I’m trying to print my board out in Boardcad. Both the outline and rocker are printing out in multiple sheets, but that’s ok, I don’t mind. The problem is the rocker is printing off the page and nothing I do with margins seems to make a difference. It always prints the same way. Even if I click on landscape printing, it won’t do it. It is as if Boardcad is not working with the printer driver. Anyone have any solutions? I’m getting really frustrated here.
Thanks,
Simon
I use a Lexmark Printer with a Banner Driver. If you don’t have the banner driver you cannot print out the full rocker profile. That’s the case for Shape 3D and most likely for Board Cad as well. I use computer paper and tear off the feed ribbon and run it through. Board Cad is one of the best FREE programs out here. Good luck and PM me if you need any info?
Kind regards,
Surfding
Try setting a relatively large margin. Some printers are not able to print all the way to the edge of the paper causing similar problems. There might be a driver issue as well as we’ve seen cases where the settings from the printer is not picked up in the java printing code. Or it might be a bug. What OS/Printer are you using?
Hi,
you can print the entire profile sheet by sheet. I prefer to do it on A3 format as I do not have access to a banner printer, but A4 works fine too. Don’t tape the sheets together, it’s easier to just dust the template material with spray glue and glue on sheet by sheet.
Thanks for the appraisal, much appreciated.
Print the board as a PDF file and then open it up in Photoshop. Expand the photo until it is life size and have Kinkos print it out on their large printer. Usually take 10 minutes and only $15 a board.
This has worked for other software where I had the same issue:
Use a pdf printer: Change the paper size to the full template size (8ftx2ft or something) and set the margin offset so that the image does not print to the edges. You should then get a screen print that is a reduced view of a big sheet of paper. Then you can work with Adobe to print onto other paper sizes (better still, take the pdf to a print shop and pay the $10 to do a full sized print - well worth the $$)
I think you’re right about the Java issues as I have tried setting the margins and the printer did not respond. I am using a Mac with OS X and a Lexmark 5270 printer. My friend printed the profile last night on his PC and had no problems.
Simon
Ah, yes. There are some issues when printing on Mac, for one thing the printer dialog you get doesn’t look the same as on windows if I remember correctly. Apple are kind of doing their own thing with the java implementation on OS X (Don’t even get me started on iPhone/iPad…). Until I can get my hands on a Mac I’m having a hard time figuring this out…
Usually take 10 minutes and only $15 a board.
Lexmark Printer with a Banner Driver and two ink cartridges (Black and Color) = $40.00 on Ebay divided by 75 print outs works out to $0.53 a rocker profile.
Your method works out to $1125.00?
I wish I had your wealth. (LOL)
Why is their so much resistance to get a printer with a banner driver?
Cost less than a Sushi dinner!
**
**
**
**
i have a lexmark with banner, but it still prints with the gaps how do you get it to print continuously?
thanks
Paul which Lexmark do you have? Try updating the driver.
Hi surfding,
are you printing in banner format with boardcad or Shape3D? I guess I need to get hold of a printer capable of banner printing to sort this out.
This is the printer I use. I use to use the Z66 and you can find them for $10 however it cost more for the ink on the older printers. It’s sometimes cheaper just to buy the newer unit so you pay less for the ink in the end. I like the banner function.
surfding I’m not understanding something … that printer is not a wide format printer is it? rocker templates i can see, but unless your board is max 17" wide, how can you print outlines on 8.5" wide banner paper with this one?
I print all my rocker templates with my Lexmark for a full outline I use my HP 44" wide Format Printer.
Howzit surfding,Now that is a high dollar printer.Aloha,Kokua
These are great printers and the quality of prints are very high end. It’s really over kill. However for Outline and layout art work it makes things a little easier that running to Kino’s everytime your working on a project. They have dropped in price and are about $1500 cheaper than when we bought ours. I use the little Lemark the most and paid less than $50 for it. If you want to make posters, skins for Autos, lightboxes, flags, banners in full scale then this is a good printer for those types of jobs. For outlines just throw in a 24" roll of white paper stock and print out a full template and 3M44 contact spray and attach it to a piece of masonite or high density plastic then cut it out with a bandsaw fitted with a 3/8" or smaller blade. You can printer on large rolls of rice paper as well.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/Q6719A%2523B1K
| $6,154.99 | * |
HP Designjet Z3200 44"
Photo Printer
|
5.0 out of 5
stars (1 reviews)
**Price :** $6,154.99*
 |
 |
Save $25 with instant rebate on any printer over $69 when purchased with a desktop, laptop, or mini netbook |
|
|
Save $25 with instant rebate on any printer over $69 when purchased with a desktop, laptop, or mini netbook | |
See all special offers & deals
| **QTY** |
Just thought I’d share some of my printing experience with BoardCAD (and with AkuShaper).
Print software, the printer drivers (ie. control panel settings on the driver), and the printer itself are sensitive to whether or not we allow a border, and they are sensitive to other paramters such as what paper we choose.
I once installed Poster printing software and it seemed to supercharge me with a borderless/banner-style driver to allow me to choose custom borderless more easily in BoardCAD (my imagination?) but when the printout ran it’s not lined up correctly (not at all). And when I magnify and do it poster-style, I can do this, it magnifies the line size (I just personally don’t like this but YOU might not mind this). I’m not really sure if the Poster software is at fault or not. I don’t know. It’s called Ronyasoft Poster Printer and it cost me 15.00 to license. It’s easy to use and get all the sizing and pages all lined up particularly if you leave the grid on your printout.
So I ALWAYS do my BoardCAD profiles with a border on left and right of 0.125". When I do that, I just have to go to my paper-cutter, cut an 1/8" off each end of the sheets, then put them together. When I do this, the profile pieces DO in fact line up correctly - although the edges of the paper do NOT (ok, yeah, I understand why the papers don’t line up - it’s due to the border requirement, that causes the shift, ok so no problem there). But anyway, I can at least print out a profile, go to the paper cutter, get some masking tape, tape them together and it’s an ok profile. I have even improved on this process by overlaying the thin sheets onto thicker (> 100 lb. paper) so my pen doesn’t crawl under the paper while I’m tracing around the profile. And I always make sure that my left paper guide is good and snug - truth is, this snugness doesn’t matter a hill of beans since the printhead will always be aligned, deskewed etc… relative to the paper, but it makes us feel better. And that the print head is aligned.
But I agree that it’s possible to enlarge a screen snapshot of something and simply hand the image to a copy center. They can probably do it well although I would hope that the line is thin, not thick - just a personal preference. Or you could even “banner-print” or page print your giant image. It should work. I may try this next - haven’t yet saved a giant bitmap or jpg to my hard-drive but it’s only like 8 pages or so for a typical board.
But what bothers me - is why is it so difficult to get a computer, the software and everything to print with NO border so I don’t have to go to the paper cutter? Is it that it damages the print-head? Does it more or less require really good control of the printhead? If they print something wrong 100 times in exactly the same way, why not teach the friggin’ printhead to do it RIGHT ONE friggin’ time?
If I have to buy a 25.00 Lexmark 2670 and it really can do the printing, I’ll do it just to save the paper-cutter step. But I don’t really want a thick line - will it be thick? If so, I may need to run a curve through the middle of the line or something.
But I wish is that I knew WHY there are so many problems. I can always modify the BoardCAD program - I already changed the line thickness so it’s thin. I just like thin lines. But if I need to tweak the software somehow - but will this help? Do I just need to buy that Lexmark? I have an HP6210, and an HP 3210 (still in it’s box). And I have another printer something 5440 or something, also an HP I believe.
I guess for my next waste of paper and ink, I’ll try the Lexmark 2670 - I’ll buy one and try it.
But I guess at least I can cut the paper and they DO line up. The lack of lineup I mentioned above is due to the borders so it’s ok. So far I just trust that everything is ok since the profile pieces DO match perfectly when I cut the paper on my paper-cutter. For now, that’s all I have but at least I can use that method until I buy a new printer. I want to be self-sufficient - the idea of going to Kinko’s isn’t hugely appealing to me. I guess I could try the Kinko’s - I don’t mind spending 10.00 if I really have to.
I’ll do what surfding says if his method works though and if I no longer need the paper-cutter. And if it’s only 0.53 per job, that’s cheap.
And I think I need to understand this whole process better.
Another idea I might try - someone may have already tried this, is to use iron-on transfers - will something designed for cotton work on a wood or woodlike surface. I don’t know if that idea has any potential at all. It’s not necessary for the paper to be transparent - the paper in Staples is whitish in color - but I would LOVE to just line up some iron-on transfer papers all in a row, tape them all up, then FLIP the whole thing over and iron over it onto a piece of wood.
One thing for sure: I’ve wasted huge quantities of paper trying to improve on my paper-cutter method. Not to mention the wear on my printer - which will soon be my printers since I will try the other 2 printers I have.
I remember printing to pdf using one of the pdf print drivers. Then simply change the paper size to the shape you want. Print on one piece of paper. A border is good because it lifts the rocker/outline from the edge of the paper. My lines came out thin. I printed at a local plan shop for about $10.
I tried printing templates to Staples. They charge by the square foot, so a spin template was under $10. I sent them my file in pdf. The problem is that when I measured the gridlines, which were supposed to be an inch, they were off. So they have issues with their scaling. Back to printing at home and taping together.