Graphic Products, Inc. DuraLabel PRO 300 ® THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTER PRINTER MANUAL v.1.0 Graphic Products, Inc. 1-800-788-5572 www.DuraLabel.com www.GraphicProducts.com E-mail: info@GraphicProducts.com Copyright 2008 Graphic Products, Inc.
Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 2. Getting Started ....................................................................................... 2.1 Unpacking and Inspection.............................................................. 2.2 Equipment Checklist ....................................................................... 2.3 Printer Parts ................................................................................
1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing the DuraLabel® PRO 300 Thermal Transfer Printer. Although the printer takes only a small amount of space, it delivers reliable, superior performance. This printer provides thermal transfer printing at user selectable speeds of: 1.0 or 2.0. It accepts continuous and die-cut labels for thermal transfer printing. All common bar code formats are available.
2.3 Printer Parts Clear Window Ribbon Access Window LED Indicator Feed Button Printer Top Cover Top Cover Release Lever Fig. 1 Top front view 1. USB Interface 2. Centronics Interface 3. RS-232 DB-9 Interface 4. Power Jack 5. Power Switch 6. Rear Paper Guide 1 2 3 4 5 Fig.
3. Setup 3.1 Setting Up the Printer 1. Place the printer on a flat, secure surface. 2. Make sure the power switch is off. 3. Connect the printer to the computer with the Centronics or USB cable. 4. Plug the power cord into the power supply connector at the rear of the printer, then plug the power cord into a properly grounded receptacle. Plug Power Switch Power Cable Power Supply RS-232 USB Centonics Fig. 3 Attach power supply to printer 3.
Make sure both the ribbon access window and the printer top cover are closed when powering up the printer. 1. Push down on the ribbon access window to unlock and open the ribbon cover. 2. Place a paper core onto the ribbon rewind spindle. 3. Mount the ribbon rewind paper core on the front hubs. 4. Install a ribbon on the ribbon supply spindle. 5. Mount the ribbon supply spindle on the rear hubs. 6. Open the top cover of the printer. 7.
Ribbon Supply Spindle Ribbon Leader Rear Hub Ribbon Rewind Spindle with Paper Core Fig. 5 Ribbon installation (II) 3.3 Loading Label Stock The ribbon and various print media for the DuraLabel® PRO 300 have been optimized for compatibility and print quality. Only authorized supplies from Graphic Products will print correctly in the DuraLabel® PRO 300. 1. Insert a 1” label spindle into a roll of label stock. Label Stock Fixed Tab Printing Side Face Up 1" Label Spindle Fig.
Pull release lever forward Lower Cover Fig. 7 Pull the lever to open the cover 3. Place a roll of label stock onto the center of the paper roll mount. 4. Feed the label stock, printing side face up, under the Teflon bar and the label guides and pass over the platen, then feed through the cutter. 5. Adjust the green center-biased label guides to slightly touch the edges of the label stock. 6. To close the printer top cover, lift the cover until it stops then use both hands to close the cover gently.
3.4 Instructions to Top Cover Operation Please take care when opening or closing the printer’s top cover by carefully following these instructions. To Open: 1. When facing the front of the printer, pull the cover release levers on both sides of printer towards you. 2. Lift the top cover slowly. There are two stop positions for the top cover. Position 1 and 2 are indicated on the label below.
4. To close the cover, lift the top cover all the way up then lower the top cover gently. Use both hands to gently push down the top cover to close it and make sure the cover is latched on both sides. Note: Do not place your hands between top cover and lower cover when closing the top cover! Fig. 2 Top cover is fully open and ready to close Fig. 3 Use both hands to close the top cover 5.
4. Power on Utilities There are three power-on utilities to set up and test printer hardware. These utilities are activated by pressing FEED button and by turning on the printer power simultaneously. The utilities are listed as below: 1. Ribbon sensor calibration 2. Gap or black mark sensor calibration 3. Self-test 4. Printer initialization 4.1 Ribbon Sensor Calibration Please follow the steps below to calibrate the ribbon sensor. 1. Turn off the power and wait 5 seconds. 2.
While calibrating the gap/black mark sensor, the printer will measure the label length, print the internal configuration and then enter the dump mode. A self-test printout can be used to check if there is any dot damage on the heater element, printer configurations or available memory space. Turn the power off, wait 5 seconds and turn it back on to resume normal printing.
The printer will enter dump mode after printing the printer configuration. In the dump mode, all characters will be printed in two columns as follows: ASCII Data Hex decimal data related to left column of ASCII data Fig. 30 Dump mode printout The left side characters are received from your system and right side data are the corresponding hexadecimal value of the characters. It allows users or engineers to verify and debug the program.
4.3 Initialization Printer initialization is used to clear DRAM and restore printer settings to defaults. The only one exception is ribbon sensitivity, which will not be restored to default. Printer initialization is activated by the following procedures. 1. Turn off printer power and wait 5 seconds. 2. Press the FEED button and then turn on power. The LED will blink five times per color (red, orange, green). 3. Release the FEED button when the LED blinks green.
5. Maintenance 5.1 Cleaning Use one or more of the following supplies that meets your needs: Cleaning pens Cleaning swabs Lint-free cloth Always unplug the printer when performing cleaning! The cleaning process is described as follows. Printer Part Printer Head Platen Roller Method Allow the print head to cool for one minute. Use a cleaning swab to wipe the print elements. Rotate the platen roller and wipe it thoroughly with a cleaning swab or lint-free cloth.
6. Troubleshooting This section provides possible solutions to common printing, operating, and LED status problems you may encounter. 6.1 LED Status LED Status / Color Printer Status Solution Number Off Off 1 Solid Green On 2 Blinking Green Pause 3 Blinking Red Stopped 4 1. No power. Turn on the power switch. Check if the green LED is lit on power supply. If it is not lit, the power supply is broken.
6.2 Print Quality Continuous feeding labels The printer setting may go wrong. Please do the Initialization and Gap/Black Mark Calibration. (See pages 18-20 of the User’s Guide). No print on the label Is the label or ribbon loaded correctly? Follow the instructions in Loading the Label Stock (See section 3.3) or Loading Ribbon. Has the ribbon run out? Follow the instructions in Loading the Ribbon (See section 3.2). Poor print quality Top cover is not closed properly.
7. Specifications 7.1 Printer Specifications Item DLPRO 300 Mechanism Resolution Max. Print Width 300 dpi. 4 in. Max. Print Length Ribbon Capacity Printing Speed Printing Method 40 in. 984 ft. with 1 in. core 2 and 3 ips. Direct thermal and thermal transfer printing Enclosure Structure Dimension Operation Panel Hardware Sensor Double-walled plastic. Standard Model: 12.4 in.(L) x 8.4 in.(W) x 7.4 in.(H) One push switch, and one indicator LED (Green, Orange, Red colors). Transmissive sensor (offset 0.
2D Bar code PDF-417, Maxicode, and DataMatrix, QR CODE Command Set Environment Operation Storage TSPL-EZ™ Temperature: 41°F ~ 104°F (5°C ~ 40°C). Relative Humidity: 25% ~ 85% (Non Condensing) Temperature: -40°F ~ 140°F (-40°C ~ 60°C). Relative Humidity: 10% ~ 90% (Non Condensing) 7.2 Label Stock Specifications Item Specification Type Label (Continuous & Die-cut) Wound Type Outside wound Width 0.5 in. – 4 in. Length Thickness 0.4 in. – 40 in. 2.3 mil. ~ 7.4 mil. Roll Diameter 5 in.
8. LED and Button Operation 8.1 LED LED Color Green Orange Red Description This shows that the power is on and the device is ready to use. This shows that the system is detecting the paper and ribbon status This shows a printing error, such as paper empty, ribbon empty, or cover opened etc.
8.2 Button Operation Feed Pause Ribbon Sensor Calibration Press the button when the LED is green. It feeds the label to the beginning of the next label. Press the feed button during printing. The printing job is suspended. Turn off the power switch and wait 5 seconds. Press the button while turning on the power switch. Release the button when LED blinks red. It will calibrate the ribbon sensor sensitivity.
9. Warranty The Graphic Products DuraLabel PRO 300 is warranted to be free from defects in materials or workmanship for a period of two years from the date of purchase with the following exception: The DuraLabel PRO 300 print head is warranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. Within this period, Graphic Products, Inc. will, at its sole option, repair or replace any components which fail in normal use.
