Free graph paper SVG files, drawn to size

Keeping the grid true to size

Every sheet here is exactly 100 mm on its longer side, which is the size the files are published at. Open one at its own size and the spacing is what the name says: 5 mm, 10 mm, a quarter of an inch. Scale the file and the grid scales with it, so a sheet stretched to fill a page no longer measures true. Check a print with a ruler before you rely on it: many printers shrink a page to fit their margins unless you choose actual size or 100 per cent.

To cover a larger area, repeat the sheet. The two metric tiles are made for that: their lines run to the edge and are cut in half there, so two tiles placed edge to edge make one full line and the grid carries on unbroken. The other sheets are a grid inside a border line that marks the 100 mm square, because 100 mm does not divide evenly into quarter inches or into rows of triangles. The grid and its border are separate shapes, so the border is easy to delete.

Printing, engraving and plotting

For print, place the SVG in a document and give it a pale colour: grey or light blue lines stay out of the way of a pencil. For a laser, engrave the lines on a cutting board, a workbench top or a sheet of acrylic to make a permanent grid. The lines are filled shapes 0.4 to 1.3 mm wide, not single strokes, so a pen plotter traces round each line; choose a pen close to the line width and it reads as one stroke.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions