I'm helping a friend out on a project, and I'm using his Epson 4880 printer. We're printing 7x10-inch documents (note cards that'll fold to 5x7) on 8.5x11 pre-scored paper, which we'll then batch trim for the final cards. So far, so good.
My problem is, the printer is outputting the image larger than 7x10! I've got it set to print at 100%, it displays that the output size will be 6.999" x 10", and the margins are showing perfect (.5" top, .75" left), but the final image is printing out larger than that, and not just by a tiny amount, but like 3/8" in each direction. Any ideas what's causing this? Could it be a non-native ppi of 300 instead of 360? What else might be going on?
Check to make sure there is no 'scaling' going on; either in PS or the Epson driver. Beyond that, I can't think of why it would do this. You could try printing at 360 dpi to see if that helps.
What software application are you using for the printing? This is important.
Posted by Todd Caudle on June 12, 2010 at 10:04 AM
Troup, we're using PS CS3.
Posted by Fred Stearns on June 12, 2010 at 1:15 PM
Todd,
I don't know if this will help you or not. When I was printing on a larger sized paper than the print size, like an 8X10 picture on 8 1/2 X 11 paper, I increased the canvas size. I was going for even border, so this was easy. It looks like you want the picture offset so that you can fold the card after trimming. So, I don't know if this will work.
Just a guess, but here goes:
When setting up to print, in the print dialog box, choose 4880 as the printer (as opposed to "any printer") and then check the paper size under page setup to be sure that you have exactly what you want- in your example, "US letter". There are a few other choices under US letter such as "borderless auto expand" and others. In my limited experience with this printer to date, it has a mind-boggling number of bells, whistles and choices, and I am learning not to take anything for granted! Make sure you tell this "brainy" machine exactly what you want and that it hasn't "out thunk" you and reverted itself to another setting that you thought you set differently before. It won't necessarily stay that way, even on batches of the same job. It's gotten so I check settings every time, especially the most basic ones. I hope that helps…
Mystery solved! The expansion slider was set to the middle of three settings, since I was printing with borderless selected. I moved the expansion slider to minimum, and everything turned out perfect.
You're right, Catherine, this is one bells-and-whistles-heavy beast!
I know that in order to print "borderlessly" some print drivers will slightly expand an image to make sure there's no border. That shouldn't be happening in this case, but maybe one of the settings is doing the same thing? Can you look at other prints done on that printer before and see if they're the exact size they're supposed to be?
Discussion
7 repliesI'm helping a friend out on a project, and I'm using his Epson 4880 printer. We're printing 7x10-inch documents (note cards that'll fold to 5x7) on 8.5x11 pre-scored paper, which we'll then batch trim for the final cards. So far, so good.
My problem is, the printer is outputting the image larger than 7x10! I've got it set to print at 100%, it displays that the output size will be 6.999" x 10", and the margins are showing perfect (.5" top, .75" left), but the final image is printing out larger than that, and not just by a tiny amount, but like 3/8" in each direction. Any ideas what's causing this? Could it be a non-native ppi of 300 instead of 360? What else might be going on?
Thanks in advance for any/all help!
--P
I don't know if this will help you or not. When I was printing on a larger sized paper than the print size, like an 8X10 picture on 8 1/2 X 11 paper, I increased the canvas size. I was going for even border, so this was easy. It looks like you want the picture offset so that you can fold the card after trimming. So, I don't know if this will work.
When setting up to print, in the print dialog box, choose 4880 as the printer (as opposed to "any printer") and then check the paper size under page setup to be sure that you have exactly what you want- in your example, "US letter". There are a few other choices under US letter such as "borderless auto expand" and others. In my limited experience with this printer to date, it has a mind-boggling number of bells, whistles and choices, and I am learning not to take anything for granted! Make sure you tell this "brainy" machine exactly what you want and that it hasn't "out thunk" you and reverted itself to another setting that you thought you set differently before. It won't necessarily stay that way, even on batches of the same job. It's gotten so I check settings every time, especially the most basic ones. I hope that helps…
You're right, Catherine, this is one bells-and-whistles-heavy beast!