.PLT file problem when sent 'out of office'

I am working with a "Blueprinting" company that has been doing our printing
for us for three years now.
Typically we just bring them plots and they make copies.

We want to start sending them .PLT files of our jobs to save time and
utilize our technology.
The problem is this:
When the print our drawings from the .PLT files, a 3/8" black square appears
over our logo.
The company suggests:
Michael,

The software we and all the other reprographers in the area use is called
Reprodesk. This software tends to work best when using either a HP750C or
HP755CM printer driver when creating .plt files.

When you get a chance, try sending over a plot file using this driver as a
test. This should alleviate our mystery square.

Unfortunately that is more complicated then it sounds.

I am not comfortable changing my plotter configuration files to use a driver
for a plotter we don't have.

The .PC3 files I have work perfect for our plotter.

They are located on the server and everyone in the office uses the same
files. (No Problems)

I tried setting up a new .PC3 file going through the "add a plotter" wizard
and told it to use the HP750C.

When I tried using it, the page was off about 1" in the layout and cutting
off the titleblock.

I really do not want to set up 2 sets of .PC3 files as well as reconfiguring
our layouts.

Am I missing something here?

Does anyone have a good solution to this?

Thank you

Michael

 

Dean,
Thanks for your reply.
Sorry about the lack of details.
I think you hit the nail on the head anyway.
I am running ADT 2004 on W2K XP
We have an HP DesignJet 1050C for our plotter.
I have four .PC3 files that we use.
24x36 Draft
24x36 Final
30x42 Draft
30x42 Final.
We have two templates, a 24x36 and a 30x42.
The layouts are setup to use the appropriate .PC3 file.
As I mentioned earlier, they are on the server and all CAD stations file
support directories are mapped to those and life is good.
What I want to do is this:
After sending a page to the plotter, I then just want to select the "print
to file" button and send it to a sub folder that I will email to the
printing co.
I didn't want to have to completely "re-plot" the set to obtain the .plt
files but it looks as though I need to.
As you mentioned, I am using a new printer.
I was just hoping it would have been a bit more seamless then this.

Thanks
Michael

 

The problem is that Reprodesk supports a limited set of HPGL/2 commands.
The Windows HP DesignJet drivers create HPGL/2 that Reprodesk cannot
fully digest. On the other hand AutoCAD's own HDI driver for the
DesignJets writes simpler HPGL/2 that Reprodesk likes better. That's why
most services recommended to use that driver. Usually the driver for the
DesignJet 750C is recommended. I personally prefer one of the Oce
drivers (e.g. Oce 9800 epc 1.x) as the resolution matches better with
the native resolution of the machines. HP devices are 300/600 dpi based,
the high end Oce devices 400 dpi. But you'll mainly notice this when you
have raster images in your drawings (and some lineweights are closer to
what they should be).

Govert