Plotting problem with very long drawings

[Ataloss]

Hello everyone,
I'm having problems plotting very long drawings in AutoCad Mechanical 2004 running on Windows XP with an HP 1055cm plotter. I'm trying to plot a cylinder head drawing from a customer that is 350" long by 40" tall. I want to plot it at half scale (175 x 20), but with XP, the longest drawing size (post-script custom page size) is 129". With Windows 98 I could enter any length paper and it worked great.

Am I missing something incredibly obvious here, or is this a limitation of using AutoCad on XP (while using the search funtion on this site I found many complaints about ACad on XP). Is there a way to enter a custom page size without using the post-script custom page size?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance,
Bob

 

[borgunit]

Are you printing to a Windows system printer or is AutoCAD controlling it (.pc3 file). Windows printing is controlled by its drivers, AutoCAD can extend the properties somewhat inside of AutoCAD.

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right "
.. Henry Ford

 

[rollacrc]

I'M USING 2004 AND XP AS WELL.. I DON'T HAVE A POSTSCRIPT PLOTTER. SO THAT IS A POSSIBLITY...BUT MY ONLY LIMIT ON PLOT LENGTH IS HOW LONG MY ROLL OF PAPER IS....

 

[borgunit]

Custom paper sizes are controlled with PC3 files in AutoCAD. This is available through the AutoCAD plotter manager for the particular printer. That is why I am asking how you print. Do you print to a PC3 controlled printer or a Windows system printer.

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right "
.. Henry Ford

 

[Ataloss]

I'm printing to a Windows system printer.

Bob

 

[borgunit]

It will not give you any "custom" selections for paper usually. You may try setting up a pc3 file and still use the Windows drivers through Plotter Manager. Give it a shot.

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right "
.. Henry Ford

 

[Ataloss]

Thanks for your help borgunit. I'll give that a shot. I'm also going to try finding a non post-script driver for my plotter, since this printing issue is not limited to Aca, but also exists in Solidworks and Catia.

Bob

 

[Ataloss]

It was the driver. Our IT installed a new driver and it's working great.
Bob