page rotated when printed

[bshand1]

hi

when i print (using a hp710c) a xarax page it is very slightly rotated on the page - about 4mm over the length of an a4 page.

it is very consistent, but does not happen with other software - wordperfect, paintshop, textpad etc.

i emailed xarax support a while ago and it was suggested that i try changing to a bitmap or anti-aliased bitmap output. this works occasionally but mostly does not.

this is an irritating problem especially when making double sided documents.

any ideas?

[bshand1]

hi

when i print (using a hp710c) a xarax page it is very slightly rotated on the page - about 4mm over the length of an a4 page.

it is very consistent, but does not happen with other software - wordperfect, paintshop, textpad etc.

i emailed xarax support a while ago and it was suggested that i try changing to a bitmap or anti-aliased bitmap output. this works occasionally but mostly does not.

this is an irritating problem especially when making double sided documents.

any ideas?

[Sean Sedwards]

Sounds like it could be a paper thickness / hardware issue. Graphic pages are often asymmetric while text is usually balanced margin to margin. If the print head is causing significant drag on the page for some reason, an unbalanced page will be rotated.

I presume Xara's bitmap idea was that if the page was printed as a page-wide bitmap, the print head would spend an equal amount of time left and right. There could be all sorts of reasons why this strategy is not reliable.

To test my theory, try printing an object on the left of a page and then on the right. If I'm correct the page will be rotated in opposite directions, although if the printer is faulty it may only affect one side. If that's the case, printing one side will produce a rotated page and the other side will have less or no rotation.

Regards - Sean

[Erik Heyninck]

Open an A4 in xara, and draw a rectangle without fill, some half a inch from the four sides.

Print the .xar file.

Make a bitmap copy and print this.

Save as a tiff, reload and print.

Load the tiff in Paintshop Pro and print.

Do you have four identical prints?

Personally I can't understand how one program should be drawing rotated and another one not.
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[bshand1]

thanks for your thoughts sean and erik.

following sean's suggestion i printed out two thin filled bars on left and right. both printed dead straight. good [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

following erik's suggestion i printed out the large empty square. it also printed correctly as a .xar files, as a bitmap from xarax and as an uncompressed .tif and both in xarax and paintshop. very good [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

i then reprinted the brochure i am working on and the damn twist is back if i print it as a .xar file, but if i convert it to a .jpg and print, it's straight.

i then went back to three other documents with which i remembered having problems, all three are still printing twisted as .xar files, but are straight as .jpgs!

aaarrrghhh!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

i have attached one of the . xar files that is printing twisted. i'm not sure how this file will appear on the list, but i'll try it and see.

[pduggan]

Printed straight as .xar on my HP LaserJet 1100!

Peter</p>

Peat Stack or Pete's Tack?</p>

[Eric]

wolfie,
your flyer printed straight as a die on my Epson 680 too!
I've still got a feeling it's your printer, when the paper is being fed through-have you watched it to see if it's going through it's path properly wolfie? I know some HP's stop if you lift the top cover but you can bypass this by holding down the contact near the back... i've had lots of printers and i've also noticed some of them [like this epson 680] "snatch" the paper when they load, if the paper-width adjuster wings are too slack this can cause the paper to go through off-kilter, apart from that i'm sure it's something very simple. anyway good luck wolfie
cheers
scouse eric

[bshand1]

yes, i agree it has to be the printer. i really like hp printers, but not this 710c, not least because it uses my cpu cycles to print. not the best buy i've ever made.

thanks for your help everyone. i sure do 'preciate it.

brett - on the eve of the shortest day - brrr!