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Mike Chaney's Tech Corner > Mike's Software > Qimage Ultimate > Margin Problem Using Roll Paper
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Author Topic: Margin Problem Using Roll Paper  (Read 12261 times)
Bob55
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« on: September 09, 2014, 03:47:15 PM »
I'm having difficulty getting my margins to print the way they are displayed in Qimage. I'm printing on 17" roll paper, with custom paper sizing of 17 X 25", and a print size of 12 X 21.5".  In the printer editor, the location is Center, with top/bottom margins of 2.51" and left/right margins of 1.76'. Print orientation is landscape, with center placement. Everything looks perfect, and what I expect in the window, but it's printing different.

What prints is a image with a top border of 2 7/8" and bottom of 2 1/8". See attached images.

Any idea what the issue might be?

Thanks,
Bob
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Fred A
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« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2014, 06:42:33 PM »
Quote
What prints is a image with a top border of 2 7/8" and bottom of 2 1/8". See attached images.

Any idea what the issue might be?

Thanks,
Bob

Hi Bob,
Let's get some more info from you.

What printer are you using?

For example, 17.0" roll paper gives a printable area of 16.77.
You say the print is 12.0 inches which leaves 4.77 of room left, and splitting that into upper and lower, 2.51 is correct.
Same thing with the sides, the arithmetic comes out right.
If I look in the Queue tab, it tells me that the print size that Qimage is sending to the driver is as you specified, 21.5 x 12.0

So we can now safely assume that what Qimage sends to the printer is accurate.
That leaves the driver or the printer.
The next test was to look at the print preview from the driver, and actually measure in pixels the vertical size of the top margin and the bottom margin.
Both the same here.
That sort of points to the printer and paper size and paper slop while moving and positioning.
Can the paper slide in the guides that much, and maybe it's not a full 17" wide??

What printer...

I was simulating on a 4900 Epson

PS Can you send a screen snap of the print preview screen?


Fred
« Last Edit: September 09, 2014, 06:44:06 PM by Fred A » Logged
Bob55
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« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2014, 07:27:34 PM »
Hi, Fred

Thanks for you reply, the printer is an Epson 4880. I'm using Red River roll paper which is an actual 17" wide, and I've checked the alignment, and haven't see anything that would make me think that's an issue. I've a attached a jpeg of the print preview.

Thanks again,
Bob
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Fred A
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« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2014, 08:36:11 PM »
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Thanks for you reply, the printer is an Epson 4880. I'm using Red River roll paper which is an actual 17" wide, and I've checked the alignment, and haven't see anything that would make me think that's an issue. I've a attached a jpeg of the print preview.
OK Bob rechecked all and the image you sent shows the same even size in pixels between the top margin and the bottom. That sort of exonerates the driver.

So boiling it down, QU is sending a an image placed on the specified page. The driver is accepting that file with those dimensions and placements.
This is proved by the Print Preview showing even. ... and with that much change in size you would have to see a considerable pixel count mismatch.
So if the driver output matches the Qimage output, and the printer output does not....

You have to inspect the workings of the printer.

Fred
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Bob55
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« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2014, 08:57:54 PM »
Fred,

Not so sure it's a printer issue, but I've been wrong before.  Cheesy  I started working on this project because a friend with a Epson 4900 was having the same issues for a job he was printing, and called me for advice. Even though he had previously printed images on roll paper using Qimage without the margin issues, he couldn't make it work right this time. When I set a job up on my 4880 to see if I could understand why he was having issues, I ended up getting the same margin issue as he was. It seems like the software, either Epson or Qimage isn't sending the correct data to the printer. I've checked the printer, and everything is working as expected, and as I said my friend is having the exact issues. If you have any ideas on what settings on the printer I should check, that would be great.

Hopefully someone else has experienced the same problem, and may have a suggestion to get it working. Thanks for your quick response!

Bob 
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Fred A
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« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2014, 09:40:04 PM »
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If you have any ideas on what settings on the printer I should check, that would be great.

Try a sheet of 17 x 24 and see what you get.

Good luck,
Fred
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admin
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« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2014, 10:28:32 PM »
Quote from: Bob55 on September 09, 2014, 08:57:54 PM
Fred,

Not so sure it's a printer issue, but I've been wrong before.  Cheesy  I started working on this project because a friend with a Epson 4900 was having the same issues for a job he was printing, and called me for advice. Even though he had previously printed images on roll paper using Qimage without the margin issues, he couldn't make it work right this time. When I set a job up on my 4880 to see if I could understand why he was having issues, I ended up getting the same margin issue as he was. It seems like the software, either Epson or Qimage isn't sending the correct data to the printer. I've checked the printer, and everything is working as expected, and as I said my friend is having the exact issues. If you have any ideas on what settings on the printer I should check, that would be great.

Hopefully someone else has experienced the same problem, and may have a suggestion to get it working. Thanks for your quick response!

Bob 

Your screen shot of the driver preview proves it is not a Qimage Ultimate issue.  If you open that screen shot, you'll see that the image is perfectly centered on the paper.  In fact, you can count the pixels: 90 pixels of white space on the top and 90 white pixels on the bottom.  If it was Qimage Ultimate's fault, you'd see something like 103 pixels on the top and 77 on the bottom: big difference because there's a big difference between 2.875 inches and 2.125 (which you say you are getting on the actual print top/bottom).

The fact that the driver itself confirms that the photo is exactly centered on the page means this now becomes an Epson problem.  Either it's a bug in the driver or a physical problem with the printer.  QU has already done it's job and the driver even confirms where it knows the photo is located (center of the page) but when the driver prints that centered photo, you aren't getting what is in the driver.  When what comes out of your printer doesn't match the preview in the driver, that's all Epson at that point.  So look for issues with roll alignment because I think a bug in the driver seems unlikely.

Regards,
Mike
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Bob55
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« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2014, 12:14:20 AM »

Try a sheet of 17 x 24 and see what you get.

Good luck,
Fred

Fred,

Well I just cut a sheet of 17 X 24, and a re-printed, it came out perfect.  So now, it looks like I can concentrate on what's going on with roll paper settings/set-up, as you suggested.  Cheesy

Thanks for you help today,
Bob
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Bob55
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« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2014, 12:35:44 AM »
Your screen shot of the driver preview proves it is not a Qimage Ultimate issue.  If you open that screen shot, you'll see that the image is perfectly centered on the paper.  In fact, you can count the pixels: 90 pixels of white space on the top and 90 white pixels on the bottom.  If it was Qimage Ultimate's fault, you'd see something like 103 pixels on the top and 77 on the bottom: big difference because there's a big difference between 2.875 inches and 2.125 (which you say you are getting on the actual print top/bottom).

The fact that the driver itself confirms that the photo is exactly centered on the page means this now becomes an Epson problem.  Either it's a bug in the driver or a physical problem with the printer.  QU has already done it's job and the driver even confirms where it knows the photo is located (center of the page) but when the driver prints that centered photo, you aren't getting what is in the driver.  When what comes out of your printer doesn't match the preview in the driver, that's all Epson at that point.  So look for issues with roll alignment because I think a bug in the driver seems unlikely.

Regards,
Mike


Mike,

After running a sheet paper test that Fred suggested it would seem to confirm the problem is with the roll alignment or driver as you suggested.

Thanks,
Bob

 
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Fred A
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« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2014, 08:58:47 AM »
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Fred,

Well I just cut a sheet of 17 X 24, and a re-printed, it came out perfect.  So now, it looks like I can concentrate on what's going on with roll paper settings/set-up, as you suggested.  Cheesy

Thanks for you help today,
Bob

Glad to help.... and this was a tough one....

PS I have one friend with a 4800 and a3800, and another with a 9800, and I was going to call both and ask for a test.

Fred
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 09:04:38 AM by Fred A » Logged
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