ARC Printing Lab Tips

Spring Semester Jumpstart – Quigley ARC Printing Lab Tips
By: Jonathan Smith 

I would like to welcome back everyone to what I hope was a fantastic Winter break. I realized recently that this was my last official “break” away from school before I eventually graduate and move on to bigger and better things. In some ways I wish I had done something grandiose or more spectacular, but it turns out some good time with family and friends was a perfect break to get things ready for the Spring Semester. Hopefully there will be some significant updates to my personal Thesis Work in the blog articles to come.

As a lead GA in the Printing Lab, I would like to point out some tips for students to have an easier time printing in the lab and help make it easier on the Graduate Assistants working there. Below is a small list of these tips:

SOA PRINT LAB SPRING 2013 TIPS:

· Give yourself TIME to print. A good 24 hour window works miracles for crunch time to ensure that you have plenty of time to plot your project.

· Come in roughly a WEEK prior to your deadline and complete a test plot of some sort to get an idea of what your final product will be looking like.

· Make sure you have your final plot files in a common format in order to make plotting easier; ex: PDF, JPG, PNG. ETC.

· The last hour of the evening print shifts are dedicated to finishing the print queue. Don’t expect to come in twenty minutes before closing time and get a plot finished.

· Avoid relying on morning lab hours, as they are scarce this semester. The lab during the days this semester is primarily going to be dedicated to being used as a lecture lab. So students that want to get things printed during the short day hours will have a limited opportunity to do so and are at the discretion of the professor using the lab. This means that if they are lecturing and wish not to be disturbed, you will be unable to do some prints. Plan accordingly.

· If all else fails, and you are unsure, ask the Grad on duty before sending a file to a plot queue.

· If you ever need another 11x17 or 8.5x11 printer in color or black and white there is another lab that mirrors ours in the lab in Faner. It is the computer lab in Faner closest to the student center.

Keep these few things in mind, and it should help make things a lot easier in the printing lab for those who found it stressful before. Thanks and have a great beginning to the Spring Semester!