EPSON ® LQ-510/1010 User’s Manual
FCC COMPLIANCE STATEMENT FOR AMERICAN USERS This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or television reception.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS 1. Read all of these instructions and save them for later reference. 2. Follow all warnings and instructions marked on the product. 3. Unplug this product from the wall outlet before cleaning. Do not use liquid cleaners or aerosol cleaners. Use a damp cloth for cleaning, 4. Do not use this product near water. 5. Do not place this product on an unstable cart, stand, or table. The product may fall, causing serious damage to the product. 6.
10. If an extension cord is used with this product, make sure that the total of the ampere ratings on the products plugged into the extension cord do not exceed the extension cord ampere rating. Also, make sure that the total of all products plugged into the wall outlet does not exceed 15 amperes. 11. Never push objects of any kind into this product through cabinet slots, as they may touch dangerous voltage points or short out parts that could result in a risk of fire or electric shock.
Contents Introduction Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Options.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Where to Get Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 5 6 Chapter 1 Setting Up the Printer Unpacking the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Selecting an International Character Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Choosing a Character Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Data Dump Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22 3-24 3-26 Chapter 4 Software and Graphics Enhancing Your Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . User-defined Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 9 Command Summary Using the Command Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commands in Numerical Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commands Arranged by Topic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-1 9-2 9-5 9-8 Appendix Proportional Width Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Character Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Introduction ® The Epson LQ-510 and LQ-1010 are advanced 24-pin dot matrix printers combining compact design and high performance with a wide range of features. Features In addition to the high-quality printing and ease of operation you have come to expect from Epson printers, the LQ-510 and LQ-1010 offer the following features: Easy paper handling, featuring automatic single-sheet loading.
Introduction l A micro-adjustment feature that allows you to feed the paper forward or backward to finely adjust the loading and short tearoff positions. l Fifteen international character sets, an italic character set, and five graphics character sets. l The ability to handle a wide range of paper types, including envelopes and labels. The LQ-510 and LQ-1010 are basically the same printer except for the width of their carriages.
Introduction l l Single-bin Cut Sheet Feeder (C806122/C806242) The cut sheet feeder makes it possible to handle single-sheet paper more easily and more efficiently. Up to 150 sheets of standard bond paper can be automatically fed into the printer without reloading. Pull Tractor Unit (C800062/C800142) This option improves the performance of continuous paper handling. It is especially useful with continuous multi-part forms.
Introduction l Interface Boards Optional interface boards are available to supplement the printer’s built-in parallel interface. Guidelines for choosing the right interface and instructions on installing the boards are given in Chapter 5. About This Manual This user’s manual provides fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions on setting up and operating your printer. Finding your way around l Chapter 1 contains information on unpacking, setting up, testing, and connecting the printer.
Introduction Chapter 4 shows you how to get the most from your printer. It includes advice on the use of software commands, graphics, and creating your own user-defined characters. See Chapter 9 for a useful summary of printer commands. If the printer does not operate properly or the printed results are not what you expect, see Chapter 7 for troubleshooting instructions. Other chapters and the appendix contain information on printer options, general maintenance, and specifications.
Introduction Where to Get Help A network of authorized Epson dealers and Customer Care Centers throughout the United States offers customer support and service for Epson products. Epson America provides product information and support to its dealers and Customer Care Centers. Therefore, we ask that you contact the business where you purchased your Epson product to request assistance. If the people there do not have the answer to your question, they can obtain it through our dealer support program.
Chapter 1 Setting Up the Printer Unpacking the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking the Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removing the Protective Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 1-2 1-3 Choosing a Place for the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 Assembling the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing the Platen Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unpacking the Printer This section describes how to unpack your printer. Checking the Parts When you unpack the printer, make sure that you have all the parts shown below and that none have been damaged. platen knob ribbon cartridge After removing the parts, save the packaging materials in case you ever need to transport your printer.
Removing the Protective Materials The printer is protected during shipping by pieces of white packing material. Also, the wide carriage printer is protected by a locking clip, which must be removed before you turn on the printer. CAUTION: Before turning on the wide carriage printer, be absolutely sure you have removed the locking clip. Turning on the printer while the clip is attached may seriously damage the mechanism. Follow these steps to remove the protective materials. 1. Remove the printer cover. 2.
Unpacking the printer 3. To remove the locking clip on the wide carriage printer, lift and remove the paper tension unit. 4. Remove the locking clip. Note: Store the clip with the other packing material in case you ever need to transport your printer.
Choosing a Place for the Printer There are several important things to consider when selecting a place to set up your printer. Keep the following in mind: Place the printer on a flat, hard, stable surface. A soft surface, such as a padded counter or carpeted area, will block the ventilation slots and may cause overheating. Place the printer close enough to the computer for the printer cable to reach.
The illustration below shows a good printer location. Note: Before using a printer stand, read these requirements and suggestions. l The stand should be able to support at least twice the weight of the printer. l Never use a stand that supports the printer at an angle of more than 15 degrees from horizontal. l With a cut sheet feeder, your printer must be kept level.
Assembling the Printer After you’ve decided on the best place to set up your printer, the next step is to install the platen knob. Installing the Platen Knob The platen knob is used to feed the paper manually in the event of a paper jam or other paper feeding problem. The platen knob is packed in an indentation in the printer’s white foam packing material. 1. Insert the knob into the hole on the printer’s side and rotate it slowly until it slips onto the shaft.
2. Push firmly on the platen knob until it fits against the printer case. CAUTION: Do not use the platen knob to adjust the position of the paper. This interferes with the automatic paper loading system and may cause a paper jam. Installing the Ribbon Cartridge Your printer’s ribbon cartridge is designed for easy installation and removal. Before installing the ribbon cartridge, make sure the printer is turned off. Install the ribbon cartridge as follows.
Assembling the Printer 1. Slide the print head to the middle of the printer. CAUTION: Never move the print head while the printer is turned on because this can damage the printer. Also, if you have been using the printer, the print head may be hot; let it cool for a few minutes before touching it. 2. Turn the ribbon-tightening knob in the direction of the arrow. This removes slack in the ribbon and makes it easier to install.
Assembling the Printer 3. On the standard width printer, open the paper tension unit cover. (On the wide carriage printer, you already removed the paper tension unit when you removed the locking clip.) 4. Hold the ribbon cartridge by its handle and push it firmly down into position, making sure the plastic hooks fit into the slots. Note: Press lightly on both ends of the cartridge to make sure the plastic hooks are properly seated.
5. Use a pointed object, such as a ball point pen, to guide the ribbon between the print head and ribbon guide while you turn the ribbon-tightening knob to help feed the ribbon into place. 6. Slide the print head from side to side to make sure it moves smoothly. Also check that the ribbon is not twisted or creased.
Assembling the Printer 7. On the standard width printer, close the paper tension unit cover. The standard width printer is now complete. 8. On the wide carriage printer, fit the rear notches of the paper tension unit over the pins of the printer; then lower the unit.
9. Press down on both sides of the paper tension unit to lock it in place. Attaching the Paper Guide When you use single sheets, the paper guide helps to feed the paper smoothly and efficiently into the printer. Attach the paper guide using the following procedure. 1. Place the paper guide on the printer.
2. Raise the paper guide until it locks into place. Note: To lower the paper guide, lift up slightly to release it from its locked position; then gently lower it down onto the printer. 3. Attach the printer cover by fitting the hooks on the cover into the notches at the front of the printer and tilting the cover back into place.
Testing the Printer Now that your printer is fully assembled, you can use its built-in self test function to see that the printer is working correctly before you connect it to a computer. You should perform this test to make sure that your printer was not damaged during shipping and that the ribbon is correctly installed. Before running the self test, you need to connect the printer to an electrical outlet and load a sheet of paper. Plugging in the Printer 1. Make sure that the printer is turned off. 2.
The self test is 8 inches wide on the standard width printer and 14 inches wide on the wide carriage printer. CAUTION: Never run the self test using paper that is narrower than 8¼ inches (210 mm) on the standard width printer or 14 inches (360 mm) on the wide carriage printer. This prevents the print head from printing directly onto the platen, which can damage the print head. Although the self test can be run with continuous paper, use a single sheet of paper now because single sheet loading is easier. 1.
3. While holding down the LINE FEED button (draft mode) or FORM FEED button (Letter Quality mode), turn on the printer. The printer beeps several times and POWER and PAPER OUT lights come on. 4. Move the left edge guide so that it locks in place next to the guide mark. 5. Adjust the right edge guide to match the width of your paper.
6. Next, slide a sheet of paper down between the edge guides until it meets resistance. After about two seconds, the printer loads the paper automatically and then starts the self test. Note: If the platen turns without loading the paper, press the ON LINE button to take the printer off line. Then remove the paper and reinsert it more firmly. A list of DIP switch settings is printed first, followed by a series of characters.
7. When you wish to stop the test, press the ON LINE button. 8. If the paper is still loaded, press the LOAD/EJECT button or LINE FEED button to eject it. Then turn off the printer. CAUTION After turning the power off, always wait at least five seconds before turning it back on. Turning the power on and off rapidly can damage the printer.
Testing the Printer Here is part of a typical self test printed in Letter Quality mode. Country/Graphic SW1-1 1-2 1-3 U.S.A/United States on on on France/Multilingual Germany/Portugal U.K./Canada-French Denmark/Norway Sweden Italy Spain Page length 11” 1.2” 8.
Testing the Printer If the self test does not print properly, check the control panel and the print head area. Make sure that all packing material and shipping restraints have been removed from inside the printer. See Chapter 7, Troubleshooting, for other possible causes and solutions. If the printer still does not print the self test correctly, contact your dealer or call the Consumer Information number listed in Where to Get Help.
Connecting the Printer to Your Computer If the self test printed correctly, you are now ready to connect the printer to your computer. If your computer has a parallel interface and you have a suitable shielded cable, you should be able to connect your printer immediately. The steps below describe how to connect the parallel interface cable. If your computer requires another type of interface, you need to install an optional interface board. See Interface Boards in Chapter 5.
3. Squeeze the wire clips together until they lock in place on either side of the connector. 4. If your cable has a ground wire, connect it to the ground screw beneath the interface connector.
Connecting the Printer to your Computer 5. Plug the other end of the cable into the computer. If there is a ground wire at the computer end of the cable, attach it to the ground connector at the back of the computer.
Setting Up Your Application Software Now that you have set up and tested the printer, you should make sure that it works with your application programs. Most application programs let you specify the type of printer you are using so that the program can take full advantage of the printer's features. Many of these programs provide an installation or setup menu that presents a list of printers to choose from. If your application program has a printer selection menu, use the instructions below.
Chapter 2 Paper Handling Selecting a Paper Feeding Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Using Single Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loading Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reloading During Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 2-4 2-7 Using Continuous Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8 Positioning Your Continuous Paper Supply. . . . . . . . . .
Selecting a Paper Feeding Method The paper release lever on the standard width printer has two positions and on the wide carriage printer has three positions for use with the various methods of paper feeding. Make sure the paper release lever is set to match the desired paper feeding method.
Selecting a Paper Feeding Method The lever positions are marked by icons. Single sheet position: When you load single sheets from either the paper guide or from the optional cut sheet feeder, the lever should be all the way back. Continuous feed position: When you load continuous paper with the built-in push tractor, the lever should be all the way forward on the standard width printer and in the middle on the wide carriage printer.
Using Single Sheets The standard width printer can accommodate single sheets with a width of 7.2 inches (182 mm) to 10 inches (254 mm). The wide carriage printer can accommodate single sheets with a width of 7.2 inches (182 mm) to 14.3 inches (364 mm). If you do most of your printing on single sheets, you may find it more convenient to install the optional cut sheet feeder. This option automatically inserts a new sheet and can hold up to 150 pages. For more details, see Chapter 5. Loading Paper 1.
3. Move the left edge guide so that it locks in place next to the guide mark. (You may want to change this position later, depending on the margin settings of your application program.) 4. Adjust the right edge guide to match the width of your paper.
Using Single Sheets 5. Slide the paper down between the edge guides until it meets resistance. After about two seconds, the printer loads the paper automatically and is set ON LINE so that it can accept data from your computer. . CAUTION: Never advance the paper using the platen knob while the printer is turned on. If the platen turns without loading the paper, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. Then remove the paper and reinsert it more firmly. You are now ready to begin printing.
Reloading During Printing When you print a document of more than one page using single sheets of paper, the printer stops printing when it reaches the bottom of the page. When this happens, the ON LINE light either goes off automatically or remains on, depending on your application program software. If the ON LINE light remains on, the first thing you should do is press the ON LINE button to take the printer off line.
Using Continuous Paper The push tractor built into your printer is remarkably easy to load and operate. Its low-profile design takes up little space and can handle paper up to 10 inches (254 mm) wide on the standard width printer and up to 16 inches (406 mm) wide on the wide carriage printer. Positioning Your Continuous Paper Supply An important consideration for achieving smooth and trouble-free paper feeding is the position of your paper supply.
2. Set the paper release lever to the continuous paper position. On the standard width printer, this is the forward position. On the wide carriage printer, this is the center position.
Using Continuous Paper 3. Release the sprocket units by pulling the sprocket lock levers forward as shown below. 4. Slide the left sprocket unit until it is one-half inch from the farthest left position. Press the lever back to lock it in place.
Using Continuous Paper 5. Slide the right sprocket unit so that it roughly matches the width of your paper, but do not lock it. 6. Move the paper support midway between the two sprocket units.
7. Open both sprocket covers. Note: Make sure that your paper has a clean, straight edge before inserting it into the printer.
8. Fit the first three holes in the paper over the pins of both sprockets. 9. Close the sprocket covers.
Using Continuous Paper 10. Slide the right sprocket unit to a position where the paper is straight and has no wrinkles. Then lock it in place. 11. Reattach the paper guide. Then slide the edge guides apart to the sides of the paper guide as shown.
Using Continuous Paper 12. Turn on the printer. It will beep because there is no paper in the printer. Then press the LOAD/EJECT button to feed paper to the loading position. 13. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line so that it can accept data. The printer remembers the loading position and advances each page to the same position. If you need to adjust the loading position, use the micro-adjustment feature. See Adjusting the Loading Position in Chapter 3.
Switching Between Continuous and Single Sheets Even with continuous paper loaded in the printer, you can easily switch to single-sheet printing without removing the continuous paper from the tractor. Switching to Single Sheets To switch from continuous paper to single sheets, you remove the last printed document and then back the continuous paper out of the way. Follow the steps below. 1. If the printer is on line, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. 2. Tear off any outgoing sheets.
CAUTION: Make sure you tear off your printed document before pressing the LOAD/EJECT button. Reverse-feeding several pages at a time may result in a paper jam. This is especially true for narrow paper (less than 6 inches or 150 mm wide). 3. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to feed the continuous paper backward out of the printer and into the standby position. The paper is still attached to the tractor but no longer in the paper path.
Switching Between Continuous and Single Sheets CAUTION: Never feed labels backward through the printer. Labels can easily come off the backing sheet and jam the printer. 4. Push the paper release lever back to the single sheet position. 5. Stand the paper guide upright and adjust the edge guides to roughly match the width of your paper.
Switching Between Continuous and Single Sheets 6. Insert a sheet of paper between the edge guides until it meets resistance. Slide the edge guides to match the width of your paper. After about two seconds, the printer loads the paper automatically and is set ON LINE so that is can accept data from your computer. Note: If the platen turns without loading the paper, press the ON LINE button to take the printer off line. Then remove the paper and reinsert it more firmly.
1. Slide the edge guides apart so they do not interfere with continuous paper feeding. 2. Lower the paper guide onto the printer.
3. On the standard width printer, pull the paper release lever forward to the continuous paper position. On the wide carriage printer, set the paper release lever to the middle position for continuous paper feeding.
Switching Between Continuous and Single Sheets 4. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to feed the continuous paper to the loading position. 5. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line so that it can accept data.
Printing on Special Paper In addition to printing on single sheets and continuous paper, your printer can also print on a wide variety of paper types, including multi-part forms, labels, and envelopes. Before printing on special types of paper, you need to change the paper thickness setting. CAUTION: When printing on multi-part forms, labels, or envelopes, make sure that your application program settings keep the printing entirely within the printable area.
2. Slide the print head to the middle of the printer. 3. Select the paper thickness you want according to the table on the next page. For normal use, the lever should always be set to position 2 on the scale. Note: If you have installed the optional film ribbon cartridge, set the paper thickness lever to position 1.
Paper Type Lever Position Paper (single sheets or continuous paper with film ribbon installed) 1 Paper (single sheets or continuous) 2 Thin paper 2 24 lb paper 3 Multi-part forms P-sheet 3-sheet 3 4 Labels 4 Envelopes Air mail Plain Bond (20 lb) Bond (24 lb) 4 or 5 6 6 7 Note: When the lever is set to position 4 or higher, the printing speed is reduced. 4. Reattach the printer cover.
To help you check the position of the paper thickness lever, the orange MULTI-PART light on the control panel comes on if the lever is set to position 4 or higher. CAUTION: Always return the lever to position 2 when you go back to printing on ordinary paper. Continuous printing with the lever set at a position higher than 2 can shorten the life of the print head. Printing past the edge of envelopes, multi-part forms, labels, or thicker-than-normal paper can damage the print head.
CAUTION: Do not use multi-part forms with the singlesheet feeding system or the optional cut sheet feeder. Labels If you need to print labels, always use labels mounted on a continuous backing sheet with sprocket holes for use with a tractor. Do not try to print labels as single sheets because labels on a shiny backing sheet almost always slip a little. You load labels the same way that you load continuous paper except that the paper thickness lever must be adjusted for printing labels.
CAUTION: Never feed labels backward through the printer. Labels can easily peel off the backing and jam the printer. Therefore, never use the LOAD/EJECT button to eject labels. Also, never use the short tear-off function with labels. (Be sure to set DIP switch 2-2 to off.) If a label does become stuck in the printer, contact your dealer or call the Consumer Information number listed in Where to Get Help.
When manually feeding an envelope, you may have to push it down slightly while pressing the LOAD/EJECT button to get it to feed properly. CAUTION: The printable area for envelopes is shown on the next page. The print head must not go past the left or right edge of the envelope or other thick paper. Make sure that the page setup of your application program keeps the printing entirely within this printable area.
0.33 inch (8.5 mm) minimum 0.12 inch (3 mm) minimum 0.87 inch (22.0 mm) minimum Note: Envelope printing is only available at normal temperature (40°F to 95°F or 5°C to 35°C). To make sure that the printing fits within the printable area, always print a test sample using a normal sheet of paper before printing on envelopes.
Chapter 3 Using the Printer Operating the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2 Selecting Typestyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Character Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Condensed Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6 3-6 3-10 Setting the DIP Switches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing a DIP Switch Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Operating the Control Panel The indicator lights give you the current status of the printer. The buttons and paper handling functions let you control many of the printer settings. Lights MULTI-PART (orange) On when the paper thickness lever is set to position 4 or higher. When this light is blinking, the micro-adjustment function can be used. POWER (green) On when the POWER switch is on and power is supplied. READY (green) On when the printer is ready to accept input data. Flickers during printing.
Buttons ONLINE This button controls the printer’s on line and off line status. Press this button to put the printer on line or to take it off line. When the printer is on line, the ON LINE light is on and the printer can receive and print data from the computer. FORMFEED When the printer is off line, press this button to eject a single sheet of paper or to advance continuous paper to the top of the next page.
SelecType FONT Press this button to select a font. The two orange indicator lights show the selected font. See Selecting Typestyles later in this chapter. CONDENSED Press this button to turn the condensed mode on and off. The orange indicator light is on when the printer is in the condensed mode. In the condensed mode, all characters are printed at approximately 60 percent of their normal width.
Other Control Panel Features The control panel of your printer also gives you access to several special functions. Self test: Both a draft and Letter Quality self test function are built into the printer. The self test printout lets you check the current DIP switch settings and operating status of the printer. You can start the printer's self test by holding down the LINE FEED button or the FORM FEED button while turning on the printer. See Testing the Printer in Chapter 1 for more information.
Selecting Typestyles You can produce a wide range of typestyles by selecting different character fonts, widths, and other enhancements from the SelecType control panel or by using software commands. This section describes only the features controlled by SelecType. To use software commands, see the Command Summary in Chapter 9. You can use the SelecType section of the control panel to choose fonts and condensed printing. Orange lights indicate which features you have chosen.
SelecType DRAFT R OMAN SANS SERIF - COURIER PRESTIGE SCRIPT OCR-B ORATOR OTHER BLINKING FONT When you press the FONT button, the printer scrolls through eight of the ten built-in fonts. The indicator lights show the selected font. indicates the light is off. indicates the light is on. indicates the light is blinking.
The following samples show the character set available for each font.
Epson Script OCR-B OCR-A Note: The OCR-B and OCR-A fonts can be read by an optical character reader (also known as a document reader or image scanner) for input into another computer. Print enhancements, such as bold and underlining, cannot be read by an actual character reader.
Epson Orator-S The draft mode uses fewer dots per character for high-speed printing, which makes it ideal for rough drafts and editing work. The other fonts are Letter Quality (LQ) fonts. Letter Quality takes a little longer to print, but produces nicely formed characters suitable for most documentation requirements. Condensed Mode You can use the condensed mode to change the size of printed characters. In the condensed mode, characters are approximately 60 percent of the width of normal characters.
Setting the DIP Switches The printer has two sets of DIP switches located under a small cover above the control panel. By changing the settings of these switches, you can control various printer features, such as the character set and page length. The new settings become effective when the printer is turned on, reset, or initialized. DIP switch settings are shown in the DIP switch tables later in this section. Descriptions of all the DIP switch functions follow the tables.
The DIP Switch Tables The tables below show the settings for each DIP switch. The page numbers indicate where the feature is described.
Table 1 International character sets Country SW 1-1 SW 1-2 SW 1-3 SW 1-7 USA ON ON ON OFF France ON ON OFF OFF Germany ON OFF ON OFF UK ON OFF OFF OFF Denmark OFF ON ON OFF Sweden OFF ON OFF OFF Italy OFF OFF ON OFF Spain OFF OFF OFF OFF Table 2 Graphics character sets SW 1-1 SW 1-2 Graphics character sets SW 1-3 SW-17 ON ON PC 437 (United States) Epson Extended Graphics ON PC 850 (Multilingual) ON ON OFF ON PC 860 (Portugal) ON OFF ON ON PC 863
The DIP Switch Functions Auto line feed When auto line feed is on (DIP switch 2-4 on), each carriage return code (CR) is automatically followed by a line feed code (LF). Input buffer capacity The input buffer stores data from your computer. If you want to free your computer for other tasks while the printer prints, change the setting of switch 2-5 to 8 KB (on). Before using user-defined characters, however, be sure to set the input buffer to 1 KB (off).
Page Length You can select one of four page lengths using DIP switches 1-4 and 1-5. Page length SW 1-4 SW 1-5 8.5 inches (216 mm) OFF ON 11 inches (279 mm) OFF OFF 11.7 inches (296 mm) ON ON 12 inches (305 mm) ON OFF Note: Be sure to set the page length to match the paper you are using. Other page lengths can be set using the commands ESC C and ESC C 0. See the Command Summary in Chapter 9 for details.
Skip Over Perforation By changing the setting of DIP switch 2-3, you can set skip over perforation to on or off. If this feature is on when using continuous paper, a one-inch margin is provided between the last printable line on one page and the first printable line on the next page. This feature is very convenient if your application program does not provide for top and bottom margins.
Adjusting the Loading Position The loading position is the position of the paper when it has been automatically loaded by the printer. This position is important because it determines where the printing begins on the page. If the printing is too high or too low on the page, change the loading position using the micro-adjustment feature described in the next section. CAUTION: Never use the platen knob to feed paper except in case of a paper jam or other paper feeding problem.
2. Press the ON LINE button. The MULTI-PART light begins to blink. MULTIPART Note: You can use the FORM FEED and LINE FEED buttons for micro-adjustment only while the MULTI-PART light is blinking. 3. Press the FORM FEED button to feed the paper forward or the LINE FEED button to feed the paper backward. Note: When the paper reaches the factory-set loading position, the printer beeps and micro-adjustment feeding pauses for a moment before continuing.
Using Short Tear-off When you are finished printing, the short tear-off feature automatically feeds the perforation of the continuous paper to the tear-off edge of the printer cover so that you can tear off the last sheet. When you resume printing, the paper feeds backward to the loading position. This feature lets you save the paper normally lost between documents. To use this feature, set DIP switch 2-2 to on. Then load continuous paper in the normal way.
If the page perforation is not properly aligned with the tear-off edge, you can adjust the tear-off position using micro-adjustment, as described below. Note: Short tear-off is performed whenever the printer receives a full page of data or a form feed, and no more data is received for three seconds. When you resume printing after tearing off the sheet, the paper automatically feeds backward to the loading position before printing begins.
2. The MULTI-PART light should begin blinking, indicating that you can now use the micro-adjustment feature to make fine adjustments to the tear-off position. 3. To make fine adjustments to the tear-off position, press the FORM FEED button to feed the paper forward or the LINE FEED button to feed it backward. You can now tear off your document from the perforation and resume printing. The printer remembers this new tear-off position even after the printer is turned off.
Selecting an International Character Set International character sets provide you with the characters and symbols used in other languages. You can select one of eight international character sets by changing the DIP switch settings. Whenever the printer is turned on, reset, or initialized, the character set selected by the DIP switches becomes the default character set. To select an international character set, set DIP switches 1-1,1-2, and 1-3 according to the table below. Note: DIP switch 1-7 must be off.
In addition to the eight character sets shown on the previous page, the seven international character sets that follow can be selected with a software command, ESC R For more information, see the Command Summary in Chapter 9.
Choosing a Character Set DIP switch 1-7 selects either the italic character set or a graphics character set. The graphics character sets contain international accented characters, Greek characters, mathematic symbols, and character graphics for printing lines, corners, and shaded areas. ® If you have an IBM or IBM-compatible computer, select a graphics character set when you wish to print character graphics as they are displayed on the screen.
When DIP switch 1-7 is on, the graphics character set is determined by the settings of DIP switches, 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3. Character set SW 1-1 SW 1-2 PC 437 (United States) Epson Extended Graphics ON ON SW 1-3 ON PC 850 (Multilingual) ON ON OFF PC 860 (Portugal) ON OFF ON PC 863 (Canada-French) ON OFF OFF PC 865 (Norway) OFF ON ON The graphics character sets are also called code page tables.
Using the Data Dump Mode The data dump mode is a special feature that makes it easy for experienced users to identify the cause of communication problems between the printer and application programs. The data dump mode gives a printout of the codes reaching the printer. To use the data dump mode, follow these steps: 1. Make sure the printer is loaded with either single sheet or continuous paper. Note: Use paper at least 7.2 inches (182 mm) wide. 2.
3. Run any program that causes the printer to print (either an application program or one in any programming language). Your printer prints out all the codes sent to the printer, as shown below. (In order to print the last line, you will have to take the printer off line.
Chapter 4 Software and Graphics Enhancing Your Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Character Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Character Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special Effects and Emphasis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 4-2 4-3 4-4 Graphics.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Print Head. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Enhancing Your Printing You can obtain a wide variety of printing effects with your printer, from changing the number of characters per inch to using special effects on selected words and phrases. This section gives you a sampling of the features you may select with your software. For software control of these features, see the instructions for your application programs or look up their specific commands in the Command Summary in Chapter 9.
The following printout compares 10 cpi spacing with proportional spacing: This is 10 cpi printing. This is proportional printing. Note: Proportional spacing is not available in the draft mode. See the Print Size and Character Width commands in Chapter 9. Character Size In addition to the basic cpi spacings and proportional spacing, the printer offers three other modes that can change the size of your printing. These modes are double-width, double-height, and condensed.
Enhancing Your Printing Both 10 and 12 cpi printing can be reduced to about 60 percent of their normal width using the condensed mode. This mode is particularly useful for printing wide spreadsheets because condensed 12 cpi printing allows you to print up to 160 characters on an 8-inch line. The condensed mode can be selected with a software command, or by using SelecType (see Chapter 3). Even if you turn the condensed mode on with SelecType, you can still turn it off with a software command.
Enhancing Your Printing In double-strike mode, the print head prints each line twice, making the text bolder. For even greater boldness, emphasized and doublestrike can be combined. The following samples show the different effects you can achieve using these modes alone and in combination. This This This This is ROMAN is ROMAN, is ROMAN, is ROMAN, printing. emphasized. double-strike. with both. See the ESC E and ESC G commands in Chapter 9.
Superscripts and subscripts Superscripts and subscripts can be used for printing footnote numbers and mathematical formulas. The example below shows underlining and subscripts combined in a mathematical formula. average = (a1 + a2 + n .......... + an)_ See the ESC S0 and ESC S1 commands in Chapter 9. Outline and shadow The outline and shadow features are useful for adding variation and emphasis to text that you wish to stand out, such as headings.
Graphics The dot graphics mode allows your printer to produce pictures, graphs, charts, or almost any other pictorial image you can create. The quickest and easiest way to print graphics on your printer is to use a commercial graphics program. With such programs you may be able to print pictures and graphs like the ones on this page and the next by simply giving your software a few instructions.
The Print Head To understand dot graphics you need to know a little about how your printer's print head works. The print head has 24 pins. As the print head moves across the page, electrical impulses cause the pins to fire. Each time a pin fires, it strikes the inked ribbon and presses it against the paper producing a small dot. As the print head moves along, the pins fire time after time in different patterns forming letters, numbers, and symbols.
closely at a newspaper photograph, you will find that it is made up of thousands of small dots. Your printer also forms its images with patterns of dots, as many as 360 dots per inch horizontally and 360 dots per inch vertically. The images printed by this printer can, therefore, be as finely detailed as the ones at the beginning of this section. Twenty-four-pin graphics The graphics mode that takes full advantage of this printer’s print head is 24-pin graphics.
To fire any one pin, you send its number to the printer. To fire more than one pin at the same time, add up the numbers of the pins and send the total. Using these labels for the pins, you fire the top pin by sending 128. To fire the bottom pin, you send 1. If you want to fire only the top and bottom pins, you simply add 128 and 1, and send 129. By adding the appropriate label numbers together, you can fire any combination of pins.
The Graphics Command The graphics mode command is quite different from the other commands used by the printer. For most of the other printer modes, such as emphasized and double-width, one ESC code turns the mode on and another turns it off. For graphics, the command is more complicated because the code that turns on a graphics mode also specifies how many columns it will use. After the printer receives this code, it interprets the numbers that follow as pin patterns and prints them on the paper.
Column Reservation Numbers The graphics command requires more than one number to specify how many columns to reserve because one line can use thousands of columns, but the printer does not use numbers larger than 255 in decimal. Therefore the graphics mode command uses two numbers, n1 and n2, for reserving columns. To find n1 and n2, divide the total number of columns by 256. The result is n2; the remainder is n1. Because the command is set up for two numbers, you must supply two even if you need only one.
Type in and run the following program. Be especially careful to include both semicolons. The program produces the printout you see below. 10 20 30 40 WIDTH "LPT1:",255 LPRINT CHR$(27)"*"CHR$(32)CHR$(40)CHR$(0); FOR X=1 TO 120 LPRINT CHR$(170); 50 NEXT X Line 20 selects single-density 24-pin graphics mode (mode 32) and also reserves 40 columns for graphics. Because 24-pin graphics requires three bytes of data for each column, line 30 begins a loop to supply 120 bytes of data.
The illustration below shows how you can use a grid on paper to plan where you want dots to be printed. This grid is for a single line of graphics 42 columns long. Because each line of 24-pin graphics is approximately 1/8th of an inch high and because triple-density graphics prints 180 dots per inch horizontally, a design planned on this grid will be about 1/8th of an inch high and less than 1/4th of an inch wide.
Below is the same grid divided into three sections to make the data calculation easier. At the bottom of each section of each column is the total of the pin numbers for that section. This gives you the total of 126 data numbers necessary to print this small figure.
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 60 90 WIDTH "LPT1:",255 LPRINT CHR$(27)"*"CHR$(39)CHR$(42)CHR$(0); FOR X=1 TO 126 READ IN LPRINT CHR$(N); NEXT X LPRINT DATA 0,0,63,0,0,127,0,0,255,0,3,255,0,15,255,0,31,255 DATA 0,127,255,0,255,255,1,255,255,3,255,255,7,255,255,15), 255,255 100 DATA 31,255,254,31,255,252,31,255,240,31,255, 224,31,255,192 110 DATA 31,255,0,31,252,0,31,240,0,31,224,0,31,120,0,31,240,0 120 DATA 31,255,192,28,255,224,28,127,240,28,15,248,30,0,252, 31,0,126 130 DATA 15,128,15,7,192,7,3,240,7,1,254,7,0,255,
User-defined Characters With this printer, it is possible to define and print characters of your own design. You can design an entirely new alphabet or typeface, create special characters for use as mathematical or scientific symbols, or create graphic patterns with user-defined characters to serve as building blocks for larger designs. Below, you can see samples of typefaces created with the userdefined character function. Note: To use user-defined characters, you must turn DIP switch 2-5 off.
Design grids To design a character you use a grid that is 24 dots high—one dot for each pin on the printer’s print head. The width of the character matrix depends on the character set in use. For draft characters, the grid is nine dots wide, for Letter Quality it is 29 dots wide, and for proportional characters it is 37 dots wide. The dots for both Letter Quality and proportional characters are spaced more closely together than those for draft characters. The illustrations below show the two design grids.
User-defined Characters There is one restriction in designing characters. Dots in the same row may not print in adjacent columns. This means that there must be an empty dot position both to the left and right of each dot that prints. This is true in draft, Letter Quality, and proportional mode. Defining Your Characters The first step in defining characters is to place the dots on a grid just as you want them to print.
User-defined Characters Data numbers The bits within each byte have values of 1,2,4,8,16,32,64, and 128. In the vertical column of dots, the bits are arranged so that the most significant bit (with a value of 128) is at the top of the column and the least significant bit (with a value of 1) is at the bottom. The next illustration shows how to use this method to calculate the data numbers for the character in this example. On the left side of the figure, the data numbers are calculated for the middle column.
User-defined Characters You have seen how to design a character by placing dots on a grid and translating the dots to decimal equivalents. The last step in defining a character is sending this information to your printer. Sending Information to Your Printer The printer loads characters in the print style (Letter Quality, draft, or proportional) that the printer is currently using. It also records whether italic, superscript, or subscript is turned on.
User-defined Characters An example will show how to specify n1 and n2. For instance, if you wanted to redefine the characters A through Z, n1 would be ASCII A (or decimal code 65) and n2 would be ASCII Z (or decimal code 90). So the command ESC & 0 AZ (followed by the appropriate data) would replace the entire alphabet of capital letters.
This example of a character definition program should make this clear: 10 LPRINT CHR$(27)"X0" 20 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(0); 30 LPRINT "@@"; 40 LPRINT CHR$(1)CHR$(9)CHR$(1); 50 FOR I=1 TO 27 60 READ A: LPRINT CHR$(A); 70 NEXT I 80 LPRINT "@@@@@" 90 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(1); 100 LPRINT "@@@@@" 110 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(0); 120 LPRINT "@@@@@" 130 END 140 DATA 1,0,0,2,0,0,4,0,0 150 DATA 8,0,0,23,255,240,8,0,0 160 DATA 4,0,0,2,0,0,1,0,0 In line 10, the ESC x0 command selects draft printing.
User-defined Characters Printing User-defined Characters If you entered the previous program example, you defined an arrow and placed it in the RAM location for ASCII code 64 (replacing the @ sign). You can now print out a three-line sample of your work. The first and third lines (printed by lines 80 and 120) print the normal @ sign. The second line (printed by line 100) prints out the arrow that you defined. Run the program to see the printout below.
User-defined Characters Copying ROM Characters to RAM After running the program, if you select the user-defined character set and try to print other characters, the only one that will print is your arrow. Because no other characters are in the printer’s userdefined RAM, there is nothing else to print. Other characters sent to the printer do not even print as spaces; it’s as if they were not sent at all.
Letter Quality Characters If you select Letter Quality printing with the ESC x1 command, you can design user-defined characters using up to 29 columns of the Letter Quality/Proportional grid. The dot columns are spaced closer together horizontally than draft dot columns (the horizontal dot spacing is 1/360th of an inch as opposed to 1/120th of an inch for draft characters). Proportional mode characters Selecting the proportional character mode yields user-defined characters of the highest resolution.
Because superscript and subscript characters are smaller, when you define them you only need two bytes of data for each vertical row of dots. Design grids for these characters are shown in the figure below. Draft pica Letter Quality and Proportional Mixing Print Styles Each of the three user-defined character modes (draft, Letter Quality, and proportional) can be used in combination with most of your printer’s various print styles. For instance, emphasized mode works with user-defined characters.
Keep in mind that user-defined characters are stored in RAM, which is not permanent memory. When the printer power is turned off or the printer is initialized with the INIT signal, the user-defined characters are lost. (Some computers do this each time BASIC is loaded.
Chapter 5 Using the Printer Options The Cut Sheet Feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paper Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Testing the Printer in the Cut Sheet Feeder Mode . . . . . Operating the Cut Sheet Feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switching Between the Cut Sheet Feeder and PushTractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Cut Sheet Feeder The optional cut sheet feeder (C806122/C806242) makes it possible to handle single-sheet paper more easily and more efficiently. Up to 150 sheets of standard bond paper can be fed automatically into the printer without reloading. Installation 1. Assemble the cut sheet feeder by following the instructions provided in its accompanying manual. 2. Make sure that the printer is turned off. Then remove the paper guide and printer cover.
3. Separate the clear plastic part of the printer cover from the printer cover by pressing on the tabs on each side. 4. Attach the clear plastic part included with the cut sheet feeder to the printer cover.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 5. Make sure that the paper release lever is pushed all the way to the back. 6. Tilt the cut sheet feeder slightly forward to fit the notches at the base of the unit over the black pins inside the printer. Tilt the feeder back until it rests on top of the printer.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 7. Attach the printer cover. 8. Turn on the cut sheet feeder mode by setting DIP switch 1-8 to on. 9. Turn on the printer.
Paper Handling 1. Make sure that the cut sheet feeder mode is turned on with DIP switch 1-8. 2. Pull the paper set levers all the way forward until the paper supports retract and lock open to allow for paper loading.
3. Slide the left paper guide to where the fin on the edge guide aligns with the arrow on the panel. Next, slide the right paper guide so that it roughly matches the width of your paper. 4. Take a stack of paper and fan it as shown. This keeps the paper from sticking and ensures that only one sheet feeds at a time. Tap the side and bottom of the paper on a flat surface to even the stack.
The Cut Sheet Feeder Note: For best results, use typewriter quality paper. If you plan to use paper with a glossy or textured surface, test it before using it to print documents. Do not use multi-part forms, carbon paper, envelopes, or labels in the cut sheet feeder. 5. Insert the stack of paper between the paper guides, aligning it with the left edge of the guide. Then adjust the right paper guide until the paper is held firmly, but not so tightly that it causes the paper to buckle.
The Cut Sheet Feeder Testing the Printer in the Cut Sheet Feeder Mode When you perform the cut sheet feeder self test, the printer counts the number of lines on the page. As shown on the following page, the number of lines counted is printed out at the bottom of the first test page. This number is the default page-length setting. This setting, however, can be overridden by software commands. Running the self test is the same as when the cut sheet feeder mode is off.
1. Make sure that the printer is turned off and a stack of paper is in the bin. Check that the cut sheet feeder mode is selected and the paper release lever is set to the back position. 2. While holding down the LINE FEED button, turn on the printer. (For LQ mode, press the FORM FEED button instead of the LINE FEED button.) A part of the printout of the fit sheet is shown below. The printout of the second sheet is similar to the original self test described in Chapter 1.
3. The self test continues until the paper runs out or until you press the ON LINE button. To stop the test, press the ON LINE button. 4. To end the self test when paper is loaded, press the LOAD/EJECT button to eject the paper. Then turn off the printer. Operating the Cut Sheet Feeder After stacking paper in the cut sheet feeder, turn on the printer and make sure that the ON LINE light is on.
The Cut Sheet Feeder Paper out condition When the printer is on line and receives print data from the computer, the first sheet loads automatically. Subsequent sheets load automatically as necessary. In the cut sheet feeder mode, the PAPER OUT light goes on while a sheet of paper is being fed, but the printer remains on line. When the specified paper bin is empty, the printer automatically goes off line, the PAPER OUT light goes on, and the beeper sounds.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 3. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to load the sheet.
Using the control panel To operate the cut sheet feeder manually from the control panel when the printer is in the cut sheet feeder mode, first make sure that the printer is off line. LINE FEED When there is paper in the printer, press this button to feed the paper one line or hold it down to feed the paper continuously. FORM FEED When there is no paper in the printer, press this button to load paper from the cut sheet feeder. When there is paper in the printer, press this button to eject the sheet.
If the paper reaches the bottom of the print area when any of the following line feed commands is used, the sheet in the printer is automatically ejected and the next sheet is loaded. LF: Line feed; advances the paper one line VT: Vertical tab; advances the paper to the next vertical tab position ESC J: Line feed; advances the paper n/180th of an inch Software is not effective while the printer is off line.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 2. If any single sheets are still in the printer, press the LOAD/EJECT button to eject the paper. 3. Pull the paper release lever forward to the continuous paper position. You do not need to change the DIP switch 1-8 setting.
The Cut Sheet Feeder On the wide carriage printer, set the paper release lever to the center continuous paper position. 4. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to load continuous paper.
5. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line so that it can accept data. 6. After the first printed page passes the printer cover edge, fold at the perforation so the page lies on the printer cover.
The Cut Sheet Feeder Note: It is important to keep the printed continuous paper aligned with the tractor so that the paper feeds smoothly into the printer. Switching back to the cut sheet feeder It is easy to switch back to using the cut sheet feeder. 1. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 2. Press the FORM FEED button to eject any printed continuous paper. Tear off all printed sheets. CAUTION: To feed printed continuous paper forward, use the FORM FEED button only. Never press the LOAD/EJECT button; this will feed the continuous paper backward.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 3. Press the LOAD/EJECT button until you feed the continuous paper backward out of the paper path and into the standby position. CAUTION: Never press the LOAD/EJECT button more than twice. This may cause a paper jam.
The Cut Sheet Feeder 4. Push the paper release lever back to the single sheet position. 5. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line. Removing the Cut Sheet Feeder 1. Turn off the printer and remove any paper remaining in the bin and printer. 2. Remove the printer cover.
3. Tilt the cut sheet feeder back. Release its notches from the printer’s pins, and then lift up and remove the cut sheet feeder. 4. Set DIP switch 1-8 to off (to turn off the cut sheet feeder mode). 5. Replace the clear plastic part of the cut sheet feeder cover with the clear plastic part that was originally on the printer cover. Removal of the cut sheet feeder is now completed. Be sure to store the removed cut sheet feeder in its original box and packing materials.
The Pull Tractor The optional pull tractor (C800062/C800142) provides optimum continuous paper handling. The pull tractor is especially useful with continuous multi-part forms and labels. For best results, use the pull tractor along with the built-in push tractor as described in this section. Installation 1. Turn off the printer and remove the printer cover and paper guide. 2. On the standard width printer, remove the paper tension unit cover.
3. Fit the rear notches on the tractor over the rear mounting pins in the printer. Then tilt the tractor unit toward you until the front latches click in place over the black front mounting pins. Push down on the front latches to be sure they are firmly seated.
The Pull Tractor 4. Pull the paper release lever forward to the continuous paper position. 5. Set DIP switch 2-2 to off. Note: You cannot use the short tear-off function with the pull tractor. 6. Turn on the printer.
Paper Handling 1. Make sure that the printer is turned on and that the paper release lever is set forward to the continuous paper position. Note: For both the standard width printer and wide carriage printer, this is the forward continuous feed position. 2. Set the first three holes of the continuous paper onto the built-in push tractor as described in Chapter 2. 3. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to load the continuous paper; then press the FORM FEED button.
Note: After you press the FORM FEED button, be careful not to touch any of the buttons on the control panel until step 10. CAUTION: Never use the platen knob while the printer is turned on. To adjust the loading position, use the microadjustment feature described in Chapter 3. 4. Open the sprocket covers of the pull tractor and pull the sprocket lock levers toward you to release them.
: 5. Adjust the sprocket units to match the width of the paper. Then adjust the paper support so that it is halfway between the sprocket units. 6. Fit the holes in the paper over the tractor pins on the sprocket units and close the sprocket covers.
The Pull Tractor 7. If the paper does not fit exactly onto the tractor pins or if the paper buckles, press in on the gray pull tractor knob and turn it in the desired direction until the paper fits properly. 8. See that the paper is not crooked or wrinkled and lock the sprocket units in place.
The Pull Tractor 9. Install the paper guide. Slide the edge guides all the way apart. 10. Separate the clear plastic part of the printer cover from the printer cover by pressing on the tabs on each side.
The Pull Tractor 11. Attach the clear plastic part included with the pull tractor to the printer cover. 12. Attach the pull tractor cover and press the ON LINE button the printer on line.
Although the pull tractor can be used in combination with the builtin push tractor as described above, the pull tractor can also be used by itself. Instead of setting the paper on the pins of the push tractor, simply insert it through the same paper path as you would use with single sheets of paper. Note: Do not use the short tear-off feature with the pull tractor. Removing the Pull Tractor 1. Make sure to tear off the printed document and remove the tractor cover and paper guide. Then turn on the printer.
3. Remove the continuous paper from the push tractor unit. 4. Place your thumbs beside the front latches on each end of the tractor unit and gently push up on them, slowly tilting the unit back Push the paper release lever to the back position.
5. On the standard width printer, replace the paper tension unit cover. On the wide carriage printer, replace the paper tension unit.
The Pull Tractor 6. Remove the tractor cover from the printer cover and reassemble the printer cover. 7. Install the paper guide and printer cover.
The Interface Boards A number of optional interfaces are available that supplement the capabilities of your printer’s built-in parallel interface. Choosing an Interface Optional interfaces can be divided into four main categories which are described briefly below. Serial interfaces are required if your computer is not equipped with a parallel interface or if you need an interface that conforms to the Current Loop standard instead of RS-232C.
Compatible Interfaces The following is a list of Epson interfaces that are compatible with your printer. Interface number Name #8143 New Serial Interface #8148 Intelligent serial interface #8185 intelligent IEEE-488 interface C823032 32KB buffered parallel interface expandable to 512KB C823021 32KB buffered serial interface expandable to 512KB All Epson interfaces have the Epson name printed on them.
WARNING: High voltages are present inside the printer when the power is on. Do not attempt to remove the upper case unless the printer is turned off and the power cord is unplugged. Also, try not to touch contacts on the circuit board of the printer because many of the components can be destroyed by the static electricity present in your body. Do not change the settings of any DIP switches on the main board. 2. Remove the screw securing the interface board cover and lift off the cover.
3. Remove the screw labeled CG from the main board. Installing the board There are two basic interface board designs-one with the FG wire not attached and one with the FG wire attached. This slight difference changes the way the boards are installed in the printer but does not affect the operation of the interface in any way. Check to see which type of interface board you have.
If the FG wire is not attached, follow these steps: 1. Use the CG screw to attach the round end of the FG (frame ground) wire to the main board and position the other end as shown. 2. Carefully insert the pins on the optional interface board into the mating connector on the main board; then secure the board with the screws provided.
3. Attach the plug end of the FG wire onto the FG pin located on top of the interface board. 4. Set the DIP switches on the interface board according to the manual accompanying it. If the FG wire is attached, follow these steps: 1. Carefully place the interface board next to the printer. Use the CG screw to connect the round end of the FG (frame ground) wire to the main board.
2. Holding the interface board level, rotate it into position and attach it to the main board. Make sure that the connector pins are properly inserted into the mating connector.
3. Secure the board with the screws provided. 4. For all interface boards except #8143 New Serial Interface board, set the DIP switches on the interface board according to the manual accompanying it. If you have the #8143 board, see the next section. Attaching the interface board cover 1. Bend back the hinge plate on the interface board cover.
Note: When you reattach the interface board, rebend the plate to cover the opening. The plate is sturdy, but be careful not to subject it to excessive bending. 2. Reattach the board cover. CAUTION: When an optional interface board is installed, be sure to disconnect the printer cable from the printer’s built-in parallel interface. Two interface cables must not be connected at the same time.
#8143 New Serial Interface If you are using an optional interface, it may be necessary for you to alter the communication protocol of the printer or the computer so that they can communicate properly. In most cases, you should use the information in your optional interface manual or your computer’s manual to match the computer with the interface. If you are using the #8143 optional interface board, make sure that you read through the section below on baud rate selection.
Chapter 6 Maintenance Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2 Replacing the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4 Transporting the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cleaning the Printer To keep your printer operating at its best, you should clean it thoroughly several times a year. Follow the steps below. 1. Make sure that the printer is turned off. Then remove the paper guide or the cut sheet feeder. 2. Using a soft brush, carefully remove all dust and dirt. 3. If the outer case or paper guide is dirty or dusty, clean it with a soft, clean cloth dampened with a mild detergent solution. Keep the printer cover in place to prevent water from getting inside the printer.
CAUTIONS: l Never use alcohols or thinners to clean the printer because these chemicals can damage the components as well as the case. l Be careful not to get water on the printer mechanism or electronic components. l Do not use a hard or abrasive brush. l Do not spray the inside of the printer with lubricants; unsuitable oils can damage the mechanism. If you think lubrication is needed, contact your dealer or call the Consumer Information number listed in Where to Get Help.
Replacing the Ribbon Replace the ribbon when the printout becomes too faint. The following Epson replacement ribbon cartridges are available: Printer Standard ribbon Film ribbon Standard width printer #7753 #7768 Wide carriage printer #7754 #7770 Notes: l Use the optional film ribbon only when you need especially high quality printing. For everyday operations, use the standard ribbon. l Do not use ribbons designed for nine-pin printers. 1. Make sure that the printer is turned off.
On the wide carriage printer, remove the paper tension unit. 3. To remove the ribbon cartridge, grip it by the black plastic tab and lift the cartridge straight up and out of the printer. WARNING: If the printer has just been used, the print head may be hot. Let it cool before attempting to replace the ribbon.
Replacing the Ribbon 4. Slide the print head to the middle of the printer. 5. To remove slack in the new ribbon, turn the ribbon-tightening knob in the direction of the arrow. 6. Push the new ribbon cartridge firmly into position, making sure the plastic hooks fit into the slots.
Replacing the Ribbon Note: Press lightly on both sides of the cartridge to make sure the hooks are properly inserted. 7. Use a pointed object, such as a ball point pen, to guide the ribbon between the print head and ribbon guide while you turn the ribbon-tightening knob to help feed the ribbon into place. Be careful not to puncture the ribbon.
8. Slide the print head from side to side to make sure it moves smoothly. Also see that the ribbon is not twisted or creased. 9. On the standard width printer, close the paper tension unit cover.
On the wide carriage printer, attach the paper tension unit. 10. Insert the hooks on the printer cover unit into the printer, and then tilt the printer cover back into place.
Transporting the Printer Before you transport your printer some distance, carefully repack it in the original box and packing materials according to the following instructions. 1. Make sure the printer is turned off. Then remove any installed options, as well as the paper guide and printer cover. CAUTION: Turn the printer off before unplugging the power cable from the AC outlet. 2. Unplug the power cable from the electrical outlet.
4. On the wide carriage printer, you need to replace the locking clip. Remove the paper tension unit. Then attach the locking clip. Then replace the paper tension unit. 5. Reattach the printer cover. 6. Replace the packing materials and put the printer in its box.
Chapter 7 Troubleshooting Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2 Paper Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-7 Options.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Printing This section supplies solutions for possible printer problems. Power is not being supplied. l The POWER light does not go on. Check that the power cable is plugged properly into the electrical outlet. Make sure the power switch is turned on. If the electrical outlet is controlled by an outside switch or automatic timer, use a different outlet. Plug another electrical device into the outlet to determine whether the outlet is operating properly. The printer does not print.
l The printer sounds like it is printing, but nothing is printed. The ribbon cartridge may not be installed properly. Turn off the printer and reinstall the ribbon cartridge. The ribbon may be worn. Replace the ribbon cartridge. l The printer makes a strange noise, the buzzer sounds several times, and the printer stops abruptly. Turn off the printer and check for paper jams or other problems; then turn the printer back on.
Dots are missing in the printed characters or graphics. l A line of dots is missing in the printout. The print head is damaged. Stop printing and contact your dealer to have the printer repaired. l Dots are missing in random positions. There is either too much slack in the ribbon or the ribbon has come loose. Reinstall the ribbon cartridge. Printed characters are not what you expected. l The typestyle or characters that are set by your software cannot be printed.
The print position is not what you expected. l Printing starts too high or too low on the page. Use micro-adjustment to adjust the loading position. Check the top margin set by your application software and adjust it. l All the text is printed on the same line. Set DIP switch 2-4 on so the printer automatically adds a line feed code to each carriage return. l The text is printed with an extra blank line in between. Two line feed signals are being sent. Set DIP switch 2-4 off.
l Vertical printed lines do not align or gaps appear in lines or graphics. The printer is usually set for bidirectional printing. This can cause a slight misalignment of graphics characters. When precise printing of vertical lines is necessary, contact your dealer to have the bidirectional print alignment adjustment performed. You can also select unidirectional printing by setting DIP switch 2-6 to off. Unidirectional printing is slightly slower.
Paper Handling The following section guides you through problems in handling single sheets of paper and continuous paper. If you are having problems using the optional cut-sheet feeder or pull tractor, see Options later in this chapter. Single sheets do not feed properly. l Paper was inserted in the sheet guide, but the platen did not move and paper was not fed. The left edge guide may be set too far to the right so that the paper detector cannot sense it. Move the paper a little to the left.
l Paper loads, but then jams. The cut sheet feeder mode may be turned on (DIP switch 1-8 is on). When the cut sheet feeder is not in use, DIP switch 1-8 should be off. The edge guides may be too far apart. Adjust the edge guides to the width of the paper. The dimensions of the paper may exceed the specified limitations. Use only paper sizes that are within the specified range. Multi-part forms cannot be used with this printer’s single sheet feeding system. Continuous paper does not feed properly.
l The paper feed is crooked or the paper jams. Make sure the paper supply is not obstructed by a cable or some other object, and that the paper feeds smoothly into the printer. Check that the holes on the sides of the paper are aligned with each other. Also, make sure the sprocket lock levers are locked and the sprocket covers are closed. l The short tear-off function does not work. Make sure DIP switch 2-2 is set to on.
Options This section describes problems you may encounter while using the optional cut sheet feeder or an optional interface board. With the cut sheet feeder, paper does not feed properly. l When a print command is sent from the computer, the platen rotates, but paper does not feed. Make sure DIP switch 1-8 is on. Make sure the cut sheet feeder is correctly installed on the printer. Check that the paper release lever is pushed back to the single sheet position.
With an optional interface, the printer does not operate properly. l The printer does not print or the printout is not what you expected. Check that the interface board is correctly inserted into the connector on the main board. Check the specifications to make sure that you can use the interface with this printer. Make sure that the cable matches the interface specifications. Check that the DIP switches or jumpers on the interface board are set correctly.
Chapter 8 Technical Specifications Printer Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paper.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electrical.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environment. . . . . . . . . . . .
Printer Specifications Printing Print method: 24-pin impact dot matrix Print speed: Quality Characters per inch Characters/second/line 10 160 12 192 10 53 12 64 Draft LQ Printing direction: Bidirectional logic-seeking for text printing. Unidirectional for graphics (can also be switched to bidirectional by using the proper software command when DIP switch 2-6 is on). Line spacing: 1/6 inch or programmable in increments of 1/360th of an inch Paper feed speed: 2.
Input buffer: 8 KB/1 KB (DIP switch selectable) Character fonts: Font Available (Characters per inch) Draft 10, 12, 15 Epson Roman 10, 12, 15, Proportional 0 Epson Sans Serif 10, 12, 15, Proportional 1 Epson Courier 10, 12, 15 2 Epson Prestige 10, 12, 15 3 Epson Script 10, 12, 15 4 OCR-B 10 5 OCR-A 10 6 Epson Orator 10 7 Epson Orator-S 10 8 Characters: Family number 96 standard ASCII character set (including italic characters) 15 international character sets 5 graphics cha
Paper width and length: Paper Single sheet width length Continuous paper width Standard width printer 7.2 to (182 to 7.2 to (182 to 10.1 inches 257 mm) 14.3 inches 364 mm) 7.2 4.0 to 10.0 inches (101 to 254 mm) 4.0 Wide carriage printer to 14.3 inches (182 to 364 mm) 7.2 to 14.3 inches (182 to 364 mm) to 16.0 inches (101 to 406 mm) Envelopes No. 6 6.54 x 3.62 inches (166 x 92 mm) No. 10 9.45 x 4.09 inches (240 x 104 mm) Labels 2.5 x 0.94 inch (63.5 x 23.
Note: For the standard width printer, printing on paper from 9 to 10 inches wide increases the minimum right and left margins to 0.9 inch (24 mm). Continuous paper 0.51 inch (13mm) minimum Note: The minimum for the right and left margins increases to 0.98 inch (25 mm) when printing on 10-inch wide paper on the standard width printer or on 15- to 16-inch wide paper on the wide carriage printer.
Envelope Note: Envelope printing is only available at normal operating conditions. Load the envelope with its long side horizontal. Paper weight: Single Sheet Continuous Multi-part forms Envelope 14 lb to 24 lb 14 lb to 22 lb 12 lb to 15 lb per sheet. Maximum number sheets = 3 12 lb to 24 lb Paper thickness: Single Sheet 0.0025 to 0.0055 inches (0.065 to 0.14 mm) 0.0025 to 0.0098 inches (0.065 to 0.25 mm) 0.0063 to 0.0197 inches (0.16 to 0.52 mm) 0.0075 inches (Maximum 0.
Notes: l The use of 24 lb paper is only available at normal temperature. l Printing past the edge of envelopes, multi-part forms, labels, or paper that is thicker than normal can damage the print head. l Labels with a pressure sensitive covering, either glued or tacked onto the backing sheet, can be printed under the conditions listed below. — The total thickness may not exceed 0.0118 inch (0.3 mm). — The temperature range is between 40°F and 95°F (5°C to 35°C).
Dimensions and weight: Standard width printer (80) Wide carriage printer (136) Height 5.51 inches (139.9 mm) 5.69 inches (144.5 mm) Width 16.46 inches (418 mm) 23.35 inches (593 mm) Depth 13.66 inches (347 mm) 13.68 inches (347.5 mm) Weight approx. 13.2 lb (6 kg) approx. 17.6 lb (8 kg) Electrical Voltage: 120 VAC ± 10% Power consumption: 100 watts maximum Frequency: 50 ± 0.5 Hz, 60 ± 0.
Interface Specifications Your printer is equipped with an 8-bit parallel interface. For specifications on optional interfaces, refer to their manuals. Pin Assignments for the Parallel Interface Connector pin assignments and a description of their respective interface signals are shown in the following table. Signal Return Pin Pin Signal Direction Description IN STROBE pulse to read data. Pulse width must be more than 0.5 microseconds at the receiving terminal.
Signal Pin 13 14 Return Pin Signal SLCT - 15 on iec D rti Description OUT Pulled up to +5 volts through 3.3 Kohm resistance. Auto -FEED XT IN When this signal is LOW, the paper is automatically fed 1 line after printing. (The signal level can be fixed to this by setting DIP switch 2-4 to on.) NC - Not used. Logic ground level. GND - 17 - CHASSIS GND - Printer’s chassis ground, which is isolated from the logic ground. 18 - NC - Not used.
The column heading “Direction” refers to the direction of signal flow as viewed from the printer. “Return” denotes the twisted-pair return, to be connected at signal ground level. For the interface wiring, be sure to use a twisted-pair cable for each signal and to complete the connection on the return side. These cables should be shielded and connected to the chassis of the host computer and the printer. All interface conditions are based on TTL level.
Printing Enabled/Disabled Signals and Control Conditions The table below shows the relationship between printing being enabled or disabled, the on line/off line status, and the receipt of the data on/off control characters, DC1 or DC3.
Option Specifications Cut Sheet Feeder Dimensions and weight: Option no. Height Width Depth Weight C806 122 16.7 inches (423 mm) 17.5 inches (444 mm) 17.1 inches (434 mm) 2.4 lb (1.1 kg) C806242 16.4 inches (416 mm) 24.3 inches (618 mm) 17.4 inches (443 mm) 5.9 lb (2.7 kg) Dimensions: mounted on printer.
Paper: C806122 C806242 Width 7.17 to 8.5 inches (182 to 216 mm) 7.17 to 14.33 inches (182 to 364 mm) Length 8.27 to 14.3 inches (210 to 364 mm) (257 to 364 mm) 10.12 to 14.33 inches Thickness 0.0028 to 0.005 inches (0.07 to 0.14 mm) Weight 17 to 24 lb (64 to 90 g/m*) Printable area Note: The use of 24 lb paper is available only at normal temperature. Paper feed accuracy cannot be assured within 0.9” (22 mm) from either the top or bottom edges of the paper.
Initialization There are two ways that the printer can be initialized (returned to the default settings) through the hardware and one way through the software. These are described in the following table. Hardware initialization • The power is turned on. The printer receives an INIT signal at the parallel interface (pin 31 goes LOW). Software initialization • The software sends the ESC @ (initialize the printer) command.
Also, the data buffer is cleared when the printer is initialized by turning on the power or by an INIT signal. Note: The user-defined character set is not cleared when the printer is initialized with the software command (ESC @).
Chapter 9 Command Summary Using the Command Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control Key Chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2 9-4 Commands in Numerical Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5 Commands Arranged by Topic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MSBControl..................................... Data Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using the Command Summary This chapter lists and describes all the commands available on the printer. The first part of this chapter lists all commands in numerical order and gives the number of the page where each is fully described. If you know which command you are looking for, consult the numerical list. Note: The Quick Reference card at the end of the book also contains a list of the commands divided by topic, with page number references that direct you to full explanations of the commands.
The simplest type of command consists of a single character to be sent to the printer. For instance, to print in condensed mode, the code format is: ASCII code: SI Decimal: 15 Hexadecimal: OF This code can be sent from a program by sending the code 15 directly. More complex commands consist of two or more character codes.
Control Key Chart Some application programs use control key codes for decimal values 0-27. The table below gives you the proper values. The Control Key column indicates that you press the control key at the same time you press the key for the letter or symbol in that column. For example, you press the control key and A at the same time to send the value 1. Some application programs that use this system cannot use Control-@, and many programs use the control keys for other purposes. Dec. Hex. Ctrl.
Commands in Numerical Order The following list shows control codes and ESC sequences with their decimal and hexadecimal values, and the page where the description of the command can be found. ASCII Dec. Hex. Description Page Beeper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Backspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tab Horizontally . . . . . . . . . . . . . Line Feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tab Vertically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Form Feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ASCII Dec. ESC * ESC + Esc - Page Hex. Description 42 43 45 2A 2B 2D Esc / ESC 0 ESC 2 ESC 3 ESC 4 ESC 5 ESC 6 ESC 7 ESC : ESC < 47 48 50 51 52 53 54 55 58 60 2F 30 32 33 34 35 36 37 3A 3C ESC = ESC > ESC ? ESC 8 ESC A ESC B ESC C ESC C0 ESC D ESC E ESC F ESC G ESC H ESC J ESC K 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 67 68 69 70 71 72 74 75 3D 3E 3F 40 41 42 43 43 44 45 46 47 48 4A 4B ESC L 76 4C ESC M 77 4D Select Graphics Mode . . . . . . . . . 9-39 Set n/360-inch Line Spacing. . . .
Page Hex. Description 78 79 80 81 82 4E 4F 50 51 52 ESC S 0 ESC S 1 ESC T 83 83 84 53 53 54 ESC U 85 55 ESC W 87 57 ESC Y 89 59 ESC Z 90 5A ESC \ ESC a ESC b ESC g ESC k ESC 1 ESC p 92 97 98 103 107 108 112 5C 61 62 67 6B 6C 70 ESC q ESC t ESC w 113 116 119 71 74 77 ESC x 120 78 Set Skip Over Perforation . . . . . . 9-14 Cancel Skip Over Perforation. .. 9-14 Select 10 CPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-24 Set Right Margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Commands Arranged by Topic This following section lists and describes all the commands by topic. See the Quick Reference card at the back of this book for a handy list of commands by topic. Printer Operation ESC @ Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Initialize Printer ESC 27 1B @ 64 40 Comments: Resets the printer mode and clears the current print line preceding the command.
Deselect Printer DC3 Format: ASCII code: DC3 Decimal: 19 Hexadecimal: 13 Comments: Puts the printer into the deselected state until the select printer code (DC1) is received. The printer cannot be reselected with the ON LINE button. DEL Format: DEL ASCII code: 127 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 7F Delete Character Comments: Removes the last text character on the print line but does not affect control codes.
ESC U Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Turn Unidirectional Mode On/Off ESC 27 1B U 85 55 n n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 1: Turns the mode on 0: Turns the mode off Printing is normally bidirectional. This command selects unidirectional printing for more accurate positioning.
MSB Control MSB means the Most Significant Bit. MSB control (ESC =, ESC >, and ESC #) does not work for graphics or user-defined characters. ESC = Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set MSB to 0 ESC 27 1B 61 3D Comments: Sets the MSB of all incoming data to 0. Some computers always send data with the MSB set to 1, which means that italics or character graphics are always printed. ESC = can overcome this problem.
BEL Format: BEL ASCII code: Decimal: 7 Hexadecimal: 07 Beeper Comments: Sounds the printer’s beeper. Data Control CR Format: ASCII code: CR Decimal: 13 Hexadecimal: 0D Carriage Return Comments: Prints the data in the print buffer and returns the print position to the left margin. A line feed is added if the AUTO FEED XT line on the parallel interface is held LOW.
Vertical Motion FF Format: FF ASCII code: Decimal: 12 Hexadecimal: 0C Form Feed Comments: Prints the data in the print buffer and advances the paper to the top of the next form according to the current page length. When using a cut sheet feeder, FF ejects the sheet into the stacker. ESC C Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Page Length in Lines ESC 27 1B C 67 43 n n n Comments: Sets the page length to n lines in the current line spacing. The value of n must be from 1 to 127 lines.
Commands Arranged by Topic ESC N Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Skip Over Perforation ESC 27 1B N 78 4E n n n Comments: The variable n is the number of lines skipped between the last line printed on one page and the first line to print on the next page. For example, with the standard setting for line spacing (1/6-inch), and page length (66 lines), ESC N 6 prints 60 lines and then skips 6. This setting is cancelled by ESC O, ESC C, or ESC C 0. The value of n must be from 1 to 127.
ESC 0 Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select l/&inch Line Spacing ESC 27 1B 0 48 30 Comments: Sets the line spacing to 1/8 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. ESC 2 Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select 1/6-inch Line Spacing ESC 27 1B 2 50 32 Comments: Sets the line spacing to 1/6 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. This line spacing is the default at power on.
ESC 3 Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set n/180-inch Line Spacing ESC 27 1B 3 51 33 n n n Comments: Sets the line spacing to n/180 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. The value of n must be from 0 to 255. ESC A Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set n/60-inch Line Spacing ESC 27 1B A 65 41 n n n Comments: Sets the line spacing to n/60 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. The value of n must be from 0 to 85.
VT Format: ASCII code: VT Decimal: 11 Hexadecimal: 0B Tab Vertically Comments: Advances the paper to the next vertical tab position in the channel selected by ESC /. If no channel has been selected, channel 0 is used. If no vertical tabs have been set, the paper advances one line. ESC B Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Vertical Tabs ESC B 27 66 1B 42 n1 n2 n1 n2 n1 n2 … … … 0 0 00 Comments: Sets up to 16 vertical tabs in the current line spacing.
Commands Arranged by Topic ESC b Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Vertical Tabs in Channels ESC 27 1B b 98 62 c c n1 n1 c n1 n2 n2 n2 … … … 0 0 00 Comments: Functions the same as ESC B, except that the variable c selects a channel for the vertical tabs, which must be from 0 to 7. Therefore, up to eight sets of vertical tabs can be set. The channels are selected by ESC /. To clear the tabs in channel c, use ESC b c 0.
Horizontal Motion ESC 1 Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Left Margin ESC 1 27 108 1B 6C n n n Comments: Sets the left margin to n columns in the current character size. Settings made in the proportional mode are treated as 10 cpi. This command clears previous tab settings and all previous characters in the print line. Use lowercase 1 (as in left), not the numeral one. The minimum space between the margins is the width of one double-width 10 cpi character.
Backspace BS Format: ASCII code: BS Decimal: 8 Hexadecimal: 08 Comments: Prints out data in the print buffer, then moves the print position one space to the left. Backspacing is possible up to, but not beyond, the left margin setting. The BS code is ignored if ESC a2 or ESC a3 has been sent. If this code is received immediately after graphics printing, the print position of subsequent data is moved back to the point at which graphics printing started.
ESC \ Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Relative Print Position ESC \ 27 92 1B 5C n1 n1 n1 n2 n2 n2 Comments: Determines the position (relative to the current position) at which printing of subsequent data will start. To find n1 and n2, first calculate the displacement required in dots. If the displacement is to the left, subtract it from 65536. Send the resulting number using this formula: total number of dots = n1 + (256 x n2).
Commands Arranged by Topic ESC D Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Set Horizontal Tabs ESC 27 1B D n1 n2 68 n1 n2 44 n1 n2 … … … 0 0 00 Comments: This command allows setting of up to 32 horizontal tabs, which are entered as n1, n2, n3, etc. (from 1 to 255), with the number 0 terminating the command. The tab settings must be entered in ascending order. ESC D 0 clears all tabs. The default settings, when power is turned on or after an ESC @ command, are at every eight characters.
Comments: This command affects only the Letter Quality typestyle, not draft. If n = 0, typestyle in the printer is used. To select one of the other typestyles, use the family number of the font as shown below. For example, to choose the Prestige font, use 3 for the value of n. The following values can be used for n: 0: Roman 6: OCR-A 3: Prestige 1: Sans Serif 4: Script 7: Orator 2: Courier 5: OCR-B 8: Orator-S Overrides the SelecType panel setting.
Print Size and Character Width ESC P Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select 10 CPI ESC 27 1B P 80 50 Comments: Selects 10 character per inch printing. This command is normally used to cancel 12 or 15 cpi. ESC M Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select 12 CPI ESC 27 1B M 77 4D Comments: Selects 12 character per inch printing. ESC g Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select 15 CPI ESC 27 1B g 103 67 Comments: Selects 15 character per inch printing, and cancels 10 or 12 cpi.
ESC p Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Turn Proportional Mode On/Off ESC 27 1B p 112 70 n n n Comments: Turns proportional mode on and off. The following values can be used for n: 1: Turns mode on. 0: Turns mode off. The width of proportional characters varies from character to character. Therefore, a narrow letter like i receives less space than a wide letter like W. Proportional character widths are given in the Appendix. Proportional mode is available only in Roman and Sans Serif fonts.
ESC SI Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Condensed Mode ESC 27 1B SI 15 OF Comments: Duplicates the SI command and the function of the CONDENSED button on the control panel. DC2 Format: ASCII code: DC2 Decimal: 18 Hexadecimal: 12 Cancel Condensed Mode Comments: Cancels condensed mode set by SI, ESC SI, or SelecType and returns printing to normal.
ESC SO Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Double-width Mode (one line) ESC 27 1B SO 14 0E Comments: Duplicates the SO command. ESC W Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Turn Double-width Mode On/Off ESC 27 1B W 87 57 n n n Comments: Doubles the width of all characters. The following values can be used for n: 1: Turns mode on. 0: Turns mode off.
ESC w Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Turn Double-height Mode On/Off ESC 27 1B 119 77 n n n Comments: Doubles the height of all characters. The following values can be used for n: 1: Turns mode on. 0: Turns mode off. Doubles the height of all characters. You may need to adjust line spacing to compensate for the height of these characters. Cannot be used with the pull tractor.
ESC G Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Double-strike Mode ESC 27 1B G 71 47 Comments: Makes text bolder by printing each line twice. ESC H Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Cancel Double-strike Mode ESC 27 1B H 72 48 Comments: Cancels the double-strike mode selected by ESC G.
ESC S1 Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Subscript Mode ESC 27 1B S 83 53 1 1 01 Comments: Prints characters about two-thirds of the normal character height in the lower part of the character space. ESC T Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Cancel Superscript/Subscript Mode ESC 27 1B T 84 54 Comments: Cancels either superscript or subscript.
ESC (Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Score ESC 27 1B ( 40 28 45 2D n1 n1 n1 n2 n2 n2 m m m d1 d2 d1 d2 d1 d2 Comments: Use decimal or hexadecimal values for all variables, not ASCII characters. Use the following values for the first 3 variables: n1 must be 3. n2 must be 0. m must be 1. The value of d1 determines the location of the score: d1 = 1 for underline. d2 = 2 for strike-through. d2 = 3 for overscore.
ESC Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Turn Underline Mode On/Off ESC 27 45 1B 2D n n n Comments: This mode provides continuous underlining including spaces. The following values can be used for n: 1: Turns mode on. 0: Turns mode off. Areas skipped with HT or ESC $ are not underlined. ESC q Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Character Style ESC 27 1B q 113 71 n n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 0: Selects normal. 1: Selects outline. 2: Selects shadow.
Word Processing ESC a Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select Justification a 97 61 n n n Comments: Sets the type of justification. The following values can be used for n: 0: Selects left justification. 1: Selects centering. 2: Selects right justification. 3: Selects full justification. The default setting is n = 0. Full justification (n = 3) is performed when the buffer becomes full; HT and BS are invalid except in n = 0 mode.
Character Sets ESC t Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Character Set ESC t 27 116 1B 74 n n n Comments: Selects the character table used by codes 128 to 255. Selecting a graphics character set does not disable italic printing. Italic printing can still be selected by ESC 4. The following values can be used for n: 0: Selects the italics character set. 1: Selects a graphics character set. 2: Selects the user-defined character table and remaps userdefined codes O-127 to 128-255.
Commands Arranged by Topic ESC 5 Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Cancel Italic Mode ESC 27 1B 5 53 35 Comments: Cancels the mode selected by ESC 4. ESC R Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select an International Character Set ESC 27 1B R 82 52 n n n Comments: Selects one of the international character sets.
User-defined Characters See Chapter 4 for sample programs and full information on this topic. ESC & Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Define User-defined Characters & 38 26 0 0 00 n1 n1 n1 n2 n2 n2 d1 d1 d1 d2 data d2 data d2 data Comments: This command allows characters to be redefined in the currently selected mode. When defining characters, DIP switch 2-5 must be set to off.
ESC % Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select User-defined Set ESC 27 1B % 37 25 n n n Comments: This sequence is used to print the user-defined (download) character set. ESC & is required to define the character set. The following values can be used for n: 0: Selects the normal set. 1: Selects the user-defined set.
Commands Arranged by Topic Graphics See Chapter 4 for sample graphics programs. See the table under ESC* for graphics modes. ESC K Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Single-density Graphics Mode ESC K 27 75 1B 4B n1 n1 n1 n2 n2 n 2 Comments: Turns on 8-pin, single-density graphics mode. The total number of columns = n1 + (n2 x 256).
ESC Z Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Select Quadruple-density Graphics Mode ESC 27 1B Z 90 5A n1 n1 n1 n2 n2 n2 Comments: Turns on 8-pin, quadruple-density graphics mode. The total number of columns = n1 + (n2 x 256). ESC* Format: ASCII code: ESC * Decimal: 27 42 Hexadecimal: 1B 2A Select Graphics Mode m m m n1 n1 n1 n 2 n2 n 2 Comments: Turns on graphics mode m. See the following table for details on the available modes. The total number of columns = n1 + (n2 x 256).
ESC ? Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: Reassign Graphics Mode ESC 27 1B ? 63 3F s s s m m m Comments: Changes from one graphics mode to another. The variable s is a character (K, L, Y or Z). The variable m corresponds to the mode m in the ESC * command.
Appendix Proportional Width Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2 Character Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- . - “ - Proportional Width Table This table lists the widths of your printer’s proportional characters. The values given are in 360ths of an inch. (For example, a value of 36 is 36/360ths of an inch.) You may need to enter these widths into a special table for your processing program so it can calculate the number of proportional characters that will fit on a line. The characters with no code indicated are international characters or graphics.
Code 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F 60 61 62 63 CHR Width Code CHR Width @ 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 24/16 30/20 36/24 36/24 42/28 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 42/28 36/24 42/28 36/24 36/24 30/20 24/16 30/20 24/16 30/20 30/20 18/12 30/20 36/24 30/20 64 65 66 67 68 69 6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7A 7B 7c 7D 7E d e 36/24 30/20 24/16 36/24 36/124 18/12 24/16 36/24 18/12 42/28
Code CHR Width 30/20 30/20 18/12 18/12 18/12 36/24 36/24 36/24 42/28 42/28 3O/20 30/20 3O/20 36/24 36/24 36/24 36/24 42/28 3O/20 30/20 36/24 42/28 30/20 30/20 18/12 30/20 36/24 36/24 36/24 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 A-4 Code B0 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 BA BB BC BD BE BF co Cl C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 CA CB CC CD CE CF DO D1 D2 CHR Width 30/20 30/20 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
Proportional Width Table Code D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 DA DB DC DD DE DF EO El E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 EA EB EC ED EE EF FO F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 CHR Width Code 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30/20 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 F8 F9 FA FB FC FD FE CHR Width 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 24/16 30/20 36/24 36/24 30/20 30/20 30/20 42/28 18/12 30/20 30/20 36/24 36/24 30/20 36/24 A-5
Character Sets The italics character set or a graphics character set is selected by DIP switch 1-7 or the ESC t software command. The graphics character sets are selected by DIP switches 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3 when DIP switch 1-7 is on. For the graphics character sets, the ESC 6 or ESC 7 software command lets you select whether to print hex codes 80 to 9F as characters (ESC 6) or control codes (ESC 7).
Graphics Character Sets PC 437 (United States&Epson Extended Graphics code 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F PC 850 (Multilingual) CODE 0 1 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F A-7
Character Sets PC 860 (Portugal) CODE 0 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A 8 C D E F PC 863 (Canada-French) CODE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F A-8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
PC 865 (Norway) CODE 0 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F A-9
Glossary Note that these definitions apply specifically to printers. If a word is italicized, see that topic for more information. application program A software program that helps you carry out a particular task, such as word processing or financial planning. ASCII Acronym for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standardized coding system for assigning numerical codes to letters and symbols.
byte A unit of information consisting of eight bits. carriage return (CR) The control code that returns the print position to the left margin. When issued together with a line feed, the print position moves to the left margin of the next line. In bidirectional printing, the print head may not physically move to the left margin. character set A collection of letters, numbers, and symbols that provides you with the characters used in a particular language. code page tables See graphics character sets.
data dump Sometimes called hex dump. A troubleshooting feature. When the printer is in the data dump mode, each code that it receives is printed in hexadecimal notation. decimal See number systems. default A value or setting that takes effect when the equipment is turned on, reset, or initialized. DIP switches Small switches in a printer that control various printer functions and set the default status of the printer when it is turned on or initialized. DIP stands for Dual In-line Package.
emphasized printing A way of producing darker characters. In a single pass of the print head, characters receive twice the number of dots. ESC (escape) code A special control code used to begin most printer commands. ESC/P Abbreviation for Epson Standard Code for Printers. The system of commands lets you perform software control of your printer from your computer. It is standard for all Epson printers and supported by most application software for personal computers.
interface The means of connection between the computer and printer. See also parallel interface and serial interface. italic A typestyle in which the characters slant. This sentence is italicized. Letter Quality One of two print qualities available on your printer. Letter Quality provides better readability and appearance at a reduced print speed. See also draft mode. line feed Both a control code and a panel button that advances the paper one line space.
number systems Three number systems are commonly used with printers: binary is base 2 and uses only the digits 0 and 1. All information in computer systems is handled in binary form represented by electrical signals that are on or off. A binary digit is often called a bit; any decimal number between 0 and 255 can be expressed by an eight-bit binary number. decimal is base 10 and uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. (This is the most familiar system.
print quality Your printer has two types of print quality; draft and Letter Quality. Draft is for high-speed, draft quality jobs; Letter Quality is used to produce more polished documents. proportional printing Printing in which the character width varies from character to character. For example, a capital W receives much more space than a lowercase i. The result looks more like a typeset book than a typewritten draft.
short tear-off A feature that automatically feeds the perforation of continuous paper to the tear-off position to be removed by the operator, and then draws the paper back to the loading position. These positions can be adjusted using the micro-adjustment feature. See also microadjustment and loading position. 10 cpi A character spacing of 10 characters per inch. This is often the standard or default pitch.
Index Command descriptions are not indexed here. To locate the page number of a specific command, see Chapter 9 or the Quick Reference card.
D F Data dump, 3-26—27 Default settings, initialization, 8-15—16 Design grids, 4-18—19 Dimensions, printer, 8-8 DIP switches settings, 3-11—14 tables, 3-12—13 Dot graphics mode, 4-7—16 Dot patterns, 4-8—9 Double-height mode, 4-3—4, 9-28 Double-strike printing, 4-4—5, 9-29 Double-width mode, 4-3—4, 9-26—27 Draft font, 3-8 printing, 9-22 Film ribbon cartridges, 2-24—25, 6-4 FONT button, 3-4, 3-6 FORM FEED button, 3-3 E Electrical specifications, 8-8 Emphasized printing, 4-4—5, 9-28 Enabled/disabled signal
L Labels, 2-25, 2-27—28, 8-4, 8-6—7 Letter Quality characters, 4-26—27 fonts, 3-10 printing, 9-22 LINE FEED button, 3-3 Line spacing, 8-2 LOAD/EJECT button, 3-3 Loading position, adjusting, 3-17—18 Locking clip, 1-4, 6-11 M Maintaining printer, 6-1—11 Mechanical specifications, 8-7—8 Micro-adjustment, 3-17—18 Multi-part forms, 2-25—27, 8-6—7 MULTI-PART light, 3-2, 3-18 O OCR-A font, 3-9 OCR-B font, 3-9 ON LINE button, 3-3 light, 3-2 Options problems and solutions, 7-10—11 specifications, 8-13—14 Orator fo
Printable area continuous paper, 8-5 envelopes, 8-6 single sheet, 8-4—5 Printable columns, 8-2 Printer assembling, 1-7—14 cleaning, 6-2—3 connecting to computer, 1-22—24 dimensions, 8-8 location for, 1-5—6 options, using, 5-1—46 parts, 1-2 specifications, 8-2—8 stand, 1-6 testing, 1-15—21 transporting, 6-10—11 unpacking, 1-2—4 weight, 8-8 Printing characters, 4-24 direction, 3-14, 8-2 enhancing, 4-2-6 problems and solutions, 7-2—6 specifications, 8-2—3 Problems, see Troubleshooting Proportional width charac
Specifications electrical, 8-8 environment, 8-8 initialization, 8-15—16 interface, 8-9—12 options, 8-13—14 printer, 8-2—8 technical, 8-1—16 Standby position, 2-17 Strike-through printing, 4-5, 9-31 Subscripts, 4-6, 4-26—27, 9-30 Superscripts, 4-6, 4-26—27, 9-29 U Underlining, 4-5, 9-31—32 Unidirectional printing, 3-12, 3-14, 8-2, 9-9—10 Unpacking printer, 1-2—4 User-defined characters, 4-17—28 W Weight, printer, 8-8 T Tear-off mode, 3-14 position, adjusting, 3-20—21 Technical specifications, 8-1—16 Testin
Control and ESCape Codes by Function The following control codes are listed briefly for quick reference. For a more detailed explanation, see the page reference in Chapter 9. Variables are not included in this quick reference due to their complexity. For those codes that contain variables, such as ESC Q n for setting the right margin, see Chapter 9.
Horizontal Motion ASCII Dec. Hex. ESC I 108 6C ESC Q 81 BS 8 36 92 51 08 24 5C 9 68 09 44 ESC $ ESC \ Description Set Left Margin Set Right Margin 9-19 9-19 9-20 Backspace Set Absolute Print Position Set Relative Print Position 9-20 Tab Horizontally 9-21 9-21 Set Horizontal Tabs 9-22 Description Select Letter Quality or Draft Select Typestyle Family Master Select Page 9-22 9-22 9-23 Hex.
Control and ESCape Codes by Function The following control codes are listed briefly for quick reference. For a more detailed explanation, see the page reference in Chapter 9. Variables are not included in this quick reference due to their complexity. For those codes that contain variables, such as ESC Q n for setting the right margin, see Chapter 9.
