Laser printer for templates

[Danne]

Hi,

Today I have an old HP Laserjet (A cheap version) The dimensional accuracy in the feed direction is +1mm on 200mm. 

I have now tried four different laser printers. Mine, a friends HP office printer, and my dads super old laser printer, and a cheap Brother printer. The only one that is dimensional accurate is my dads printer. Let's say I print a rectangle 180 x 250. 180 is always perfect, but 250 (feed direction)

My HP laserjet: 251mm

My friends HP office printer: 251mm

Brother printer I bought today (but will return): Somewhere between 250.5 and 251 so let's say 250.7

It may sound like i'm nitpicking here, and some of you might think, but does it matter you can't cut your templates and your leather with that accuracy anyway. And it's correct, but when I let's say do a card pocket section I often leave around 1mm for trimming after glued in place. (I don't like more because I skive some hidden parts in a way that I get thin edges but keep a good durable construction. And when I print a template I plan all my stitching hole carefully, and 1mm to long exterior cause problems. I know I can't cut perfect dimensions, but I don't like that my printer can't do a perfect job. 

To be honest I don't care how much I have to pay for a printer, but what printer am I looking for? I want a A4 printer, and a laser would be awesome. 

Any recommendations here? And unfortunately I don't think recommendations like "I have this model of HP and it's very accurate" isn't working, because I think if I would buy like 10 of the same model they would be slightly different because of manufacturing tolerances. 

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by Danne

[fredk]

When I worked with a truck rebuilding company the draftsman used to put his paper through the laser printer 3 or 4 times to dry it, sometimes more on a humid day. Then when it was printed it was 100% spot on. And when you are working with the tight tolerances used in vehicle construction you need accuracy. I still use that method when I need to.

Edited September 20, 2020 by fredk

[RockyAussie]

7 hours ago, Danne said:

I know I can't cut perfect dimensions, but I don't like that my printer can't do a perfect job

I must admit I must have been lucky here as I have had several printers Canon, Brother and Epson styles 1100 which can do A3 and never experienced this problem with any of them. That is of not much help but I suggest that you consider a small diode laser for this work. I started off using one like in this link a couple of years ago and once you get used to it and a good drawing program you will not have to cut the patterns at all. You have to draw the pattern anyway so why not just laser cut it straight up? https://au.banggood.com/EleksMaker-EleksLaser-A3-Pro-2500mW-Laser-Engraving-Machine-CNC-Laser-Printer-p-1003863.html?gmcCountry=AU&currency=AUD&createTmp=1&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cpc_bgcs&utm_content=frank&utm_campaign=frank-ssc-AUg-top100-07dp-stage1-0623&ad_id=445107833412&cur_warehouse=AU

Once you have the focus right you can get the cut line width down to .25mm on normal printer card stock which is something you can allow for in your drawing pattern if you think necessary. You may find it useful for burning in pictures and other stuff as well. It is fairly easy to build an enclosure and vent fumes away as well as I have done with mine which I have enlarged to be able to get up to full poster size boards. Total cost for building this large and enclosing and adding smoke extraction was considerably under $1000 au. (not including the couple of days labour it took me to build it.)

This pic shows how it came standard and I am cutting through some masking tape on a belt for later painting.

Here showing removal of the masking tape

 

Because I could not trust myself or my dogs or anyone else to not see the laser going in the open I decided to expand the size and enclose it all at the same time.

Here is what it is today.

This is a link that shows the very inexpensive but very effective fume removal fan I use - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/381970877031

 

 

[Danne]

8 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

I must admit I must have been lucky here as I have had several printers Canon, Brother and Epson styles 1100 which can do A3 and never experienced this problem with any of them. That is of not much help but I suggest that you consider a small diode laser for this work. I started off using one like in this link a couple of years ago and once you get used to it and a good drawing program you will not have to cut the patterns at all. You have to draw the pattern anyway so why not just laser cut it straight up? https://au.banggood.com/EleksMaker-EleksLaser-A3-Pro-2500mW-Laser-Engraving-Machine-CNC-Laser-Printer-p-1003863.html?gmcCountry=AU&currency=AUD&createTmp=1&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cpc_bgcs&utm_content=frank&utm_campaign=frank-ssc-AUg-top100-07dp-stage1-0623&ad_id=445107833412&cur_warehouse=AU

Once you have the focus right you can get the cut line width down to .25mm on normal printer card stock which is something you can allow for in your drawing pattern if you think necessary. You may find it useful for burning in pictures and other stuff as well. It is fairly easy to build an enclosure and vent fumes away as well as I have done with mine which I have enlarged to be able to get up to full poster size boards. Total cost for building this large and enclosing and adding smoke extraction was considerably under $1000 au. (not including the couple of days labour it took me to build it.)

This pic shows how it came standard and I am cutting through some masking tape on a belt for later painting.

Here showing removal of the masking tape

 

Because I could not trust myself or my dogs or anyone else to not see the laser going in the open I decided to expand the size and enclose it all at the same time.

Here is what it is today.

This is a link that shows the very inexpensive but very effective fume removal fan I use - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/381970877031

 

 

A very good solution that I might consider. Thank you for your advice. 

[$$hobby]

have you tried to make any X or Y changes in your page setup or scaling?

 

 

[Danne]

1 hour ago, $$hobby said:

have you tried to make any X or Y changes in your page setup or scaling?

 

 

There are solutions for calibrating the print with applications like Autocad. But I do like using Sketchup which is very quick for this type of templates. And I don't think I can calibrate in other way than printing everything smaller. Which would affect other dimensions to, and also when I print multiple pages with template parts they would not be equal in size. 

But learning another cad application where it's possible to calibrate the print (I would guess a lot of cad-applications where large size plotters are used might have this feature and would probably work well with all my printers) 

[chrisash]

I would imagine its the stretch in the paper  going through the rollers that is causing the problem

One solution  would be to use more stable film 

https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/xerox-premium-nevertear-synthetic-polyester-paper-003r98057-matt-95m-125-g-m-a3-white-100-sheets-p-5330772?cm_mmc=Google-_-pla_gen_google-shopping_packing-and-mailing_gosc-_-packing-and-mailing-gosc-_-5330772&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgYHrkuT56wIVkuntCh30lAcDEAQYBiABEgLwsfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.staples.co.uk/write-on-ohp-film/cbs/297974387.html?price=incvat&cm_mmc=SEM_PLA-_-google-_-pla-staples-office-supplies-smart-shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItp668-T56wIVlc_tCh1ltwcCEAQYBSABEgKLr_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

A local CAD office may have a sample for you to try

[RockyAussie]

I am curious if the fact that I have only done my patterns from Auto Cad and printed is the reason I have not had this same issue. I googled printing in sketchup and sore that it is a problem in comparison. This link may be of some help maybe -https://www.instructables.com/id/A-Better-Way-to-Print-Full-Size-in-SketchUp/