Lightroom or Printer problem?

[Mike Guilbault]

I'm working in LR and using an Epson 4900 printer with 10" roll paper.  In LR, I create a package to print (Borderless) 2 vertical 5x7s thereby taking up the whole 10" width of the paper and being 7" in height.  When I print this, the left hand side 5x7 is 1/8" short, so only 4 7/8" wide instead of 5", and the left hand 5x7 is perfect - but leaves a 1/8" border/gap/space on the right hand side of the paper.  BTW, the preview of the print job does not show the 1/8" space on the right.

Has anyone else had this problem?  Is it LR or the 4900?  Any ideas on how to fix it?

[CoyoteButtes]

Mike, check the Page Setup selection in the printer driver. See Mark Segal's excellent article, Figures 15, 16, and 17 on the 4900 at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/the_epson_4900_printer_hands_on_and_down_to_work.shtml

Good luck,

Stan

[Mike Guilbault]

I've read Mark's article but I don't believe that is it.  This even happens when I create a custom size paper with no margins.  It's not just 5x7 either... 8x10s do the same thing.

[CoyoteButtes]

Maybe we could get Mr. Schewe to comment on this.

[Schewe]

Maybe we could get Mr. Schewe to comment on this.

What for? The OP is trying to do something the borderless paper setting was not designed for. I've got a 4900 but it's not yet set up. So I'll pass other than to say that the OP is trying to use borderless beyond it's intent. Sorry can't help...

[Mike Guilbault]

How is what I'm trying to do something that the printer isn't designed for?  Why else would they sell 10" paper if not to print 8x10s?  All I'm trying to do is have it print centred with even borders. 

[howardm]

borderless is a special kind of beast

[Farmer]

Cut sheet or roll?  If you create a custom paper size in the driver and print, say, from PS (or even from Viewer or something) how does it look?

What are your EXACT driver settings?

[Wayne Fox]

10" is specified as a supported borderless roll paper size.

The challenge when printing borderless is Epson printers don't seem to center things exactly, so their solution is to make the image "larger", either by the user before printing or or by using the borderless auto expand option.  For example if you want to print a borderless print using the "retain" size option, the actual image must be 10.25" to end up borderless. (Page 90 of the user manual).

If you are printing a sheet with 2 prints side by side, the problem might be the middle doesn't end up exactly in the middle ... and doing something in LR as described might be challenging.  There is usually a work around, but I don't have a 4900 and 10" paper to experiment with.

[Mike Guilbault]

After a lot of experimenting and wasting a lot of paper and ink, I finally got it working the way I want.  My borders are perfect! (using Retain Size). Not only did I have to make the image 10.25", but also had to create a new paper size of 10.25.  I had to make my image slightly off-centre - a little to the right, AND place the image as a 10.3" image in LR on the page in LR.  LR wouldn't go 10.25 and rounded it up to 10.3.
I then just duplicated the paper size for the different lengths to print mulitple 8x10s, one after the other with no gap - and then trim myself.  For example, 2 10x8" (horizontal/landscape) images have a paper length of 16" (by 10.25" wide) but you also have to add about 1/2" to the length because the printer doesn't start printing for about 1/2" into the paper.  So in the layout in LR, you also have to be sure to place your first 8x10 about 1/2" down the page.

The problem was the same printing through PS CS5, but LR was easier to set up different presets for the page sizes and print options. 

Oh... and I just turn the paper cut to Normal and I get about 1/2" of waste before and after the print job.