ASTROJET 2600P/2800P PRINTER OPERATOR MANUAL Astro Machine Corp. 630 Lively Blvd. Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 Phone: (847) 364-6363 Fax: (847) 364-9898 www.astromachine.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS THIS EQUIPMENT PRESENTS NO PROBLEM WHEN USED PROPERLY. HOWEVER, CERTAIN SAFETY RULES SHOULD BE OBSERVED WHEN OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P/2800P PRINTER. BEFORE USING THE PRINTER, YOU SHOULD READ THIS MANUAL CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW THE RECOMMENDED PROCEDURES, SAFETY WARNINGS, AND INSTRUCTIONS: 9 Keep hands, hair, and clothing clear of rollers and other moving parts. 9 Avoid touching moving parts or materials while the machine is in use.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents Section 1 – Getting Acquainted Operator View Rear View Control Panel Section 2 – Installing the Printer Choosing a Location Connecting the AstroJet 2600P/2800P Connecting the Computer Installing the Inkjet Cartridges Setting up the Feed Installing the Printer Driver Section 3 – Operating the AstroJet 2600P/2800P Printer Control Panel Printer Driver Properties Printing from Microsoft Word Print Recovery after Jam Section 4 – Maintenance The Inkjet Cartridge Jams in the
TABLE OF CONTENTS Notes ii
SECTION 1 GETTING ACQUAINTED Section 1 – Getting Acquainted AJ 2600P Shown Operator View 1. 2. Exit Guides – These guides help the media to exit the printer. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Medial Sensor – The media sensor is located behind the print head assembly. Print Head Assembly – The AstroJet 2600P is equipped with six printheads arranged on two rails and can print an image up to 3” wide. The AstroJet 2800P is equipped with eight printheads arranged on two rails and can print and image up to 4” wide.
SECTION 1 GETTING ACQUAINTED AstroJet 2600P Shown Rear View 2 1. Main Power Switch and Power Receptacle – The power cord is plugged in here and the switch turns the printer ON and OFF. 2. Main Power Fuse – This fuse protects all of the electronic circuits in the printer. 3. Motor Circuit Breaker – The motor circuit breaker protects the motor from overloads. 4. Cartridge Docking Station – The ink cartridges are stored here when not in use. 5.
SECTION 1 GETTING ACQUAINTED Control Panel 1. MEDIA THICKNESS – The knob on the right side of the control panel is used to adjust the height of the print heads to compensate for different media thickness. 2. ON LINE key – The indicator on this key lights when data is sent to the ASTROJET 2600P/2800P and they are ready to begin printing. This key also turns the printer off line so that the menu mode can be accessed. 3.
SECTION 1 GETTING ACQUAINTED Notes 4
SECTION 2 INSTALLING THE PRINTER Section 2 – Installing the Printer Before using the printer the following must be done: • Choose a location for the Printer • Plug in the printer and connect it to the computer • Install the Inkjet Cartridges • Set up the feed on the printer • Install the ASTROJET 2600P/2800P Printer Driver software on the computer Choose a Location The printer should be placed on a sturdy worktable or cabinet at least 12 inches from any walls.
SECTION 2 INSTALLING THE PRINTER Install the Inkjet Cartridges The AstroJet 2600P/2800P can be configured with up to six inkjet cartridges. The cartridges are installed as follows: • Remove the inkjet cartridge from its packaging, taking care not to touch the copper contacts, the metal plate, or the gold printhead. Remove the protective tape from the printhead. • The cartridges are held in place by a latch lever mounted on the inkjet cartridge holder. Release the lever by raising it vertical.
SECTION 2 INSTALLING THE PRINTER 4. Loosen the knobs on the side guides. Adjust the side guides to within 1/32-inch of the media. Then tighten the knobs. 5. Adjust the back guide so that the media is raised approximately 1/2-inch and rests on the curve of the back guide. When running 10 inch or longer or heavy media you may have to set the back guide so that it just touches the back of the media. 6. Feed a piece of media through the printer and adjust the two exit guides so that they ride on the media.
SECTION 2 INSTALLING THE PRINTER 1. If you have, any applications running on your computer close them and restart the computer before beginning the driver installation. 2. Install the CD in the CD drive and click on START. Then click on RUN, then type the following; D:\Setup.exe (where D is the CD drive) then click OK. 3. The “Add Printer Wizard (n.nn)” window will open, and then click Next>. 4. Type in your Name and Company and click Next>. 5. Select the printer port LPT1. Then click Next>.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P/2800P Section 3 – Operating the AstroJet 2600P/2800P Once the Printer Driver is installed on your computer, you are ready to start printing. This section is divided into three parts. The first describes the function of the printer control panel. The second section describes the driver properties and the various options available when you run a job. The third section describes how to set up a job to print from Microsoft Word.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P Purge – The purging function is useful to clear the printhead nozzles when the machine has been sitting idle for a period. To activate the purge, press the ENTER key and feed media. To stop the purge press, ENTER again. Print Enhancement – Pressing the “+” or “-“ key will bring this message up in the display.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P/2800P To start printing click on File, then Print. The Print window will open. If you wish to print the job click on OK. If you wish to use the special features built into the AstroJet 2600P/2800P drivers. Clicking on the Properties button will open the properties window in Windows 95, 98, NT, or ME. If you are using Windows 2600 P or XP the window on the right will open. Clicking on Advanced will open the Options window.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P Resolution 150 DPI 200 DPI 300 DPI 600 DPI Speeds available Low, Medium, Medium High, and High Low, Medium, and Medium High Low, and Medium Low The Feed Delay can be used to put more space between the pieces as they are being printed. This will give the first piece printed more time to dry before the next piece is printer. The adjustment range is in 0.1-second increments. This feature works at all speeds.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P/2800P To use the Overlay feature, first create a layout in an application such as Microsoft Word. Place all of the fixed information and graphics on this layout. Open the layout and go to Print in the File menu. Click on Features and then click on Overlay. Select “Contains overlay” from the box, and then click on Apply and OK. Next, click OK on the “Print” window. The overlay will download.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P Printing from Microsoft Word If you are not using a specific program designed for mailing applications it is possible to print your mail pieces using Microsoft Word. This section will cover how to layout a piece and to print from Microsoft Word. To begin open a new page and turn on the tool bar for Mail Merge. Under Print, select the Address Printer 6 as the default printer. Go to Page Setup in the File menu. Set all of the margins to “0”.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P/2800P When you have completed the steps above the layout for an AstroJet 2600P should look like the one below. NOTE: When setting up a layout for the ASTROJET 2600P/2800P, be aware that the printheads are aligned in four banks and these banks can be aligned so that you can print up to 3” wide with the AstroJet 2600P or 4” wide with the AstroJet 2800P on your media, or spread the printing over the width of the media.
SECTION 3 OPERATING THE ASTROJET 2600P “Printer”, the merge will send directly to the printer and each record will be printed. The next selection is “Records to be merged”. You can select All or From. The last selection is “When merging records”. The default is “Don’t print blank lines when data fields are empty.” This should be left checked. Clicking on Merge will start the process of merging the documents.
SECTION 4 MAINTENANCE Section 4 - Maintenance This section covers how to care for the ink cartridges, clear paper jams, replace the sheet separators, and perform routing maintenance on the printer. The Inkjet Cartridge The inkjet cartridges must be replaced when out of ink, when print quality is poor, or when purging and cleaning have not helped the image quality.
SECTION 4 MAINTENANCE Short-term Storage Leave the cartridge in the Printer for short periods of time, 1 day or less. The next time that the Printer is used, the printhead may have to be cleaned and purged Long-term Storage Place the cartridges in the Cartridge Storage area located at the rear of the printer, or Place the cartridges in a Tupperware container with a damp sponge or towel to maintain humidity and prevent the printhead from drying out.
SECTION 4 MAINTENANCE 2600P/2800P/2800P Printer. It can be accessed from the LCD panel on the Printer from the MENU key. If this does not solve the problem then proceed as follows: 1. Wipe the printhead with a wet cloth as described in "Cleaning the Printhead" above. 2. Perform the Purge routine from the Printer by pressing the MENU key momentarily and then the + key. Load media and press the ENTER key to purge. Repeat if necessary. 3. Wipe the printhead again with a moist cloth.
SECTION 4 MAINTENANCE Replacing the Feed Rollers To replace the feed rollers on the AstroJet printer follow the steps below: 1. Before removing the feed roller access plate, unplug the power to the printer. 2. Using a Phillips screwdriver, remove the three screws from the feed roller access plate. 3. Remove the feed roller access plate. 4. Rotate the feed roller shaft so that the screws are face up and use a 3/32-inch Allen wrench to remove the two button head cap screws.
SECTION 4 MAINTENANCE Cleaning The ASTROJET 2600P/2800P WARNING THE PRINTER IS A PRECISION MACHINE THAT SHOULD BE CLEANED REGULARLY TO INSURE MANY YEARS OF SERVICE. BEFORE PERFORMING ANY MAINTENANCE, DISCONNECT THE MACHINE FROM ITS POWER SOURCE! The Printer must be cleaned regularly of accumulated paper dust and ink. Depending on the types of media that are run, paper dust may accumulate within the printer and on the transport.
SECTION 4 MAINTENANCE Notes 22
SECTION 5 TROUBLE SHOOTING Section 5 – Trouble Shooting Guide The following trouble shooting guides are provided to assist you in solving any problems that might occur with the ASTROJET 2600P/2800P Printer or its software. We have tried to make them as complete as possible. The best advice we can offer is to make sure that the system is setup properly, plugged in, that it has an adequate supply of ink before attempting to trouble shoot any problem.
SECTION 5 TROUBLE SHOOTING The Printer CONDITION Extra lines; losing data Improper output (address information out of order, missfeeding, etc.
APPENDIX A Appendix A – ASTROJET 2600P/2800P Specifications PRINT TECHNOLOGY ADDRESS SPEED PRINT QUALITY (Dots Per Inch) IMAGE AREA PRINT ORIENTATION INK MONITOR FONTS PRINTS MATERIAL SIZE MATERIAL THICKNESS FEEDER CAPACITY: MEMORY PRINT COLORS INK SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS FIRMWARE UPDATE PC INTERFACE COUNTERS DUTY CYCLE DIMENSIONS WEIGHT ELECTRICAL OPTIONS AstroJet 2600P Inkjet, 6 HP 51645A High Capacity Inkjet Cartridges AstroJet 2800P Inkjet, 8 HP 51645A High Capacity Inkjet Cartridges Up to 26,000/hr - #1
APPENDIX B Appendix B – Supplies and Optional Hardware The following supply items and optional hardware are available from your Astro Machine Dealer: Supplies Black Inkjet Cartridge HP 51645A Fast Drying Black Inkjet Cartridge HP 6195A Yellow Inkjet Cartridge HPC6173A Red Inkjet Cartridge HPC6168A Green Inkjet Cartridge HPC6169A Blue Inkjet Cartridge HPC6170A Versatile Black HPC8842A Optional Hardware Conveyor / Stacker Available Drop Tray 26
INDEX - Key + Key 3, 10 3, 10 A Accessory Connector Adjusting Resolution Adjusting Speed Adjusting, Print Heads 2 12 12 13 B Batch Counter BIOS Version Bulk Ink 9 10 10 C Cartridge Disposal Cartridge, Replacement Cartridge, Storage Circuit Breaker Cleaning Cartridges Cleaning Media Sensor Cleaning Printer Cleaning Printhead Cleaning Rollers Communication Computer, Connecting Connecting Computer Conveyor 18 17 17 2 17 21 21 18 21 24 5 5 26 D Delay, Feed Driver Properties 12 10 E Enter Key 3, 9 F
INDEX Specifications Speeds Storage, Cartridges Supplies 25 12 17 26 T Test Print Key Total Count Trouble Shooting 3, 9 10 20 U USB Port 2, 5 W Windows 2600 P Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows ME Windows NT Windows XP 28 11 11 11 11 11 11
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