CAD Software Forum

Hello all,

I am using CMS IntelliCAD 2001A PE v3.12. I have an HP 5L Laserjet hooked up to my computer, running windows '98 SE. I can print drawings I have created to my printer, but there's a problem with full scale.

I am using 8.5 x 11.0" paper. I have drawn in IntelliCAD an 11.0 x 8.5" rectangle and a 10.5 x 8.0" one inside it (LANDSCAPE). I have NO margins set in my HP printer driver (windows driver). Inside IntelliCAD I have chosen Print Area - Window the area of my outer rectangle. Print Scale I have tried both fit to size and a user defined scale of 10.0 to 10.0 (1 to 1).

The outside rectangle does not print (and I do not care about this). However, when the inner rectangle prints, I get approximately 8.0" for the width (a little off), but a full 1/32" shy of the required 10.5" length. If I mess with the user defined scale, either the drawing does not print properly or the length dimension becomes better at the expense of the width dimension (it gets worse).

I have tried also using the latest driver from HP, but the printout is worse. This driver does not allow me to set the unprintable area.

Anyone have a cure for this?

I am making small parts using these drawings as patterns, and this error is unsatisfactory.

-fde

forrestde,

I have tried this out on my Brother MFC9160 Lazer on Windows XP pro and the output is perfect.

ICAD uses the Windows printer drivers and there may be some problems with the HP 5L Laserjet drivers.

Have you tried this out using a different printer to see if your printer has mechanical feeding problems?

I have used both ACAD and ICAD on a lot of different printers and have only had some problems with a Canon BJ330, HP is generally very good.

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Regards
John Finlay

John,

Thanks for your quick response.

I do not think that I have feed problems, but here is something I have discovered.

1. If I go into Intellicad, load the drawing and click file - print preview it is shrunk.

2. If I then click print settings, print setup, and choose HP 5L PCL, in print preview it looks correct - however, it prints short.

3. I now close IntelliCAD and restart it and load the drawing, click file - print preview, choose settings and this time choose HP III for the driver (I installed this earlier, it only does 300 dpi). I then print out the drawing.

4. This print out has errors in it. Now I go back into the IntelliCAD window and this time choose the windows driver, HP 5L PCL, and print preview (looks good)- print. This time the print comes out 8"x10.5", the correct drawn size.

I returned to IntelliCAD and clicked File - Print and another copy came out correctly.

I do not know how many times I can do this before it again prints out inaccurately (as far as full scale length/width is concerned).

Nor do I know if I can open another drawing in the same session and print it out, too, accurately.

I saw the same thing happen when I first chose the HP 5L (PCL) driver for print out. This driver comes from the HP website. It will not allow me to choose the unprintable area, thus shrinking the printout.

However, after the first unacceptable printout, if I choose the HP 5L PCL driver (comes with windows), the printout I get is accurate.

It seems to me to be an IntelliCAD / windows printer driver initialization glitch for my HP 5L PCL.

I do not know at this point if the problem is with my HP 5L PCL in particular, or HP 5L PCLs in general.

Do you know anyone who can shed some light on this problem and provide a solution?

Thanks,

Forrest