Can't figure out how to print at 1/8" scale 1

[thatman]

I'll start with an apology for the naive question.

I recreated my home & yard in the model view. Everything is to scale. 1' in real life reflects properly in the drawing when using the dimensions tool.

The drawing shows 90' x 120' in the model view.

I need to print this for the city planning department at 1/8" scale. When I attempt to change the Print Scale to 1/8", the drawing ends up being absolutely tiny in the corner of the paper.

I tried to Select All -> Scale -> 96 but I can't seem to make that work, either.

I can't seem to figure out how to do this properly. Can anyone please help me along?

Thanks!

 

[tr1ntx]

What size paper are you printing on?

 

[thatman]

8.5 x 11

 

[tr1ntx]

I don't mean to insult you, but the fact that you have to ask this question means that it will take some effort to answer it.

First, to print something "to scale", your paper needs to be large enough to accommodate the printed area. So if you have a 90' x 120' area you are trying to print, that is 1080" x 1440". If you want to print at the scale of 1/8"=1' (or 1:96), your paper must be larger than:
1080/96 = 11.25"
x
1440/96 = 15"

thus, you can't print that on "Ledger" paper (11x17). Remember, you have to subtract the borders where the printer can't print also, so that's at least 0.25" on most printers. (0.25" all around, i.e., x 2)

Pardon me if I'm stating what is obvious to you.

 

[tr1ntx]

OK, I was tying as you posted. You can't print that on 8.5x11. You can print it at 1/16" = 1'. which will require a printable area of 5.625" x 7.5".

It won't even work at 3/32" = 1' (1:128).

 

[tr1ntx]

You might want to print it at 1/16" = 1', then take it to a copy store and have them enlarge it onto some special paper size, maybe 12x18 or something. They can enlarge it by 200% and the result will be at 1/8" = 1'. Remember to set your resolution to the maximum when you print your small version.

Also, some of them will print your files for you, if you can get it into a format they can open. Maybe a Windows metafile (.wmf) or a PDF.