Transferring pattern with Cad program?

All the pieces are rectangles with a few straight angled lines

You could just measure it

Don't really need a pattern unless you're like doing clothes with curved lines

What's the 'free CAD program'? Is it Google's SketchUp? If so (and it's a very good choice), learn how to use it…

SketchUp allows you to 'dimension' the drawing; to show the distance between two points, e.g. the ends of a line. In the menu bar, the dimension tool has an example dimension image (with a figure '3'). Just hover the mouse over each tool icon until the little pop-up "what's this" box says 'Dimension'.

Then simply select the line you want to measure (mouse click), and drag the mouse away from the line. This will drag the dimension away from the line, so you can see it clearly.

Alternatively, you can use the right-click 'Entity Info' dialogue to find line lengths, and areas of shapes.

You can use the Protractor tool to measure angles.

Print to PDF full size. Print at kinko on 36 in wide paper.

FYI, not all PDF's are to scale. I used PDF's to make patterns and the print will not be to scale (24" actual 23 .8" on the print at FedEx Office). To most people this should be a minor issue but it would be conservative to add a reference line so that you can adjust the scale. My 2 cents – Jon

> FYI, not all PDF's are to scale.

It's more likely that the printer isn't to scale. That's the reason I prefer PostScript, as I can then add a compensating scale factor in each direction. Just to complicate things further, a printer's scaling will often vary over the page (due to the motion of the paper through the system). In the direction perpendicular to the feed, it's usually pretty consistent.

Just printing out some romer designs, so I've been through this again recently, although the code dates back to 2000…

Here's a good free AutoCAD clone – http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/

Even comes in a Linux version…

BM

If you tell the person at kinkos to make sure they adjust the pdf settings in the print window to 100% it will print 1:1 as you designed it. I used to deal with all the time in school, they typically looked at me like I was a jerk for pointing it out but I got exactly what I wanted. Adobe to printers autoscales almost all the time to 98% for printer margins.

The method explained below on the second page of this thread seemed to work pretty well.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=63726&startat=20