Unable to print edge to edge

[AmateurMagician]

I'm trying to print some tickets onto card stock using an HP Laserjet M477fdw and I'm trying to turn off "Fit" but can't.  I've tried printing using both "Actual Size" and a custom scale of 100%.  The image that I'm trying to print goes to the edge of the sheets but whenever I print it there is a border and my image is cut off along the edges.  Does this printer support edge to edge printing?

[dansdaduk]

Few (if any) laser printers offer true edge-to-edge printing - I think that this is to minimise potential contamination (or even damage) to the mechanism caused by stray toner particles.

With LaserJet printers, the standard 'unprintable margin' is about 4 mm (0.17"); some devices offer an 'edge-to-edge' option, but this is not true edge-to-edge - it just reduces the unprintable margin to about 2 mm (0.08").

in addition, if the printer driver uses the PCL5 Page Description Language, this is subject to a minimum left/right margins of about 6 mm (0.24").

[AmateurMagician]

Thanks for the reply.  I'm currently using PCL6 drivers from HP, so this explains why turning off fit didn't change the margin widths.

Also, I just looked to see if HP offers any drivers other than PCL and it seems that they don't.  So it looks like I'm not going to be able to change the margin width for this printer.

I'll just need to remember this for later and plan my layouts accordingly.  Thanks again.

[dansdaduk]

The 'unprintable margin' is a physical restriction applied by the printer hardware/firmware.

The larger 'logical page margins' are applied if you use a printer driver associated with the  PCL5 Page Description Language, and are a restriction defined by that language.

The  PCL6 PDL does not use the concept of 'logical pages' , so only the 'unprintable margins' restriction applies.

Your printer should also support the PostScript PDL; I suspect (but don't know for sure) that this language (like PCL6) does not impose any additional restrictions, so, again,  only the 'unprintable margins' restriction applies.

It used to be the case that 'registration' (the position of the page image on a sheet) was not guaranteed to be better than +/- 3 mm (or something like that), and (although modern devices may be more accurate) it is not a good idea to rely on getting good quality (or any) markings close to the edges of sheets.

Better registration accuracy is usually available on (usually very large!) continuous-stationery laser printers than is available with cut-sheet devices.

[OldFashioned]

After adjusting print margins and other settings, I feel confident that I'm dealing with a hardware restricted "unprintable margin".  What would cause the unprintable margin to be 3mm on one side and 5mm on the other?