Printing overlays to an AS/400 attached laser printer

Help!

I'm printing paychecks to a network attached Xerox laser printer. I've
created an overlay containing the signature block and reference it in the
printer file definition. It works great. However, as far as I can tell, I
have to use Host Print Transform = *YES which causes a really BIG hit on the
AS/400 when it converts the print file prior to sending it to the printer.

I'm currently working to convert the signature to a custom font that I can
download to the printer once and then include a reference to that font in my
print program.

Is there a way to "pre-convert" an overlay rather than having the AS/400
chew on it for each check?

Thanks in advance,
Richard Casey