Question about a bad plot file that almost cost me a client

I was at my desk in the Denver office last Thursday, about to send final PDFs to a big client, when our old HP T120 plotter started spitting out garbage. The line weights were all wrong, making a whole set of structural details look like a single thick line. I had to quickly re-export everything from AutoCAD using different CTB settings, which took over an hour and pushed me right up to the deadline. Has anyone else had a plotter just decide to ruin a file right before a send-off?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaronsullivan14d ago

A buddy of mine had a plotter eat a full set of permit drawings right before a city drop-off. The thing printed every single text note in bright magenta for no reason. He looked like a ghost having to explain that to the plan checker, lmao. They had to re-send the whole job from the server and wait in line again. It’s always the old hardware that picks the worst possible moment to lose its mind.

smith.nancy13d ago

Always do a test plot on scrap paper first, trust me.

faith_hart2013d ago

Wait, did you mean CTB files? I thought line weights were set in the STB plot style now...