This is the OLD Templot Companion web site. Some of it is now out of date.

A new site for Templot2 is under construction. Click New Templot Companion.

Until it is finished, please be sure to refer to both sites.


Ink  on  Paper

about printing track plans and construction templates


To print the current template only, click the output > print the control template menu item (or press F11).

To print an entire track plan, click the output > print background templates (track plan) menu item (or press CTRL-F11)

A print preview screen appears, showing how the track plan will be fitted on the pages.

You can print at a reduced size by selecting the output > enlarge / reduce size for print menu options. A useful feature is the fit single page option, which reduces the printout sufficiently to just fit on a single sheet of paper.

Please click the ? help button on the print pages dialog for more detailed notes about printing track plans and templates.

Here is a scan showing a typical printed template page:

scanned print

Printed  Page  Orientation

To get the best fit of most track plans on the printed templates, Templot rotates the screen view through 90 degrees when printing. This means that the top edge of the printed page always corresponds to the left edge of the screen view.

This sometimes causes confusion for new Templot users -- generally you will get the best results if you simply leave Templot on the default setting, which is called upright / end-run / portrait printing.

As a guide, Templot displays the printing page outlines on the screen as dotted lines.

Here are some diagrams to explain the orientation settings:

upright / end-run / portrait printing:
end-run screen viewend-run printed page

sideways / side-run / landscape printing:
side-run screen viewside-run printed page


Handy Hints:

The final construction templates are normally printed on good quality plain paper (e.g. 100 gsm) or thin card (e.g. 160 gsm), but my inkjet is equally happy to print on ordinary tracing paper (or drafting film). So if I make a duplicate print on this, I can lay it over the rails during construction to check the alignment of the rails. (This is not an alternative to using the proper gauges, of course.) Bear in mind that a separate printer calibration for the tracing paper might be needed to get an exact match between the two prints ( output > printer calibration > calibrate printer... menu item or SHIFT-F5). If your printer doesn't like tracing paper it's possible to use the more expensive coated OHP transparency sheets instead.

Now here is another idea. If Templot is set to print the centre-lines of the rails instead of the rail edges, ( generator > generator settings > rails > rail head centre-lines only menu item) you get the rivet positions for Brook-Smith style riveted plywood construction, like this:

scanned print

Print on tracing paper, then spray the print with Spraymount adhesive (blue can) and lay the plywood timbers in position. Then turn the whole print over and prick through to mark the rivet centres. This saves the tedious business of marking them out, and gets the rivets exactly under the middle of the rail, which makes it a lot easier to fit cosmetic chairs later. The timbers can then be peeled off for punching or drilling, or using a mini-drill they could be drilled directly through the paper.

You should print a normal template for construction, of course, and having fixed the riveted timbers in place on it, the tracing paper version can be used to check for any riveting or timber alignment errors before adding the rails.

This is part of a B-7 turnout curved onto 1500 mm radius for P-87 (scale H0).

For this print I changed the rail and timber outlines to thin black lines (1 ink-dot wide, which the scanner has interpreted as grey). Templot lets you set the line thicknesses to suit your printer. For best-quality printing of the final construction templates thin lines obviously give greater precision; for quick trial prints in draft mode thicker lines are generally easier to see and work with. Select the output > line thickness menu items.

Martin.


Templot Companion contents

page revised  © 22-Sep-2005