One problem after another.

[DrPheelgood]

Well I am surprised anyone even looked at my question with that Subject line.

So I'm trying to figure out how to test the text spacing of my 5" x .4" engraving file, so I go to File - Print, except it prints too large and there does not appear to be a way to force the printer to print in scale. A 5" x .4" should be an easy print on a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper.

I then press Help - Help Contents and Firefox opens.... Wait, Chrome is my default browser, why is the html file opening in Firefox. I check and sure enough, the default html app is Chrome.

Oh well, I can deal with Firefox, now where is the search field in the Help Contents page and of course, no search field outside of the browsers search field that only searchs what is currently on the screen. How are you suppose to search for an item that is not currently on the screen?

ARRGH! Now wait, what was I trying to figure out. Oh ya, printing in scale. Any solutions?

Is this what I can expect with VCarve Pro 11.5?

[ohiolyons]

In your printer page setup goto scale and change to 100% or full size, depends on the printer.

[DrPheelgood]

Thanks John. If it were that easy. I tried that on both of my printer (Epson Inkjet and Brother Laser) and both ignored the "Do not scale" (SCALE - OFF, Fit to Width or Fit to Page)

[dealguy11]

Try a search on the forum using "scale print". This was discussed just a day or so ago. There is an intermediate step required. You can't print to scale using the "Print" function because that's not what it's intended to do.

[RalphPitz]

In the 2D view, try selecting the vectors you want to print, then go to “File”, “Export”, and select “PDF”. After that I’ve had good luck in opening that file you just exported with Adobe Acrobat and select “Print” and select “Actual Size” on the print menu.

[DrPheelgood]

Thank you all. I got it working by trying both the PDF and DXF file methods but to say that printing a scale image of what you will be engraving/creating is not what print is designed to do seems to be just bad design and should be corrected. Scale images are exactly what we are creating and printing on a piece of paper before inventing the time and money running the job on our CNCs seems completely reasonable.

As for Vectric help files being not searchable, someone will need to explain that one to me or is that not their intended purpose.

Thanks again. I really appreciate the help.

[Onetrack]

BigPrint is fantastic for printing to scale.

https://woodgears.ca/bigprint/

[martin54]

The toolpath preview is very accurate so I find no need to print out any design before I machine anything

The help menu is interactive so you need to click on the icon for whatever operation you are looking for info on, so for the print option you would click on the file option in the main window, there is actually very little said about it so not much help.
A keyword search would be nice & is something I would use as it is how I am use to working with the other software programs I use

No idea why the help is opening in firefox, mine opens in chrome but I only have chrome but I only have that & the default Microsoft edge browsers installed.

[sharkcutup]

viewtopic.php?p=301568#p301568

This Topic above may be of Interest.

Also you may want to check the properties of the file (right click on file icon) in which is opening into Firefox and change the Opens with to "whatever you want" see image attached.

Sharkcutup

[martin54]

Also you may want to check the properties of the file (right click on file icon) in which is opening into Firefox and change the Opens with to "whatever you want" see image attached.

I'm not sure you would be able to do that, not great with operating systems but the OP is not opening a file, the help contents open from within the program so it is probably some other windows setting that controls which browser the help contents open in, Adrian will no doubt know if it can be changed & how to do it

[sharkcutup]

Also you may want to check the properties of the file (right click on file icon) in which is opening into Firefox and change the Opens with to "whatever you want" see image attached.

I'm not sure you would be able to do that, not great with operating systems but the OP is not opening a file, the help contents open from within the program so it is probably some other windows setting that controls which browser the help contents open in, Adrian will no doubt know if it can be changed & how to do it

AHHH yes the Help Contents within V-Carve. Yeah Adrian will probably Know the answer to that.

But anyhow the tip is there if files are pointing to the wrong direction.

Sharkcutup

[Adrian]

Windows has a default Web Browser app setting and a default app for a file type setting. You can have BrowserA set as the default for html but the system default browser set to BrowserB. VCarve will use the system default browser not the one associated with html AFAIK.

[Leo]

Yeah, I would like to see a SEARCH option. Sometimes you want to do something but you have no idea what icon to click on to find it.

[Adrian]

You can search by clicking the Single Page button and then using the Search function of the browser. Shortcut key is usually Ctrl-F.

The question mark on the top right of most forms will take you to the relevant help as well.

Don't overlook the bar on the left as that can be a quick way of getting to a high level section.

[adze_cnc]

Leo,

The links to the particular products help found here have a set of images for the main windows and tabs. Each element (e.g. Profile Toolpath icon) is clickable and will send you to the appropriate place in the help file.

Not 100% what I’d like but very close.