put it into a tiled pdf for printing at the proper scale?

posted by Catblack to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

I'm unclear on exactly what you're trying to do. I think you're trying to print out on paper an image of the side of the rack so you can cut it with a scroll saw. Is that correct? And you were able to export this drawing and bring it in to Illustrator.

If that's the case, it sounds like all you need to do is scale it to the correct size if it's not already, and then print it at actual size.

You've said that you aren't sure that the file is the right size in illustrator. This is key. I work with engineers who give me DXF and DWG files and I import them into Illustrator at actual size with no problems (unless they didn't make the model at actual size). If you have the DXF, I'd start by re-importing it into Illustrator and making sure the scaling in the import window is set to 1:1 (assuming you made the model at actual size). Then you the ruler tool to measure a known dimension. If it's off, then figure out what percentage it needs to go and scale accordingly.

As far as the printing goes, I'm assuming (since a eurorack case is bigger than 11") that you're printing multiple pages and tiling. I never have great luck with this. Laser printers aren't always that accurate, and when tiling multiple pages, the inaccuracies add up. Also, make sure your print isn't set to "fit to page" as that will throw everything off.

If your printer won't print correctly, I'd suggest going to a local large format printer that does work for architects and have them print it. The print should be cheap since you don't need high quality.
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:03 AM on January 11, 2020

Best answer: Here is a section view of that SketchUp file exported to LayOut, and then printed to a PDF at a quarter scale. I put dimensions on it you could check to refine it.

https://gully.org/uxb/oneQuarterScale.pdf
posted by nickggully at 11:27 AM on January 11, 2020

The dxf in that bundle is the side of the case in mm. Does you printer have some sort of "fit to page" that might be altering the scale?
posted by nickggully at 11:31 AM on January 11, 2020

Response by poster: I've tried every print option in illustrator. When I do a summary of the print, it tells me the media size (letter size) is 9 x 11.

I tried printing a ruler overlaid, and it's printing about 1/16th off per inch. I'm trying no scaling, NO fit to page etc...

There's got to be something in the printer driver that's messing me up.

Thanks for that export, nickggully, but it's not helpful. Illustrator is just seeing it as a block, and that side view is rotated slightly.

I'll try to figure something out. I want to get this pattern out onto cereal box cardboard so I can sketch it on the wood and try to cut this weekend.
posted by Catblack at 12:25 PM on January 11, 2020

Best answer: Okay, how about:

— Arch C, with 2" ruled squares: http://scruss.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/synth_side.pdf

— Arch C, with 2" ruled squares, split to letter-sized pages with crop marks and guides: http://scruss.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/synth_side-tiled.pdf

Many printers only print to within ± 1% size even with scaling off: paper shrinks as it goes through a laser printer. Thick stock like card can shrink a lot.
posted by scruss at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2020

Best answer: (how I did that: exported the linked skp file to STL via Sketchup for Web, selected just the end piece in MeshLab, exported that to another STL file which I imported into OpenSCAD, exported as 2D projection in DXF, imported that into Inkscape, straightened it, exported to PDF/PS, tiled it using poster(1).)
posted by scruss at 7:28 AM on January 12, 2020

Response by poster: Thank you so much scruss. I gave these a go, but could never get it printed right. I did use your pdf to do a grid on cardboard. It's not as perfect as I'd wanted, but I'll see what happens when I get it on the wood.

Thanks again everyone.
posted by Catblack at 8:17 AM on January 12, 2020

Best answer: If you can get your hands on a 1:1 scale full-size PDF, you can take it to your friendly local blueprint shop (or, lacking that, a Staples etc.) and they can almost certainly do a full-size inkjet print for you. All of the detail and none of the heat distortion problems of a laser printer. We do a lot of 1:1 pattern prints for boat and airplane builders.
posted by xedrik at 4:37 PM on January 12, 2020

Response by poster: I want to thank everyone who helped me get this done. Thank you so much!

Here it is finished!
posted by Catblack at 8:58 AM on February 28, 2020

Response by poster: There's a private DIY synth case builder's facebook group where I did a much longer writeup with details on what I did.
posted by Catblack at 9:26 AM on February 28, 2020