I have an HP LaserJet 3330 plotter.
The town has asked me to provide a mylar of an 8 1/2" x 14" survey.
How effective is the the HP 3330 or any LaserJet on mylar?
I really don't want to use an HP 500 in another office to plot such a small map but I could.
Paul in PA
Inkjet will smear or make a blotchy print. I've done 100's of 11 x 17 mylars and 8 1/2 x 14 mylars on laserjet machines with no problems.
Pablo
Like anything you have to match the media to the machine. I've used matte Mylar on HP 500 and 800 designjets for years. It has one slick side and one side that is matte and will absorb the ink. Print shops use Mylar that is slick on both sides in their xerox style machines. You have to be careful to match the Mylar to the printer and set the printer for Mylar or you may get a melted gooey mess.
kind of off topic (not totally), but I used to make letter size plots with my laser printer on tranparencies (i.e. the clear sheets we used to use on overhead projectors) for a quick overlay (and be able to rotate and translate it visually) on a paper map.
But, now it seems there is no use for overheads, so office depot, etc don't carry them anymore. Another casualty of technology.
I used to do that also. Very handy.
I did notice that the toner would "track" off the transparency film. If several of them were stacked up in storage for a year or more, some of the toner would stick to the next transparency and mess it up. The same thing happened with vellum xeroxes.
For any kind of long-term archive copy, I much prefer ink on mylar. We used HP mylar in a Designjet. No smearing with that.
LaserJet Plot On Mylar ? Test Plot Came Out OK
I trimmed 8.5" off of a 36" roll of mylar today. I have 2 14" pieces and an 8" test piece. I could not find any settings to change for mylar so I ran a test on the 8" piece. The image appears well fixed to the mylar, so I will trim a few more pieces and set aside for the future. Over the years I have done a ton of LaserJet on vellum and unless requested all big plot originals have been InkJet on vellm. I will save the 8" pieces for overlays, or maybe start with a 14" piece and do 4 8.5s from it.
I set one corner pin after inside work today and the weather finally cleared up. Tomorrow is another iffy outside day, but I might get back to it. In any event it will be done by the weekend when I sit down with client and confirm any final needs, notes or comments before final plot.
Paul in PA
