plotted drawing not printing properly

[denchi22]

hi there. I am having some problem with printing. I am using autocad LT 2008 for plotting points for structured cabling system. I placed my points ( i.e. symbols for tel. or data) on the drawing of the client and tried to print it on A1 paper using hp designjet 500 plus. In the plot preview, the points are shown, but when I am printing it, the points are not included on the print. Can you tell me what I can do to resolve this problem?

[rkmcswain]

Since it shows up on the plot preview, it shouldn't be an issue of a non-plotting layer.....

Do you have another printer to try this on (maybe a desktop inkjet or something?)
Also try plotting to DWF and/or PDF and see if they show up there.

[irneb]

If you're sending it to the HP printer in HPGL format then it may be that the printer's run out of memory. This can happen if the drawing has a large number of very intricate lines (something like contours). I know from experience that HP printers don't warn you that they've run out of RAM, they simply disregard the last entities which couldn't be converted to dots. So you end up with a print missing some lines.

Try using the HPRTL driver instead - I think the Windows Driver has a setting for Calculation on Printer (as in HPGL) or calculation on PC (as in HPRTL). I'm not sure how to accomplish this using AutoCAD's HDI drivers though. For the reason above we've moved away from HP, that's why I can't check this to give you the exact instructions.

Alternatively upgrade the printer's RAM or use a different printer.

[denchi22]

RKMCSWAIN,

Thanks for your reply. I tried to print it on another printer (hp deskjet 6122) and it is showing the points on the drawing. I have no idea what to do since I am still not that familiar with autocad. Anyway, I will try to print in PDF and check if it will work.

thanks.

[rkmcswain]

Maybe as a workaround, you can print to DWF or PDF, then in turn print that document to the HP plotter.

"irneb" has a good point about the plotter dropping geometry when out of RAM. That may be something to look at if this is a large drawing.

[denchi22]

irneb,

thanks for your reply. I will try to check the ram of this printer. I am just new to this kind of thing so I don't really have an idea about the drivers that you mentioned but i will definitely look into it. thanks again!!

[irneb]

irneb,

thanks for your reply. I will try to check the ram of this printer. I am just new to this kind of thing so I don't really have an idea about the drivers that you mentioned but i will definitely look into it. thanks again!!
Sorry, but I just installed a test driver for HP DesignJet 600 - it doesn't have this feature. I might have mixed up the printers I had in mind - I think it's only available through HP's own drivers - not those coming standard with Windows or AutoCAD.

If you're pressed for cash, or if the printer doesn't allow for more RAM, then try rkmcswain's suggestion of printing to DWF / PDF first then print to the printer. If it still gives similar problems, then you may want to print to an Image File & then send this to the Printer. Unfortunately AutoCAD's Image Printer Driver is rather useless - then I'd suggest installing something like PDFCreator & save the resulting file to a PNG / JPG / TIFF / whichever you prefer. Just remember that you may find this method to lose some accuracy in scaling - depending on the program you then use to open the image.

[denchi22]

hey guys thanks for your replies. I tried to print it as pdf but the entire drawing is still not shown when I print it on this deskjet 600. Now the points are shown, but the legends are not! I think I would need to configure something either in the printer preferences or with adobe reader but I don't know what. Also, is there something there in its properties (deskjet 600) that can change the language used?

[denchi22]

Hi there again. I tried to print it in pdf adn dwf but still not all of the details in the drawing are printed. I tried to experiment and zoom in on the details that are not showing on the printout and print only that area. That part is now shown. If I print it again with the whole drawing, again it just left a space where the details should have been and continued to print the ohter parts. I still don't know what to do. any suggestions?

[denchi22]

* Its DESIGNJET 500 PLUS NOT DESKJET 600 sorry.

[irneb]

Hi there again. I tried to print it in pdf adn dwf but still not all of the details in the drawing are printed. I tried to experiment and zoom in on the details that are not showing on the printout and print only that area. That part is now shown. If I print it again with the whole drawing, again it just left a space where the details should have been and continued to print the ohter parts. I still don't know what to do. any suggestions?I'd say this sounds exactly like an out-of-RAM error. The only solution to this would be to print it to a BMP and then send it to the printer. Or maybe you could ask someone at HP on how to change that particular driver to HPRTL instead of the default HPGL - this basically does the same thing in one step i.e. DWG --> HPGL --> Driver --> BMP --> send to printer.

[denchi22]

ok thanks I will try to contact hp here in dubai then I will try to update you guys the cause of this problem. Thanks a lot to you guys!!!!

[irneb]

After doing a search on the HP forums, it seems your plotter uses PCL instead. Only if you've got an HPGL2 expansion card installed can you print using HPGL. However they do mention how to do this as well:

http://h41186.www4.hp.com/country/us/en/forums/tree_display.html?forum_id=8&posting_id=42850&pageseq=686339
http://h41186.www4.hp.com/country/us/en/forums/tree_display.html?forum_id=8&posting_id=13874&pageseq=686339

And then it seems that at least the windows based driver has the option of HPGL / RTL, You can download that driver here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?pnameOID=20987&prodName=hp+designjet+500&locale=en_US&taskId=8418&taskName=download+drivers+%26+software&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=25301&prodSeriesName=hp+designjet+500+series&