- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 9,625
This was certainly true for earlier printers. All the printers (HP LaserJet, Epson, Brother) that I have used in the past fifteen or twenty years have been spot on for scale. To ceck the scaling, I print make a 7" x 10" rectangle and measure. With my machinist's rule, I can measure to 1/50th of an inch giving me .002"/" accuracy which is better than my layout skills.I was told years ago some printers would reduce a drawing just enough to fit the paper better.
While I go by the numbers for reading drawings, I use 1:1 drawings as templates for various projects. For example, cutting a gasket for an engine, I would print out the drawing and glue it to the gasket material with paper cement, cut the gasket, and peel the template. Better accuracy than trying to draw out the gasket on the gasket material. I also used a printer for making 1:1 transparencies for printed circuit masks. A third use was making a 1:1 template to check the fit of a design prior to cutting metal.