plot to scale or plot to maximize?

Hello all,

I am a newish Microstation User. I just need clarification on plot scale. If I make a fence around the title block, and the drawing is to be plotted at A3, 420mm x 297mm,

do I set the scale at 1.00  to reflect papersize 402.000mm x 285.000mm

 

 

or do I hit maximize to get a scale of 0.9596 and slightly different paper size out put of 418.926 x 297.000mm

 

 

 

 

which one will provide a true scale once printed out?

 

Some of the dwgs have boundary sheets which the plotter picks up ok, other don't, so I need to work out what to plot at.

 

Cheers for any help.

 

  • I'm guessing your plot shape isn't 420x297? Otherwise, plotting at a scale of 1 would give you 420x297.

    Short answer: Scale 1
  • Hello, I have many drawings form many companies to go through, various layouts and sheet sizes. Most are A1, so yes a plot scale of 2 reduces this to the correct size of A3(420x297), however some dwgs are set up different or have no sheet/boundary, so when I pick fence then plot to scale or maximize, I get different values.
  • There is no one way to setup drawings so no single answer to your question. I can give some advice that hinges on a lot of assumptions.

    If your sheets are setup such that the borders are in inches or mm/cm (1=1), as opposed to feet or meters, then you should be using scale=1 for full size, scale=2 for half size.

    If your sheets are setup such that the borders are in feet or meters (for example: 1"=20' or 1:30), then you should be using the scale the sheet is setup for (20 or 30). Then a half-size print would be double that (40 or 60).

    Those are the two most common ways, I think. Anything's possible, especially if drawings are not to scale.

    Ideally, the border has a shape that corresponds to the full plotted size (420x297, for example) so you can determine the needed scale. Are you allowed to add a shape to the borders when they lack one, assuming borders are shared and referenced in?