Lining up right (sort of was: . . . and underlining problem)

["Daniel L. De Hainaut" Young_DeHainaut@xxxxxxxx]

>> Peter Evans wrote about a paper-skewing HP LaserJet 5L that
>> prints glorious 600dpi letters at an irritating angle across
>> the page....


Peter,

I have an LJ 4L in one installation (300dpi, paper supply lies flat in a
bin underneath) and a 6L in another (mechanically pretty much identical to
your 5L) and I agree it's a step back in paper handling, except perhaps for
feeding single envelopes.

When my 6L was new and I took the time to read such things, I found much
moaning about this problem on CompuServe's HP Laserjet forum as well. The
$400 laser printer, like the $150 VCR, may have been achieved by leaving
out so many parts and under-designing so many others that it really can't
perform the way its sturdier forebears taught us to expect.

My suggestion is to keep those adjustable rails that fit against the sides
of the paper supply _really snug_ and keep a nice quarter-inch stack of
paper loaded (you might need to experiment to find the optimum stack for
your particular machine). I've had my 6L skew the page when I haven't
touched the rails for a while, but I've never had it misfeed because these
rails were too tight. You might also try a heavier-weight paper stock, 24#
or more, or even one of those coated laser stocks for important documents.

Suggestion Two is from the CServe forum: if it continues to skew paper
even when you keep the rails tight, yell at HP and get them to repair the
printer. There are apparently pretty wide manufacturing variations in
these printers that affect their paper handling--I'm pretty sure I recall
at least one person who wrote about returning two before getting a third
one that printed straight and true.

Gratuitous Xy-content: Unfortunately, there's no setting in the XyDos or
XyWin printer files that sends the printer a PCL or PJL command to "keep
the paper straight, dammit."


Good luck,

Dan De Hainaut
103105.1262@xxxxxxxx