Expert: Amy - 10/28/2007

Question
I frequently have to print separations for silkscreening (CMYK) on my laser. I
print them on a special mylar "paper" and the local tee shirt guy can make his
screens from that. I have been doing this in AI8 for years. He likes a 50 line
screen size.
When I set all that up in AIcs2, I can get all the right settings in the right
places, (I have to go into each ink and set it; I don't change the angles) and
once in a while, I can even get a test print to work correctly. (I always test
print on regular paper before doing the expensive mylar output.)
I do NOTHING to the document between the test print and the final print, but
when I queue the second set of seps, it goes haywire on the LPI settings! The
yellow comes out at about 30 lpi - big, big dots, and the others change too!  
Even if I revisit every setting and reset them, I get the wrong results.
I assume I have hit a bug. I even upgraded at one point, to see if it got fixed,
but it is the same. I have AI cs2 on a Mac running OS x.3.9 and the printer is
an old Apple Laserwriter 8500 (and yes, I have that PPD in use... it is old but
seems to work for everything else I do.)
Any ideas??

Answer
Okay,

This is what I suggest. Yes, report it as a bug.

Have you tried sending a dummy text file in between test and final to clear the printer's cache?

I guess one thing that could be doing this is a postscript error. I'd start troubleshooting by changing the settings in the driver (usually found under an "Advanced" tab). Look for  anything at all that relates to print quality or PostScript levels.

If there is any text in the file, change it to outlines - eliminate that variable.

I guess the other thing that may be causing this is the Printer Resolution/lpi setting under Output in Illustrator's print dialog. I don't know what your lpi choices are but I gather you've tried them all??? I believe the choices that populate this list are determined by the PPD, which brings me to another thought: Try using a generic PPD instead of the correct one. That worked for me with a Xerox printer issue once.

I wish I could think of something more specific but I can't even find a copy of the 8500's driver to install so I can look around for clues.

Good luck, Sue!
Amy