Sincere apologies if this is bloody obvious, but I have a PDF of a design that I’d like to cut in 1/16 inch acrylic and it was supplied as a PDF. However, the dimensions of the PDF are incorrect, so I need to resize it accurately…I can’t figure out how to do this in Inkscape. I also have a .dxf version of the same file but when I import that to Inkscape it’s garbage…the file was exported by a friend from Solidworks…any ideas?
fluid_path.DXF (42.2 KB)
fluid_path.PDF (56.3 KB)
It’s not that complicated by it is kind of hard to write.
Basically you import your pdf.
Measure one line/gap whatever you’re trying to scale to a known size. Let’s assume it’s a simple square that you know you want to be exactly 0.75” on a side.
You measure that square using the ruler tool and find that it’s actually 1.17”.
Ok great now you know what your scaling factor is.
Select everything. Be sure the aspect ratio lock icon is selected.
You’ll see a width and height that reflects the entire svg size. Whatever is in either the width or height box add “* 0.75 / 1.17”. Hit enter and your entire svg will rescale.
When you measure the square now it should be pretty much 0.75”. You might see a difference of a couple thousandths due to rounding errors but you will be pretty much all set.
Make sense?
What version of Inkscape on what platform are you running? Are you importing it into an existing workspace? I tried the PDF and it came in only as a raster. DXF seems fine, but not sure what target dimensions are so I don’t know if it scaled correctly.
Do you get this dialog? That’s where you make your scaling.
What are the dimensions of the object?
Thanks Both!! I’m running 0.92 on a Mac. The outside dimensions should be 2.953 inches. Yes, that was the measurement given…
It’s all cut, no engrave. Any idea what power setting I should use for 1/16 inch acrylic?
OK, I’ve managed to convert the .dxf correctly (honestly, I need a little more patience…). However, I’m unsure as to the manual settings for 1/16 inch acrylic…I will investigate…
So did the dxf come across at the correct scale, or did you have to do the scaling trick?
Hi! Once I imported the .dxf and used the ‘read from file’ for the scaling it came out perfect…not sure what I screwed up before as it came out very very tiny…anyway, now cut at full power, 150 speed for 1/16 (0.06) inch acrylic and they came out absolutely perfectly…I love my GlowForge. Thanks to everyone for their help…this forum is simply great.
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