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Printing PCB artwork to scale

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Llamarama

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Hello everyone, sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but hear me out.

I'm building a fairly basic EPROM programmer from a design i found here: http://www.armory.com/~rstevew/Public/Pgmrs/EPROM/AndrewMcCubbin/_ClikMe1st.htm

I'm not after anything fancy, this design seems to fin the bill nicely.

I'd also like to make the PCB that's on the site, however it's given as a gif image with a resolution of 96 * 96 DPI.

Is there any way I can print this onto acetate to scale without having to shrink or stretch in Publisher and print off a million test pages to check accuracy? I'm sure there's an easy way to do it that i'm just not seeing. I don't make PCBs very often, and when I do, thyey're usually made by myself in ExpressPCB that prints 1:1 scale.

The printer I'm using is a Brother HL-1450 which can print at 600*600 DPI. I'm using the old print on cheap thin paper then douse with transparancy spray and whack into the UV box trick.

Thanks, Mike
 
Should be doable if you have software that can scale artwork; most "paint"-type programs can. I use Paint Shop Pro* which easily scales an image to any printed size; a couple of trial-and-error prints should get you well within the ballpark. (Lots easier to use than brain-damaged Publisher!)

* Ancient Neolithic software that happens to still work very well.
 
Double click on it and it'll probably open with Microsoft Photo Editor. If not, right click, "open with" should work. Now go to file->properties and set to 96 DPI and print away.

Mike.
 
You can try to convert the image to a vector and then upscale without worry of distortions.

There are various online tools that can convert black/white images to vectors for you, have a google and find which one suits your needs :)
 
I have tested the .gif file saving as *.png. I had opened it under paint (winXP) and managed to reduce the pverall size while printing at39%. then print measured 93 * 73 mm and placement of 28 pin chip was near perfect.
MS Paint doesn't permit fractional percentage. However i feel that the print is manageable for hobby use.
 
Just had a play on my old laptop and it turns out Irfanview supports this. Starting to wonder wether it was such a good idea upgrading now, it's yet another thing my old one just does! :) Thanks for the help guys :D
 
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