hp 5500ps guidelines
1. What is the DMC's plotter good for?
2. Poster printing resources on campus.
3. Picture pixel dimension checkup before printing
4. Payment options
5. Paper options and ink coverage classes
6. Cost calculation
7. Step-by-step printing instructions
What is the DMC's plotter good for?
DMC's hp 5500ps plotter can print paper 60", 50" or 48" wide and up to 100' long. It is good for plotting large posters. The available paper is 60" heavy weight coated, 48" heavy weight coated, 50" heavy weight coated, 48" photo glossy or 50" photo glossy. Cost is now calculated by ink used per square foot and paper used per linear foot.
- two kinds of paper: heavy weight coated and photo glossy
- paper sizes: 60", 50" and 48" rolls only
- price table: click here for prices
On campus poster printing resources
The DMC supports 60", 50" and 48" wide paper sizes. However, there are other options:
Mudd Building
two kinds of paper:
regular: $3.00/linear foot
photo glossy - $7.00/linear foot
paper size: 36" rolls
website: http://www.rice.edu/ITtutorials/owlnet/printing.html
Earth Sciences Department
three kinds of paper:
regular coated
heavy weight coated
photo glossy
paper sizes: 36", 42", 48" and 54"
price table: http://terra.rice.edu/comp.res/hardware/plottercharges.html
website: http://terra.rice.edu/plotters.htm
Picture pixel dimension checkup before printing
If you want to blow up a small picture into a large poster, please check the picture pixel dimensions first and see if this would be a good idea. For a decent printout, the minimum resolution should be no less than 200dpi. i.e. if a picture is 1200x1600dpi, you could get a good printout at 6"x8". Greater than this size, the picture would look blurry and pixilated. To print good quality on the 60" wide plotter paper, 200dpi*60"=12,000 dots would be the minimum width. You could calculate the length in pixel accordingly. You can check picture pixel dimensions within Photoshop by opening Photoshop and selecting Image > Image Size > Pixel Dimensions
- Cash
- Check: Made out to the Digital Media Center.
- Interdepartmental Transfer
- The DMC plotter is not on the Owlnet Printing network. The cost of printing will not be
- post-charged to the student's account. No IOU forms will be accepted.
Paper options and ink coverage classes
- Paper Options
Heavy Weight coated - suitable for posters and presentations, water resistant.
Photo Glossy - higher quality than heavy weight coated paper and water resistant.
Ink Coverage Classes
Class I - line art and text
Class II - mix of images and text - most of posters are in class II (an equal mix of i - image and text).
Class III - mostly image
| Content Type | (per sq ft) | | Paper Type | (per ft) |
Class I- text | $1.50 | 48" or 50" heavyweight coated | $1.00 | |
| Class II - mix of text and image | $2.25 | 60" heavy weight coated | $1.20 | |
| Class III - image | $3.00 | 48" or 50" imaging gloss | $2.00 |
Charge = [content type * (width * height)] + [paper type * height]
Locate the unit price in the price table by paper type and class level.
i.e. if the poster is an image that is 50" wide and 45" long and printed on 50" wide photo glossy paper, it would cost [ ((50" * 45")/144") * $3.00] + [(45"/12") * $2.00] = $54.38.
An online calculator is available.
Plotting
The DMC plotter will generally remain powered off unless there is a
printing request made at the service desk. Please ask assistance from a
DMC staff member to get started on plotting.
Click HERE for step-by-step instructions.You can always refer to the pocket book on the top back of the plotter.
Note: No small sheet paper (i.e. tabloid size, or custom size around tabloid size) - please. It would jam the plotter.
