Custom Roll Paper Sizes-9900

[Garnick]

Hello all,

First a bit of background.  For the past couple of months I've been printing from a Mac Pro, OS X 10.7.5 and PS CS6, creating various custom paper sizes as needed in the print dialog(mostly roll sizes).  Before I did the final switch over to the Mac Pro I was still printing from a G5(OS X 10.5. and PS CS3, which I had been using for many years, for both 7600s and the 9900.  In both cases, with the G5 I had no problem with the custom paper sizes I created, all with 0.0" margins.  This worked for both regular and borderless printing sizes, no issues at all.  However, since I started printing from 10.7.5 and creating custom sizes within the printer driver(with 0.0" margins) all of my enlargements have been printing over-sized.  Example - I send a 16x20" print and it prints at 16.5x20.5".  I've been doing a work-around to get by, but last Friday I had several prints(16x20 & 24x30) to do and had to find a solution to this very annoying problem.  At first I thought it might have something to do with the 0.0" margins I was using in the custom sizes, even though that had never been an issue before.  I tried re-entering the 0.0" margins for the paper size I would normally use for a 16x20 print and it did seem to help.  The final print was 16.25x20.25, so it was .25" closer to the actual size being sent to the printer.  During this whole procedure I had of course spent several hours revisiting the print driver dialog and rechecking all of the settings.  They all checked out 100% as they should be and the print size in the driver showed as it should as well at 100% scale.  Still no answers.  Even though I was pretty sure that the custom sizes are set as part of the OS and not PS, I did delete and reset the preference file for PS, but that made no difference of course.  Just one of many possibilities that I had to eliminate.  I finally thought that since there was some improvement when I reset the 0.0" margin in the custom size dialog, perhaps setting it to the minimum margin required might possibly produce the desired effect.  I then set the paper size on which would normally print a 16x20 with a margin of 0.01" and the following 16x20 print was actually 16x20.  Well - Hallelujah!  I then chose the size I would normally use to print a 24x30 and used the same 0.01" margin setting.  I started a 24x30 print and then cancelled as soon as I had enough to measure, about 1/8" of image.  Again, exactly 30".  Again - Hallelujah!  Printed the 16x20s and 24x30s and they all exited the printer at the required size.  

My reason for this post is twofold.  First to ask if anyone else has noticed this particular issue with the 9900, printing from Mac OS X 10.7.5 and using the latest driver, v9.17.  Second, possibly be of some help to anyone who might be experiencing such an issue and looking for some resolution.  I find it difficult to believe that I'm the only one who has experienced this problem.  If so, perhaps others have automatically added a margin of some sort to their custom paper sizes, something I had never done until yesterday.  Always a learning experience I suppose, sometimes fun, sometimes not so much.

Cheers,
Gary    




  





      

[Wayne Fox]

Just to clarify, your measured “print size” is based on printing with a white border?  What width papers are you using?

What you describe seems odd.  Unfortunately it’s one of those things that is difficult to replicate and offer advice on without seeing all the steps to your setup as well as access to the Mac.

I haven’t used 10.7 for quite some time, but have numerous preset’s in LR which I have been using  since 10.7.  I do this all the time and have been doing it for some time, and have never seen the problem you discuss.  My print size is always exactly what I enter into LR’s setup, with the margins I have setup in LR.

[Garnick]

Just to clarify, your measured “print size” is based on printing with a white border?  What width papers are you using?

What you describe seems odd.  Unfortunately it’s one of those things that is difficult to replicate and offer advice on without seeing all the steps to your setup as well as access to the Mac.

I haven’t used 10.7 for quite some time, but have numerous preset’s in LR which I have been using  since 10.7.  I do this all the time and have been doing it for some time, and have never seen the problem you discuss.  My print size is always exactly what I enter into LR’s setup, with the margins I have setup in LR.

Hi Wayne,

I had never encountered this phenomenon either until OS 10.7.  As mentioned, in the past when I set up a custom roll paper "page size" under "Manage Custom Sizes", the margin was always entered as 0.0".  Of course the sheet sizes that are included with the driver always include a margin.  And please remember, I'm talking about PS only, since I seldom print from LR due to my particular workflow.  Until 10.7 I nave never had an issue with the actual print size until recently, and the only fix I could find was to add a .01" margin to all of my custom page sizes in the printer dialog.  As also mentioned, that idea happened along after much time spent back tracking, checking all settings and basically becoming more and more frustrated with the situation.  After the .01" margin addition, the three or four enlargements I have done are within 1/16" of what shows in PS and in the print dialog.  I can certainly live with that, so it appears this will be my procedure from this point onward with PS CS6 and OS 10.7.5.  This afternoon I printed the same image out of PS CS3, CS5 and CS6 and got three slight size variations.  I have deleted and reinstalled the driver, repaired permissions, and then restarted the computer each time with varying results.  However, I believe I have finally settled upon a routine that works. 

Thanks for the reply Wayne,
Gary     

[Garnick]

Just to clarify, your measured “print size” is based on printing with a white border?  What width papers are you using?

What you describe seems odd.  Unfortunately it’s one of those things that is difficult to replicate and offer advice on without seeing all the steps to your setup as well as access to the Mac.

I haven’t used 10.7 for quite some time, but have numerous preset’s in LR which I have been using  since 10.7.  I do this all the time and have been doing it for some time, and have never seen the problem you discuss.  My print size is always exactly what I enter into LR’s setup, with the margins I have setup in LR.

Hello Wayne,

In my last post I forgot to reply to your first sentence.  The only reason for the "border" is the fact that I usually print on both sheet and roll sizes that are inherently larger than the print size, unless I'm doing a borderless print.  The roll sizes I use are 10", 16", 20", 24", 36" and 44".  Since I print mostly for other photographers/artists etc, I never know what size image(s) I might have to deal with, so I set up custom sizes as needed and go back to them for further prints when necessary.  For example, a 16x20 it is usually printed on 24" roll and a custom paper size of 16.25x24".  I then of course trim the excess, unless the customer wants it left there for mounting purposes.  If a slight crop is acceptable I'll print borderless on 16" roll and the same procedure for larger sizes on roll sizes that allow borderless printing.  Due to the fact that I often have several images open at the same time I haven't quite made the move to LR for general printing, but I have certainly explored other features of the app and find it quite appealing.  For my workflow PS seems to be the preferred app at the moment and I have finally solved the oversize printing issue.  I believe it had something to do with not properly deleting the older driver(s) before installing the latest one.  As a lost resort I used the Epson Inkjet Printer Uninstall app and then repaired permissions(again), restart and reinstall drivers and they all seem to be playing well together now.

Actually this post is to address something else you mentioned in your reply, the fact that you haven't worked with OS 10.7 for quite a while.  I assume by that you mean you are now printing from Mavericks, or on Windows.  If indeed it is Mavericks I do have another question.  A while ago I posted a query to those on 10.8, asking about any issues with that OS and PS as far as printing is concerned.  I have the 10.8 but haven't yet done the grade.  Since Mavericks has been on the scene for a while I'm now considering upgrading to it and bypassing 10.8. However, since printing is my major concern, I'd like to know if you have found any issues with Mavericks in that respect.  I also seem to recall possible issues upgrading to Mavericks from 10.7 and it was suggested to instal 10.8 first and upgrade from that OS instead.  Am I mistaken, or was that an issue.  Of course I would test all of this on a bootable clone before applying the upgrade to my main working HD.

Thanks for the initial reply Wayne.  I'll look forward to your thoughts regarding Mavericks as well.

Gary