Getting Plans Copied

See if you can get one of the reprographic (blueprint) places to fold the plan in half lengthwise and copy both halves.

better yet, see if they can fold it less than halfway each side so you can overlap the halves when you put them together.

John

most likely, the problem is not the length but the width. MOST of the copiers I have seen accept 34 to 36 inch width, and can copy to roll stock so the 70 inch length shouldn't be a problem.

Is there any chance that you can either fold of split the plan lengthwise to get it down to 30 inches more or less?? Some copiers will accept folded material to copy from. At least, ours does, but we are kind of far away to be of much help to you.

bob

I know guys that go to the Register of Deeds office at the Court House and have .40 and .60 size airplane plans copied for a couple bucks a copy.

I not sure what the size is but apparently they have the largest c>does anyone have any ideas how to get B&W copies of plans that are 42x70? I

Most places can only copy up to 36" width, but any length on roll paper. It runs around $2.50/sq.ft. here close to Charlotte, NC.

You might be able to cut or fold them up to fit a standard 36" copier.

The place I deal with scans the plans and keeps the scan on file. They can copy full size, enlarged, or reduced. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Have you checked with a blueprint shop? Most of those can (or should) be able to go 48". Check with local building contractors for their blueprinting sources.

Here in NYC you can find shops who can copy that large, but as the original poster says, it's a color machine (HP, I think), and costs a fortune. The standard for bitmap scanning and printing ( one step, no image file created, called a D-print locally) is 36". The same goes for straight scanning. A place that does old-time blueline or blackline diazo may have a machine with a longer bed, but unless you have a translucent original, the quality will suffer.

I have scanned all my old favorite plans, and that has often meant making two scans, and pasting things together. It's hell when neither scan can fully include some major component, like the fuselage top or side view! I generally ask for 200 dpi from the print shop, and just have them give me a TIFF file on CD. When I make such two-part scans, I put them together anyway, using PhotoShop, and make it into a PDF file. You can even include multiple sheets in the same PDF file, which is nice for on-screen perusal of plans.

Blueprints are not scanned with a color scanner and printed on a printer. It is a single step process on a blueline machine. I have made many copies at a local blueprint shop in central Phoenix.

For that kind of money, you may as well buy more copies of the plans.

I know Kinko's can copy up to 36"

I don't believe I said they were. In fact, blueprints and bluelines are not the same thing, to be picky about it. I've been in the design trade for about 30 years, and never saw a true blueprint made, though I've seen lots of blueprints (white linework on a blue background, generally made from drawings on linen - you can often see the cloth weave in the copy). Until the large-format digital processes, which amount to scanning, came around in the nineties, everyone got bluelines or blacklines (dark lines on more-or-less white background), both made by the diazo process, as you say, as a one-step deal.

The original poster was talking about copying (scanning) plans over 36" short dimension, and getting an astronomical price for doing that. That price is for work on a long-roller color machine ­ I don't think that anyone (at least in this city) has such a thing that does simple black-and-white. If the person is satisfied to have diazo prints made from not-very-translucent plans, then there may be a few people around who can do it by that method.

I agree with what you say. What I was suggesting is to have his plans transferred to the blueline as this can be done directly at most blueprint shops. There is no reason to go through the expense of scanning and printing.