copyer

[Indiana saw man]

Iwanting to buy a copyer for the house to copy my patterns could anyone give me any advise on luck they have had ?
thank you

[CanadianScroller]

Toner for laser copiers, even though more expensive initially is far cheaper than inkjet.
You may want to try an all in one lasr copier/fax/printer.
They are quite reaonably priced right now.
Go for at leat a legal size one. It can be frustrating to tape pieces together.
I wont go into brands. They are personal. Check out the cost of ink or cartridges and get a break down of cost per page.

Keep in mind that black and white will be cheaper than color.
I have a laser printer for patterns and an inkjet for colour stuff.
I also use a scanner for scanning patterns but an all in one save space and is quite a bit cheaper these days.

I am not sure if you can get one that will enlarge patterns, even if you can't you could enlarge them on the PC before printing.

Hope this helps

[thecopperfish]

I have an inkjet all-in-one scanner, printer, etc. I also have a separate scanner and printer on the other computer, and I have access to a copier at church.

In my opinion, I like to enlarge my patterns in the computer and then print them rather than copy on a copier. In my experience there can be distortion when using a copier if you are enlarging or trying to copy something that is folded etc. If only using a single sheet of paper copying the original size, I have found the copy machine to be fine, but I do a lot of changing sizes and reproducing larger items and for me, the scanner and printer work better. I haven't found the difference in cost to really be a factor, but of course, it depends on how many copies you're making. If you are making hundreds of copies it would be a factor then.

Hope this helps,
Chris

[SharonW0111]

I have a Sharp copier that I couldn't do without-it is the best investment I have made for my shop-but it is used for everything else that needs done too. It does reduce and enlarge and that is a big plus ( wouldn't have one that didn't )- The toner is expensive but you can get the drum refilled for about $100. and they last for about 5000 copies. I bought mine used but it was still under warranty and in the box . it sure is nice when I need a copier to just push a button and not have to fuss with going to town and hoping the copy shop is open- which here it usually isn't or have to leave my patterns somewhere and possibly them get lost or damaged . But you will use it for a lot of things once you get it.

[MikeDingas]

I use an HP scanner that has a neat copy button on the front. With my Brother laser printer, it a great combination for copying patterns or scanning into the PC for editing.

[wwalker47]

I, too, want to buy a all-in-one, but I like Chris's idea of first changing size on the PC and then printing. I have, in the past, had some distortion problems. What do you use to resize on the PC? I would like to solve the distortion problem.

-Bill

[Andy]

I'm not sure if we're supposed to put ad links in here but since the company is advertised in the SSWC mag hopefully it's okay. I haven't found a program that beats Rapid Resizer for enlarging patterns. It will enlarge and tile patterns up to any resonable size and allow you to print on stock paper. It's an awesome and very affordable program! www.rapidresizer.com

For changing sizes and enlarging on the computer, I find irfanview (www.ifranview,com) to be the best and use it constantly to reduce/enlarge and convert from jpeg to gif for file sharing over the internet. Irfanview is freeware and there are several others that do the same job. I just find irfanview resamples the best when the right filter is selected (Lanczos filter).

These formats, (jpeg and gif) aren't the best for quality of printing but that's a whole 'nother Donahue show. They do work very well though if you don't/can't make the step up to learning how to work in vecotirzed graphics or CAD.

[Gill]

The cheapskate approach is to use Irfanview as Andy suggests, then insert it into an Open Office Calc spreadsheet as a picture. When you print from Calc, it will print the pattern the correct size and over the appropriate number of pages.

Calc is a module of Open Office, a free download which open source coders have designed to rival Microsoft Office. I like it a lot. I also like the Open Office Draw module which is a pretty handy graphics program. Okay, it's not as powerful as commercial packages, but it does handle vector graphics in a way that I find more user-friendly than Inkscape.

Gill

[Minnesota scroller]

If you're only going to print up to 8 1/2" X 14", just resize it using your graphics software program. With Photoshop Elements, go to print preview and resize it there. With PSP, after you click print, it automatically shows the print preview, where you can resize it.

I also agree that an all - in - one is a super way to go. I have a wireless Brother, so I can sit in the other room in front of the TV, and scan it and print it. Later, if I need additional copies, I can also use it for that. It also makes a great fax machine. The machine takes up little space. If you use it mainly for patterns, refillable black injet cartridges are usually quite inexpensive.

[Paul S WI]

I am able to scan the majority of patterns into the computer and resize using a number of software programs. I even scan large patterns (such as a pullout) in sections, print out and trim the paper so the sections fit together. Occassionally I will take the entire pullout to a local copy center, but that can get costly.
What I am trying to figure out is how to scan a large pattern (in sections to fit the scanner) and then use a software to make the pattern whole again. Then I could use something like Resizer to tile print, enlarge or reduce the size. Has anyone tried or figured this out?