Fuzzy Text Issue, Help Please...

[darita]

Hi all! First post here. I'm new to laser printers and not very computer savvy. I've been using Affinity Photo/Designer with my Mac, to restore vintage alarm clock dials. Once done, I export the dial in grayscale, PDF with 300DPI.
When I print, I use the card stock setting in my HP452DW and print on 110lb. card stock. When I do this, the small text looks a blurry to the eye and when I look at it under a loop, there's fuzz all around the letters, almost like overspray when you airbrush.
One more note, when I originally printed the demo page in the printer, the full color image was perfect to my eye, with no fuzziness visible, using the same card stock that I am using now. The printer is only a couple of months old and I used it for a couple of dozen dials.
Thanks so much for your advice.

 

[The Hat]

Hi @darita and welcome, just because you’re using PDF in greyscale for your prints does not mean anything to the printer, it still uses the other colours to make black text and that’s where your fussiness is probably coming from.

Not to mention the cardstock itself, your stock maybe too heavy for the printer to handle properly and each cartridge unit is bouncing as the leading edge of the cart enters it and alters the registration just enough on the small type.

Try just another application like Illustrator and printing directly from that as an AI file and the printer will then only use the black cartridge for the whole thing, don’t export it of save to PDF or EPS..