New Yankee Workshop Plans

[TRW]

Anyone purchased any lately?

I purchased two plans this week and can't download them.  Instructions tell me to:

"Printing Instructions
The Measured Drawings are copyright protected and can only be printed through a player that provides Digital Rights Management (DRM). Proceed with the following steps:
1) The Flux Player DRM software requires a separate logon and password. Your logon is XXXXXXX@aol.com and the initial password is NewYankee123. We recommend you change this password after logging into the Flux Player DRM software. If you already have a Flux Player DRM logon then use your current password. 
2) Install the Flux Player DRM software from the options listed below.
3) Open the Flux Player DRM software and login to view or print the Measured Drawing.

FluxPlayer password reset

The used link is either bad or too old, please request a new password email.
(InvalidLink)"

I use MAC and am not even sure there is a Flux Player for MAC.  A web search reveals plenty of options for windows but none for MAC; only IPOD and IPAD.

I can see the plans through my NYW account but can't print them, can't save them, can't download them, can't save to PDF.  I don't want to resort to working off my laptop in my workshop.

Sent an e-mail complaint to their contact info dropbox but so far no one has responded.  Looks like if I don't hear anything in a few days I'll start a CC dispute through my bank and try to get my money back since the plans were not delivered as stated.

Anyone have any advice?

[teetomterrific]

I would contact NYWS support and ask them. If they can't provide you a DRM solution for MacOS then demand a refund. Your other option is Parallels and Win 10 on your Mac for these types of situations but that would be expensive.

FWIW I find these DRM schemes highly insulting when they don't provide a viable cross platform solution. I also want any plans I work from to be a highly scale-able vector format and they usually aren't. I generally draw my own plans in Sketchup with the joinery I want to use. Even if the reference is a photo that offers no dimensions I can usually come up with something close which few people could tell the difference from a plan from a place like NYWS. It would be worth your time to learn to draw your own in a 3D app like Sketchup or Fusion 360.

[DaveR1]

I would agree with T^3. NYW should be able to supply you with a link to a suitable tool to read and print the plans you paid for. 

Like him, I would also tend to work out my own plans. Generally I find with a few basic dimensions, a photo or two, and some basic understanding of how the joinery has to work, it's not terribly difficult to work out the details with SketchUp.

[Ohio Mike]

..........Sent an e-mail complaint to their contact info dropbox but so far no one has responded.........

Yeah, I sent them an email a couple weeks ago (not about measured drawings) and haven't heard back either.

I don't think there's anybody home at the NYW department.  They haven't posted a NYW episode in 6 months and they had promised ALL 20 seasons would be available for on-demand viewing by early 2019.


Mike

[Admiral]

Try calling the owner:


Morash Associates Inc
41 Pleasant Street
Lexington, MA 02421
Phone: (781) 862-8686
Web: www.newyankee.com

[wood2woodknot]

Don't know if this will work in this instance.

Games I have played:  sometimes when I have a file that I cannot print, save, etc. I have found a work-around to be of some help. If you can see it on your screen, try using the "Print Screen" function at the top of your keyboard. Paste each section you Screen Print into a Word file. Crop any unnecessary areas. When you have pasted all the sections, try printing your new file. File might also be savable.

I have also found I can sometimes "Select - Copy - Paste" things to a new file when printing from the screen doesn't work (I do this often with PDF files that I cannot edit.)

Like I said, maybe yes, maybe no. Sometimes this works. Sometimes not. But if it does work, you will probably lose the correct scaling for images.

[phreddy]

Flux Player worked on my Mac, but only once (it was a good while ago and I don’t remember much detail). I was able to open the file and print it. I promptly lost the printout. When I went to print another, it wouldn’t let me. Apparently you get only one printout per customer. Fortunately I was able to open the plan on my iPad (without Flux Player, which as I recall is only needed to print but not needed to view). I simply took a screenshot of each page and saved the photos. Problem solved, but I was unhappy with the whole experience.

[TRW]

Don't know if this will work in this instance.

Games I have played:  sometimes when I have a file that I cannot print, save, etc. I have found a work-around to be of some help. If you can see it on your screen, try using the "Print Screen" function at the top of your keyboard. Paste each section you Screen Print into a Word file. Crop any unnecessary areas. When you have pasted all the sections, try printing your new file. File might also be savable.

I have also found I can sometimes "Select - Copy - Paste" things to a new file when printing from the screen doesn't work (I do this often with PDF files that I cannot edit.)

Like I said, maybe yes, maybe no. Sometimes this works. Sometimes not. But if it does work, you will probably lose the correct scaling for images.

Thanks for the advice everyone.  Using the viewer on the NYW website, I zoomed out each page of the plan till I could see the entire page on the screen. I then used the MAC version of shift-print-screen which is control-command-shift-4.  This option allows you to select the area you want using drag and click to copy it to your clipboard.  Once it was on my clipboard I could then paste it into a word document page by laborious page (18 pages in two plans).  The word docs look pretty good but only hard copy printing can actually confirm the quality, which I'll do later this week when I am back at my home office.

[brianwelch]

I may be too late to the game, but you might try taking your laptop to a local Staples, Kinkos or other printing shop and ask for assistance. 
If I am unable to access or print we email to our local printer (but we have the benefit of actual files)
Good luck