Dein you are making life complex ... unless the printer drivers are out of date or may be that's why that machine was soo cheep.

You are printing multi pages to a pdf file so you can then print those multi pages on one sheet?

Why not just hit the print link then when the window pops up for your printer you click properties > layout > then select "2" on the "pages per sheet" option.

Saves heaps of hassles.

I use Foxit .. gave up on Acrobat Reader yonks ago .. bloatware

This will let your printer do whatever it wants ... even 4 pages a sheet if you want.