Plot/Print Pay-Per-Use Service

The Architecture Plot Room room is a staffed, self-service print facility serving Architecture students and faculty, and is located adjacent to the computer labs in Room 013 of Slocum Hall.

Problems or concerns related to the equipment in the computer labs or the Plot/Print Room should be directed to the Plot Monitor on duty or via email to Andy Molloy at archit@syr.edu.

Printing Fees

• Fees are charged for all printing and plotting on school-owned devices. These fees are used to pay for the operation of the printing and plotting facilities, including plotter maintenance, supplies and equipment replacement. Prices are set below average commercial rates in the region.
• Printing material not connected with architectural course work is prohibited.
  
  

Hours

• The plot room is open only when a plot monitor is on duty in the room. Accessing the plot room when it is closed is prohibited.
• The plotter room is generally open from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily during the semester. Other times the room is closed and locked.
• The hours of operation are posted on the plotter room door. A full-time plot monitor covers the weekday hours; paid student monitors cover evenings and weekends.
• The plot queues are disabled from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. You can still send a job during this time, but it will be held in the queue and released in the morning.

Paper & Supplies

• Plotter supplies are handled by designated plot monitors. Students should locate the on-duty plot monitor if a plotter or printer needs to be resupplied with paper, ink, or toner.
• Coated 26 lb, 36-inch wide paper is supplied for all large format plotters.
• Students may use specific alternate types of paper at their expense—check the sign in the plot room for the allowed paper types.
• The on-duty plot monitor must load student-provided paper.

Sheet Feeding

• On the large plotters, sheet feeding is allowed only on the HP DesignJet 1700ps plotter (Yoshi2).
• The maximum size for sheet feeding is 36 by 60 inches.
• Only specific approved paper is allowed for sheet feeding; no thick, curled paper or thin tracing-like paper is permitted.
• Check the sign in the plot room for the allowed paper types, which are available for purchase in the SU Bookstore.

Minimum & Maximum Paper Lengths

• On the large plotters and Luma, the maximum paper size from the roll feed is 36" by 129".
• Luma has a minimum paper length of 12", although it will print out a minimum length of 16.5" (you won't be charged for the extra inches). Minimum width is 9".
• The other large plotters can do a minimum of 6" in length and 3" in width.

Scrap & Unclaimed Prints

• Please discard all scrap paper and draft prints into the blue bins or green trash containers.
• All paper on the floor or left on tables for more than one day may be discarded; however, one is responsible for cleaning up after oneself.

How the print system works

• Printing access is provided after attending a school computer lab orientation session.
• Printing in the lab is controlled by a program called Papercut.
• The Papercut client runs on each lab computer in the system tray in the lower right corner of the screen. The icon is a small green symbol. When a student clicks the print button in any software program, the print will spool to the print server. This may take some time when printing large files. After it is done spooling, a small popup bubble will appear in the lower right corner of the screen showing the cost for the print job and the balance in one's printing account.
• You must now ‘release’ the print job in order for it to actually print, as it is currently being held for confirmation. To release the job, look for the Balance window and click the ‘Details’ link. This will open a web browser (or open a web browser and go to https://arch-print.syr.edu). Login to the print system and look for your job on the Jobs Pending Release page.
• During printing, the cost of each print job is automatically subtracted from one’s printing account. You must have money in your printing account in order to print. Once the amount reaches zero, money must be added to continue printing. The job will remain in the pending state, so that you have a chance to add funds to your account. Then you can go back and release it.
• If you release a print job but don’t have enough funds, it will show as ‘cancelled’ in the Recent Print Jobs section of the Papercut web site.
• If one prints to a paper size that is not supported by the printer, the job will be cancelled. Check the equipment list to find out the supported paper sizes. Common errors include printing to legal size (8.5” x 14”) paper, which is not supported.
• The file size for a print job should be kept small (<10 mb). Large file sizes (>250 mb) sent to the printers are automatically deleted. Learn how to optimize your files before sending.
• Ask the on-duty plot monitor for help if you are having trouble printing.
• Every student account receives a $25 credit at the beginning of the school year. This credit shows up as a ‘free quota’ in the printing system. This allows for immediate start-up, and compensates for potential plotter or printer errors over the course of the school year. See below for more  info on this credit.

Checking your print account balance

• Log into the Papercut website at https://arch-print.syr.edu to see your balance.

Adding money to your print account

• Log into the Papercut website at https://arch-print.syr.edu and go to the ‘Add Credit’ tab to add funds. You can use a credit card or a debit or gift card with the Visa or MasterCard logo.

Refunds for printing problems

• Each student starts off the school year with a $25 credit, which appears as ‘free quota’ in the arch print system. 
• The credit is meant to compensate you in advance for printing problems caused by the equipment.
• Credit for bad prints is not automatically credited to your account. If you accumulate more than $25 in bad prints, email archit@syr.edu to request a refund. For future bad prints, you must email each time.
• Requests must be recorded by the plot monitor in the Bad Plot Log, a blue binder on the desk.
• Students must turn in the bad print to receive credit (if it exists).
• Refunds are not given for jobs that are sized or rotated incorrectly, nor for problems with color, fonts, image pixelization, draft-mode banding, etc. Students must know how to set up the job for printing correctly. We recommend a small test print to check color, image quality, etc. 
• Refunds are eligible for times when the printer jams, crashes, runs out of ink, toner or paper, or the job disappears.
• Refunds are usually credited within 1-2 days.

Example #1
You get $25.00 free quota. You accumulate $30.00 in bad prints. You are eligible for a $5 refund.

Example #2
You get $25 free quota and use up the funds for normal printing. You then add $20 of your own money and accumulate $15 in bad prints. You won’t get a refund for the $15 because it was covered by the $25 advance credit that the school already gave you. Once you accumulate $10 more in bad plots, you can then start to receive refunds for future bad plots.

Refunds for unused printing balance

• Architecture students may request a refund of an unused account balance (such as upon graduation) by sending a request to archit@syr.edu.
• The request must be made at the end of each semester, up to two weeks past graduation.
• Refunds may take several weeks to process and will be posted as a credit to your SU bursar account.
• If you are returning next semester or school year, the balance in your account will roll over, so you will not lose the funds.