Guide

How to print a CAD drawing to scale

A drawing printed to scale can be measured with a scale rule. Getting there takes two things: a PDF made at the right paper size and scale, and a printer that does not resize it.

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Pick the paper and scale together

Bigger drawings need bigger paper or a smaller scale. A 10-metre house fits A3 at 1:50 (200mm on paper) and A4 at 1:100 (100mm). In the print-ready sheet, BenCAD starts with the largest standard scale that fits.

Make the PDF

Choose paper, orientation and scale, frame the drawing in the viewport, fill in the title block, and tap PDF.

Print at 100%

In the print dialogue choose Actual size or 100%. "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages" will make it slightly smaller and the scale will be wrong. Choose the same paper size as the sheet.

Check it

Measure the scale bar or a known dimension with a ruler. At 1:50, 1 metre should be 20mm; at 1:100, 10mm.

Text that stays readable

Turn on TEXT: KEEP SIZE so notes and labels print the same size whatever the scale, the way annotative text works in AutoCAD.

Questions

Can I print to scale from a phone?

Yes. Make the PDF on your phone and print it, or send it to someone with a printer. The scale is in the PDF.

My print is a few millimetres short. Why?

The printer scaled it to fit its margins. Print at 100%.

Tools for this

Print to scale PROTrue-scale PDF with a title block DimensionsLinear, angle, radius, diameter Units & scaleMillimetres per grid, metric or imperial