T730 plot rotation issue

[Jathayde]

Similar issue as reported here:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/DesignJet-Large-Format-Printers-Digital-Press/Plot-Issues-with-printin...

Fixes there did not correct the issue. The plotter will plot rotated 90° (so that instead of coming out full width and 24" of roll, it's 24" across starting on the right and then 36" of roll.  I've tried:

• both the Secure AirPrint and HP newest universal raster driver to the same effect.
• setting the document to shrink to fit
• Choosing a slightly smaller page size (e.g. A1 instead of ARCH D)
• Updating the plotter to the newest firmware.

The finishing tab shows it as it plots:

[D Hook]

I'll take a stab at this problem but not sure it will help you.

Do you have the "Auto Rotate" feature turned off?  Not sure where that shows up in the Mac OS.  I would guess in the printer properties page/menu maybe?

HP stopped support for the T730 for Macs after OS number 10.14 (Mojave).  According to their compatibility page, it only supports macs with 10.8 - 10.14 operating systems.  Not certain this is your problem though.  Here's the link to their compatibility page:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04486562

But they do list drivers and firmware for up to the Mojave OS.  If those are what you downloaded, it could be that the two OS are not able to use the same drivers and firmeware.  The reason I say this is because I had the same problem with a T1100 with a user who was using Big Sur.  I tested the printer on my wife's Mac notebook that she has Mohave (10.14) on and it worked fine.  Got to the user's office and tried it on his Mac with Big Sur (11.0) and it gave all kinds of problems, one of them the refusal to rotate.  It would print but I couldn't get control of some of the features like Rotate.  Fought it for almost a whole day and never did get it to work.  He finally just migrated all his stuff over to his windows 10 computer and everything worked as it should.  So we could only conclude that the Big Sure OS doesn't play well with the drivers/firmware for the Mojave OS.

Like I said, not sure this will help you though.  I don't have a lot of experience w/Macs so I'm hoping someone can chime in and answer the question re: Mohave drivers/firware running on a Big Sur OS.  I'm only relating my experience with solving a similar problem.

 Have you tried saving as a PDF?  Sometimes a PDF is a little more forgiving.

What program are you running?  Is this for CAD or a photoshop-like program?

[Jathayde]

Thanks @D Hook. I can't find an auto-rotate switch in the software anywhere (Print dialog tabs or page setup). I did try plotting from Vectorworks as portrait which didn't change the outcome. I've got a few older Macs here (My two primary on on Big Sur already) that I might be able to set up on Mojave as a print server. Just tried a PDF printing out of Preview and it shows the same finishing layout. 

[Jathayde]

So I pulled out the old MacPro3,1 (2008) with El Capitan (10.11.x) on it. Installed newest driver and while auto-rotate is present, the "finishing" page shows up the same (rotated).

[D Hook]

Does it still print in the wrong orientation though?

Does the drop down menu by the "Presets" offer any help?  I see it's set on default settings.  Can you change the default settings somewhere besides the page that's displayed when you go to print the drawing?  I know in Windows you can set those defaults on the printer properties page rather than in the CAD program menu.

I know AutoCAD has a forum on their website where people ask questions about printers and drivers.  I would try looking at the VectorWorks website and see if they have something similar.  You might find an answer there that will help.

I haven't had access to my wife's Mac laptop so don't have anything else to add but I should be able to look at it tomorrow.

[D Hook · Accepted solution]

VectorWorks does have a forum page.  Do a search for "Designjet" on their forum and it will bring up some posts about the same problem you're having.  They refer to a Designjet 790 but it's the same basic driver.  I've attached a screen grab but not sure it will show up.  Here's a link to the post, just in case:  https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/41020-hp-designjet-t790-issues/#comment-205424

They refer to printing on A1 size sheet, 23 x 35-ish.  They're also talking about using this for a T520 but it's in the same family as yours so it would be worth a try.

Let us know how it turns out.

[Jathayde]

The custom sheet size worked! Thanks for your help, @D Hook!

[D Hook]

Yahoo!  Gotta' love happy endings!