Half sized plots with Xerox 510 using PS driver?

Discussion in 'AutoCAD' started by Gordon Price, Nov 18, 2004.

  1. Gordon Price

    Gordon Price Guest

    We have a 510, and in general I love it. However, half size plots have been
    an issue. In R2002, the PS driver would rotate the image opposite the paper,
    so we would get a clipped image. I finally gave up and used a second Windows
    'printer' using the non PS driver for half sized, and the PS driver for full
    sized. Before anyone asks, we used the PS driver for full sized because the
    quality, especially for grey solid hatches, was just huge. Also, we are
    using a 15" roll, with the plotter centering on what it thinks is 17" paper
    (haven't any of these laser plotter people heard of half size 30X42?)
    Anyway, I am now moving to R2005, and I am still having half size trouble,
    but differenmt from before. Now a half size will print with the proper
    rotation, but it wants to clip the image at 15". I also tried using a 22"
    roll, so the plotter knew what it had, and setting the paper size to 15X22,
    with a 1" X offset to get a fat binding margin. Prints with the right
    orientation to the paper, but still clips at 15", this time off the width of
    the roll, not the length. All this with the PS driver. The standard driver
    is scewing and clipping the image, and the HDI driver is also causing grief
    (don't remember what, and don't really want to use a HDI driver anyway).
    So, has anyone successfully implemented 30X42 and 15X21/22 half size
    plotting in R2005 using the PS driver? Am I just barking up the wrong tree?
    It seems like at least one manufacturer of large format laser plotters would
    get this right, but from what I have heard there are issues with 15" half
    size on Oces, and Kips. But a cheap HP paintjet can handle it (if you can
    find the paper on the smaller roll diameter. Ack!

    Best,
    Gordon
     
    Gordon Price, Nov 18, 2004
    #1
  2. Gordon,

    I know this is off the subject but I can't find anyone else that is using a Xerox 510db. Can you plot screened lines that are under a certain lineweight with this plotter? I have been trying everything I can think of but I cannot get a screened line to print that is under a pen width of .500 mm. I can produce a screened line that has a width of .500 mm or more but the appearance of this line is way to thick for what I want to produce.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I have been playing with this off and on for a couple of months now and it's getting very frustrating.
     
    Aaron Cunningham, Nov 19, 2004
    #2
  3. Gordon Price

    Tom Berning Guest

    Gordon,

    Are you using Xerox's AccXES tools to send you plot files to the plotter? If
    you are, then you could just take the full size plot files and scale the
    plots down by 50% in the Document Submit tab of the program. We are not
    plotting many postscript files to our Xeroxs and the one I have in my office
    doesn't have the postscript option installed so I can't test this process,
    but I know the process works fine for plots created from the HDI driver.

    Tom
     
    Tom Berning, Nov 24, 2004
    #3
  4. Gordon Price

    CraigV\(fs\) Guest

    Gordon,

    Looks like we are in the same boat right now. I've been dealing with
    problems with the plot accuracy (see my posts earlier this month in the
    group) and have just started using the HP650c driver to fix that. (Warning
    to you: print out some site plans and check how accurate the boundaries
    are...).

    But, like you, I'm having trouble with the half-size plots. Our plotter was
    set up before with the 15" roll moved over toward the 17" margin on the
    spindle. That is how it needs to be when you scan-to-print a half size from
    the Xerox scanner unit.

    But, when I set up my new driver using the HP650c.PC3, it wants to plot the
    15" wide prints to a roll of 15" paper in the middle of the spindle.

    I think the perfect solution would be for Xerox to release some firmware to
    add a 15" roll option to the Xerox 510 control panel. For some reason it
    jumps from 12" to 17"...

    Craig
     
    CraigV\(fs\), Nov 24, 2004
    #4
  5. Gordon Price

    Gordon Price Guest

    I gave up trusting any plotter to be really accurate. Given that our drawing
    say 'Do not scale' I don't worry much. But then, if no one is supposed to
    scale, why do we show what scale everything is, and match all the scales.
    Why not just make everything fit to page ;)
    In R2002 we could use the non PS windows driver, and plot half size to 15"
    paper, centered on the spindle, with the plotter told it was 17". BS
    workaround, and the quality was not nearly as good as the full size prints,
    but it worked. Now in R2005 that no longer works. VERY frustrating.
    Our problem is the only reaon we chose the Xerox was the print quality of
    the PostScript output. If we abandone PS for HPGL we loose that, and then we
    have no reason to even have the Xerox, we could have used the Oce with the
    faster warm up time. Truth is, I can no longer promote Xerox as a viable
    option. The rteasonwe can't plot half size to 15" paper is a bug, and their
    attitude is 'Not enough peoiple us PS to make it worth fixing the bug'. With
    an attitude like that, I don't want to help them make any money.
    Yeah, I keep hearing the rep say 'None of the large format laser plotters
    understand 15"', to which I say 'Then all of those companies are @#$%
    stupid, cause half size 30X42 is pretty common, and has been for some number
    of decades ;)
     
    Gordon Price, Nov 25, 2004
    #5
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