Plotter B Large Format Printing

For printing A2, A1, A0, Banner sizes.

Things to know

An all-rounder colour printer, the ColorWave 3800 is designed for wider graphic arts applications and offers high quality, instant dry and waterproof prints. Plotter B1 and B2 do not differ in quality or speed.

Trying to print A2? Scroll down for the A2 printing guide.

Large Format Printing Procedures

Read our detailed guide on how to print to our large format printers. See also printing from the Student Labs and Staff printing.

Before you begin

Pro Tip: For optimising the quality of your graphics and avoiding pixelation due to scaling issues, it is important that you are;

• Consistent in the formatting of your prints from digital to physical print

• Ensure the dimensions of your page in InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop etc, to be exactly same as the dimensions to print on. i.e. Don’t set up your page as A3 and print as A1.

Printing Guides

Ensure documents are properly sized to the desired print dimensions (A2, A1, A0 etc.). Incorrect sizing/print settings will cause printer queue to pause and manually delete jobs from the printer (inconvenient).

In this section:

• Printing Guide

• Student Labs

• Staff Printing

• Banner Printing

• Troubleshooting

Printing Guide

How to print:

1. Open your PDF at the quick-print station and select your desired Plotter 1 or Plotter 2.

Select printer (Plotter 1, 2 or 3)

2. Open Page Setup, select your document size and layout.

Page Setup: Paper Size & Orientation.

3. Open Properties to see the detailed Plotter settings menu.

• The only two settings to change/alter in this window is the print size and the colour mode.

  • Page as in Application - select the appropriate page size (A2, A1, A0 or Custom).

  • Colour mode - Colour or True Black and White Vectors print.

  • Hit OK to apply settings and return to the print menu.

Plotter settings menu: Print size & Colour mode.

Print Menu: Click Print

4. Once you hit Print in the Print Menu, you will be faced with the following window to confirm the settings and size of your print - if correct, hit OK to print.

5. Scan your Card on the reader (if printing from a student lab, Skip this step - your job will be sent to the print-release station).

Quick Print Terminal: Scan card

6. Release from the print-release station.

• Ensure the price matches the stated cost, if it is incorrect there may be an issue with your settings. It is advised to go back, check your settings and re-send the job.

• Press Print to release the job to the printer.

Print-Release Station

7. Collect your prints from the appropriate printer.

Student Labs

Printing from Digital Design Labs

Printing from the student Labs is the same as using a Quick Print Station, except you don't need to wait in line to use the Quick Print Terminal. Follow the instructions there for How to print to our plotters, you just get to skip a step near the end.

Ensure you have logged into your account in the computer labs as the Quick release station will only display jobs matching the details of your student ID card.

Staff Printing

Staff Printing

Staff can also use the large format printing facilities, you can follow the Quick Print Station guide or you can submit your files to the Media Hub staff who can process the job for you.

See our Staff Printing Service For more information on how to send us a print job.

Banner Printing

Banner Printing

Non-standard size banner printing can be achieved following this guide.

Please note: The plotters can only print a maximum width of 841mm (A0 landscape or A1 Portrait). This is due to the physical limitations of the roll size.

1. Select the appropriate Plotter you wish to use (Plotter B1 or B2)

2. Open the Print menu.

3. Open the Properties menu. This will pop-up the OCE Plotter settings menu

4. Open the Page as in application menu > Custom page size. See image below.

   • Insert the appropriate document sizes

   • The width of the document should be 594mm or 841mm if creating A2, A1 or A0 Banners.

   • A0 Portrait banners are not achievable.

5. Click Save

6. Click OK to return to the Print Menu.

7. Ensure the preview is correct and other settings have been appropriately set (follow the Quick Print Station guide for the complete process).

Plotter Properties: Custom page size

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Your print job is on hold at the printer - Plotter B2 holds 841mm width paper. You may have selected A1(594mm) E36+ or 42inch by accident in the OCE print settings menu. The printer does not understand what paper to print on. You will have to re-print at the correct media size and apply for a refund for the job that can't be printed.

Your print came out blank - There may be an issue with your file. It could be too large. We recommend a maximum file size of 150mb. Make sure the PDF is flattened and you have removed the adobe layers. See our PDF optimisation guide.

Printing A2 on Plotter B1 and B2

Students often having trouble printing A2 because they have not selected the correct settings. Please follow these instructions for a correctly-sized print.

1. Open your file in Acrobat and press 'Print'.

2. In the Print window, select either Plotter B1 or Plotter B2.

3. Ensure 'Choose paper source by PDF page size' is not ticked.

4. Click 'Page Setup' and choose size 'A2 (420x594mm)'.

5. Click 'OK'.

6. Click 'Print'. The Océ Preview window will open.

7. In the Océ Preview window, check the dimensions shown on the preview. Do not change any settings in this window.

8. Click 'Print'. Your print has now been sent to the release station.