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    Default drawing tablet?

    not sure if this is the right place or not. hope someone can help me out. I found a great deal on this - 12"x18" CalComp DrawingBoard II Digital Drawing Tablet (Model 33180) Just not sure if this is what I need to trace drawings to make dxf's. Any ideas on this? on a tight budget or I would get a newer one

    thanks,

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    Default tracing drawings

    how i trace drawings

    1) scan or photograph drawing

    2) import into Cad program as a image

    3) on another layer draw a red line of a known length

    4) scale image into drawing so image matches line of known length, for example if something on drawing image is 12" then scale image until it matches 12" reference line

    5) adjust image angular rotation if off. sometimes image is not perfectly horizontal and may need a degree or 2 rotation

    6) on a different layer with red lines, trace over scanned image with red lines, arcs, etc (you can create red lines, arcs, etc accurate to 0.0001" easily in dimension and position on drawing of course) and then, you may make scanned image layer invisible. then the red line layer can have it's color changed to black if desired. the reason it was red is it can be confusing sometimes telling new black lines from scanned image black lines. the 2 colors makes it easy to tell new red from old black

    in general it does not cost money for new equipment to trace a drawing. it is vastly faster and far more accurate to use a mouse and a keyboard to create lines, arcs, etc of exact dimensions (0.0001"). a drawing on paper is for reference only , it's use is only to make sure everything is traced by using red lines covering black scanned image lines.

    you can buy equipment if you want, but my experience of over 3 decades of work is it is a waste of money and not very precise.
    ........ a tablet for drawing / like painting or creating a charcoal sketch like a artist uses is a different matter. if you want a tablet to be an artist thats up to you but you do not a need it to trace a drawing precisely.



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    Default

    you can buy equipment if you want, but my experience of over 3 decades of work is it is a waste of money and not very precise.
    I agree 100%, and have done it almost the same way myself for the last 15 years. I even use red lines to.

    If you do decide to buy the Calcomp, make sure you can get drivers for it, as they went out of business before Windows XP came out.

    Gerry

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    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


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    Default Drivers

    Tablet drivers here for Calcomp, Summagraphics and many more tablet right up to Windows 7. Not free however.

    http://vtablet.com/index.htm

    Andrew Mawson
    East Sussex, UK


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    Default

    thanks for the input. I figured out how to get pics into acad now. it's just hard on my hand using the mouse like that. any suggeastions on that?



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drawing tablet?

drawing tablet?