Strange effect with mirror in 7.2.0

Mirroring does a complicated flip to the bottom side. So if it was more to the right, it would become more to the left on the bottom side. This may not be what you expected.

Function

Mirrors objects and groups.

 

Syntax

MIRROR *..
MIRROR element_name..

 

Mouse

Right button selects the group.

 

Using the MIRROR command, objects may be mirrored about the y axis. One application for this command is to mirror components to be placed on the reverse side of the board.

Components can be mirrored only if the appropriate tOrigins/bOrigins layer is visible.

When packages are selected for use with the MIRROR command, connected wires/tracks are mirrored, too (beware of short circuits!).

Mirror a Group

In order to mirror a group of elements, the group is first defined with the GROUP command and polygon in the usual manner. The MIRROR command is then selected and the right mouse button is used to execute the change. The group will be mirrored about the vertical axis through the next grid point.

Wires, circles, pads, rectangles, polygons and labels may not be individually mirrored unless included in a group.

Mirror Texts

Text on the solder side of a pc board (Bottom and bPlace layers) is mirrored automatically so that it is readable when you look at the solder side of the board.

Mirrored text in a schematic will be printed on the other side or its origin point, but it will still remain normally readable. 

Clem

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear however it isn't the mirror function in the editor window I was talking about. It's the mirror function in printing. To print a UV exposure mask that can be placed directly against the copper surface (printed face in)  one of the art works printed has to be mirrored (most laser printers will only print one side of the material). In my case it's the top surface. In previous versions of eagle I always used the mirror option when printing the top side. If I do that in Ver 7.2 or 7.3 the image gets skewed and not simply offset. The dimension lines and packages diverge.

A 4x4 inch mirrored square PCB image will not align with the bottom image. I've been looking at as many possibilities as I can to track this down and it may not be in the ' print mirrored' function at all.  Right now it appears that while the image seems aligned with the grid in the editor window and is a square it.s actually a canted square. If you mirror one side of a canted square image everything will diverge and that is whats happening here.

All dimension lines drawn in the editor follow the grid. I backed that up by setting the properties of each line rather than draw them with a mouse. All dimension lines start at the marker point. All packages are set using the same grid however when an image is printed from Eagle or exported and printed the image is canted.It's still a square but the square is tilted. It's as if the grid is out somehow.

On 23/05/2015 2:51 a.m., Kirk Sceviour wrote:

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear however it isn't the mirror function in the

editor window I was talking about. It's the mirror function in printing.

To print a UV exposure mask that can be placed directly against the

copper surface (printed face in)  one of the art works printed has to be

mirrored (most laser printers will only print one side of the material).

In my case it's the top surface. In previous versions of eagle I always

used the mirror option when printing the top side. If I do that in Ver

7.2 or 7.3 the image gets skewed and not simply offset. The dimension

lines and packages diverge.

 

A 4x4 inch square PCB image is no longer square. I've been looking at as

many possibilities as I can to track this down and it may not be in the

' print mirrored' function at all.  Right now it appears that while the

image seems aligned with the grid in the editor window and is a square

it.s actually a canted square. If you mirror one side of a canted square

image everything will diverge and that is whats happening here.

 

All dimension lines drawn in the editor follow the grid. I backed that

up by setting the properties of each line rather than draw them with a

mouse. All dimension lines start at the marker point. All packages are

set using the same grid however when an image is printed from Eagle or

exported and printed the image is canted.It's still a square but the

square is tilted. It's as if the grid is out somehow.

 

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Hi Kirk

I tried your scenario.Win7. I drew a 2x2 inch square on layers 1 and 16

and then placed a 1x1 inch rectangle in the bottom left corner.

I then printed the bottom layer normally and the top layer mirrored.

Placing the printed sides face to face and viewing through the paper the

images are identical. The images are offset on the page so when face to

face you need to move the the paper to get them aligned.

Maybe it's your printer paper guides but that does not fit your

description very well.

It's time you revealed your OS as it may be particular to it.

HTH

Warren

My OS is Win 8. The misalignment gets exaggerated as the size increases. My

PCB is 4x4 inches and the effect is only a few mm but enough to make pad

alignment impossible. I would like to think it's a printer issue however if

it was, everything should get printed out of alignment not just the

mirrored image. I just tried to upload some PDF's with the images but

they're to large. I'm about to take the files to a printer and see what

happens there. If they print out of square it's the Eagle software.

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Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

So after a great deal of frustration it appears that something has changed

with my printer since upgrading to Ver 7. I'm now experiencing a  'printer

skew' which results in my mirrored images being, well...skewed. Why only

the mirrored images are being distorted I have no idea but its likely a

driver issue with the printer.

--

Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.