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HP Designjet 500 and 800 Series Printers - New Small Margins Feature
New Small Margins feature
A feature has been added to the HP Designjet 500 and 800 printers (including the HP Designjet cc800ps and 815mfp) that allows you to print on
technical media using 5 mm (millimeter) margins.
This document explains how to use this new Small Margins feature, and also guides you through
this new solution.
HP drivers, printers, and operating systems that support the Small Margins option
The following drivers are not supported:
- HP Designjet PostScript printer drivers
- Macintosh
drivers
- HP Designjet printer driver for AutoCAD 13/14
Supported printers:
HP Designjet 800
HP Designjet 800ps
HP Designjet 500 + HP-GL/2
card
HP Designjet 500ps + HP-GL/2 card
HP Designjet cc800ps and 815mfp
Supported operating systems:
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows Me
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
The Small Margins solution can be used to print from AutoCAD 2000 and AutoCAD
2002 through the HP Designjet RTL and HP-GL/2 driver.
HP Designjet 500 and 800 printer firmware versions supported
The solution is supported as of the firmware version A.02.08.
Please make sure that the printer has firmware versions A.02.08 or higher, on the following
components.
For the HP Designjet 500 series + HP-GL/2 card:
Formatter code image
Engine code image
For the HP Designjet 800 series:
Hard disk image
Formatter code image
Engine code image
Media formats/types supported
Roll media is supported by the Small Margins feature, and Sheet media is not
supported. |
NOTE:
|
The HP driver will automatically disable the Small Margins checkbox when the
Sheet checkbox is selected. |
The following HP Technical Media are supported by the Small Margins feature:
Tracing paper
Matte film
Clear film
Bright White paper
Coated paper |
NOTE:
|
Other HP or Non-HP media types are not supported with the Small Margins feature. If
a non-supported media is loaded into the printer, the printer will automatically adopt the Normal margins,
regardless of the driver settings.
See also the Limitations section below. |
The different Small Margins scenarios
As with all the HP Designjet printers, you can select from the driver a standard size (that is, ISO
A4), a custom page size, or oversize.
Here is a reminder about these three modes: If you select standard size
(for example ISO A4), the paper size will correspond to the defined
standard (in this example ISO A4). This means that the printing area will correspond to the
page size minus the margins.
If you select custom page size
: same as for the standard size. The printing area will
correspond to the page size (defined by the customer in this case) minus the margins.
If you select oversize
(for example Oversize ISO A4): the paper size will correspond to the
defined standard plus the margins, and in this mode, the printing area corresponds to the
defined page size. See drawing below. Figure 1: ISO A4, Oversize ISO A4 example
|
NOTE:
|
The Small Margins feature is supported in all three modes. If selected, this feature will
reduce the top and bottom margins to 5 millimeters. By default, the driver settings and the printer's
settings are set to normal margins. |
Note:
The page size can be defined from the front panel or in the software. It may be called Page
size, Media size, Paper size, etc., and the options include for example, ISO A3, ANSI
Letter, Custom. If your software does not define the page size in the print file, the front-panel
setting is used. Otherwise, the software setting overrides the front-panel setting.
Inked Area - is the smallest rectangle that contains the entire image.
How to use small margins
Selecting a Standard or Custom paper size:
Open the HP Designjet RTL and HPGL/2 driver (version 5.34 minimum).
Make sure that roll media is selected (sheet is not supported).
Choose a size (Standard or Custom) from the Basic Setup tab.
In the example below, ISO A2 has been chosen to take advantage of the whole width of the chosen
roll. Figure 2: Basic Setup tab
Go to the Advanced
tab.
Verify that Maximum performance
is chosen under Document processing
.
|
NOTE:
|
Important: Small
Margins will not be available if Avoid out of memory
is selected. |
Select the Small Margins
checkbox. Figure 3: Advanced tab
Read the warning and click OK
.
Check that the right media type is loaded in the printer.
If all the other settings are correct, click Print
.
As previously mentioned, in this case, the margins will be included within the page size limits,
meaning that the Printing Area will correspond to the defined page size minus the margins (5 mm in
top, bottom, left, and right margins).
Selecting an Oversize paper size:
Nevertheless, if you would like to make use of the Small Margins feature with the Oversize mode,
that is also possible. Open the HP Designjet RTL and HPGL/2 driver (v 5.34 minimum).
From the Basic Setup tab, choose an oversize page size (for example, OVERSIZE: Custom 410 X 410 mm
). Figure 4: Oversize page size example
|
NOTE:
|
Once an Oversize paper size is chosen, the Small Margins checkbox is disabled on the
Advanced tab, as shown below. |
Figure 5: Small margins disabled
Go to the printer's front panel and select the Paper menu
icon, and then press Enter
. Figure 6: Front panel display
Using the arrow keys, scroll to Page format
and press Enter
.
Scroll to Small Margins = OFF
, and press Enter
.
Scroll to ON
, and press Enter
.
Press the Back
key twice to return to the main menu.
Send the print job.
In this mode, the margins will be added to the page size, meaning that the printed document will
have a size equal to the "page size reported by the driver" plus the "width of the margins." |
NOTE:
|
This method follows the general "oversize" method exactly. More explanation can be found in
the driver's Help tab. Search for the keyword "Oversize." |
Limitations and potential issues
Minimum size of the image - due to the HP Designjet 500 and 800 hardware design, the image height
has to be ISO A4 portrait minimum.
Quality deterioration in the first 12 mm of the print - due to poor media handling when the roll
does not cover the whole vacuum area, it might be that the quality decreases slightly in the first
12 mm.
Variable top/bottom margin - in theory, the top and bottom margins may have a variation in
some extremely rare cases of 1.5 millimeters.
Paper crashes if the environmental conditions are not met.
Troubleshooting
On the front panel of the printer, when I go to Paper menu, Page format, I cannot find the
Small Margins option.
Ensure roll media has been loaded and not a sheet.
Ensure a supported media type has been loaded.
Ensure the printer's firmware is A.02.08 or higher.
On the print, the bottom margin is much larger than 5 mm.
I have an HP Designjet 500, and I cannot find the Small Margins checkbox, under the
Advanced tab.
From the Basic Setup tab, I have chosen "Oversize," but I cannot select the Small Margins checkbox.
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Printable version
