Free tool
Printer scale test page
Print this page to check that your printer prints leather patterns at actual size. It has a 100 mm ruler and a 4 inch ruler across the page and down it, and the outline of a bank card.
How to print the test page
- Click Print the test page. Only the rulers and the card outline print; the rest of this page stays on screen.
- In the print dialog, set the scale to 100% or “Actual size”. Turn off “Fit to page”, “Shrink to fit” or “Scale to fit” if you see them.
- Print on plain A4 or Letter paper.
- Measure each ruler with a steel rule, from the 0 line to the 100 mm line, or to the 4 inch line. Measure the ruler across the page and the one down the page.
- Lay a bank card on the outline. Its edges should sit on the line.
Reading your measurements
If both rulers measure 100 mm, give or take a quarter of a millimetre, your printer prints at true size. A quarter of a millimetre is about the width of a ruler line.
If they measure about 95 mm, the print dialog most likely shrank the page to fit the paper. Set the scale to 100% and print again before you correct anything.
Some printers are a little off even at 100%, often by less than 1%. It sounds small, but it adds up: 1% over a 300 mm bag panel is 3 mm, most of a stitch at 3.85 mm, so the holes on the panel and the gusset drift apart. Printers can also differ across the page and down it, because the paper moves through the printer in one direction. That's why the page has a ruler each way.
Why a bank card outline
Bank cards are the same size everywhere: 85.60 × 53.98 mm, the ID-1 size set by ISO/IEC 7810. That makes a card a handy check when there is no rule on the bench. A printer that is 1% off makes the outline about 0.9 mm too long or too short, which you can see at the corners. It is also the size every card slot in a wallet is built around, as the article on leather wallet dimensions explains.
Correct the scale
Type what the rulers measure into the calculator above. It gives the scale to set in a print dialog, and the two numbers for PatinaCAD.
Most print dialogs take whole percentages only, so a correction of 100.6% becomes 101%. They also apply one scale both ways. If your printer is off by different amounts across and down, a print dialog gets you close and PatinaCAD can correct each direction exactly.
Calibrate PatinaCAD for your printer
PatinaCAD corrects every printout once you tell it how your printer prints:
- Choose Output ▸ Print calibration… and print the page at Actual size.
- Measure its two 100 mm rulers with a steel rule.
- Enter what they measure in File ▸ Options… ▸ Print calibration, as Measured X ruler (across) and Measured Y ruler (down), in millimetres.
From then on PatinaCAD scales each print to make up for the printer, and every printout carries a 100 mm ruler so you can check it. The printing guide covers the other print options, such as tiling a large pattern over several sheets.
Tips for accurate patterns
- Use a steel rule. Measure from line to line, never from the edge of the paper: printers don't place the page exactly.
- Check again when you change printer, paper tray or printer settings.
- For templates you'll trace around many times, glue the printout onto card and cut it out.
Related pages
Free to use
Do it automatically in PatinaCAD.
Calibrate PatinaCAD once and every pattern prints at true size, with a 100 mm ruler on the printout to check and large patterns tiled over A4 or Letter.