Reverse Transfer ID Card Printer User Guide
Magicard Prima Re-transfer Laminating Printer • • • Thankyou for purchasing this product Please read this manual carefully before use to ensure correct operation. It is particularly important to read the Safety Precautions for safe operation. After reading, retain this manual carefully for future reference The product number is important for quality control. Upon purchase, check the back of the unit to make sure that the product number is correctly displayed.
Declaration of Conformity Model Number: IDX380yyyyy(y=A-Z,0-9 or blank) Product name: Card Printer We herewith declare that the above mentioned product complies with the following council directives and harmonized standards. Council Directives: 89/336/EEC relating to electromagnetic compatibility. 73/23/EEC relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits.
For USA only NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, used, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
Contents Before use .................................................... 7 Operation ................................................... 24 Product features .................................................... 7 Checking accessories ............................................ 7 Handling of transfer film, ink ribbons and cards .... 7 Handling ............................................................. 7 Storage ..............................................................
Notes for safe operation (to the next page) Before you use Read these notes on safety thoroughly before operating your printer in order to use the unit properly. Once you start using the unit, this manual should be put aside the unit, or at a convenient place where you can look up the manual any time as you need. WARNING CAUTION 䢇 If you ignore the warning with this mark, and handle the unit in a wrong way, death or serious injuries may occur.
Notes for safe operation 䡵Ground the machine with the attached electric cord when connecting it to the utility outlet. • Using a cord other than the one supplied for grounding may cause an electric shock when the machine fails. 䡵Do not put your head or yourself into the packaging bag. (continued) 䡵Do not use the machine while it has a fault. • Do not use the machine while it has a fault, as this may cause a fire or electric shock.
Before use Product features 䢇 This card printer allows printing of high-quality, fullcolor images equivalent to photographic quality onto standard size (ISO 7810 compliance) plastic cards using sublimation type transfer printing. 䢇 Use of sublimation type retransfer printing enables printing of cards other than those made of PVC and non-contact IC cards, etc. with uneven surfaces that were previously difficult to print directly. Some card materials may not be suitable for printing.
Before use (continued) Storing and handling cards after printing Avoid storing the cards in locations exposed to direct sunlight or with high humidity. Furthermore, avoid contact with the following chemicals and stationery, as they can cause discoloration or fading of the cards: • Organic solvents such as alcohol, film cleaner, diazo copies, etc. • Soft vinyl chlorides, document cases, pass holders, erasers, etc. • Hair-dressing products and cosmetics, etc.
Names of parts Front When the printer door is open Slide knob Control panel Printer door Card tray Power switch Retransfer film cassette (Accessory) Ink ribbon cassette (Accessory) Rear External connection terminals Power input jack BUS switch SCSI ID External connection terminals SCSI cable connection terminals 9
Set-up Connecting with a host computer This section describes the settings for connection with a host computer. CAUTION Make sure that the power switch is switched to OFF when connecting with a host computer or making settings. 2. Set the SCSI ID. Set the SCSI ID switch on the rear of the unit according to the usage environment (ID 0 – 7). (The factory setting is ID 0.) A screwdriver or similar tools is required for changing the switch settings. 1. Set the BUS switches.
(to the next page) Connecting the IC unit (sold separately) Large and compact size IC units are sold separately, as are specialized optional devices for the unit. Consult your dealer for more details. 3. Connect the printer and IC unit. Connect the cable which comes with the IC unit to the OPTION 1 terminal. WARNING Electric shock 䢇Make sure that the power switch is turned OFF and the AC cable is detatched from the plug, before connecting and disconnecting the IC units.
Set-up (continued) Compact IC unit (sold separately) Please ask your dealer for the Compact IC unit connection. Connecting the power cord 1. Check the plug. 1. Connect the compact IC unit to the host computer. Connect interface cables which are commercially available. 䢇Dark gray For AC 120V type (North America) 䢇For AC220-240V type (Europe) 2. Plug the power cable into the printer. Interface cable (Commercial item) CAUTION Always use a grounded power outlet.
(to the next page) Discharging the card Installing the card stacker When correctly printed, the cards are discharged from the left side. If a card jam or a write error on magnetic stripes occurs on the way, results differ depending on the areas. 1. Mount the card stacker on the printer. Hang the stacker claw on the stacker receptacle. Portion A: If a card jam or a write error on magnetic stripes occurs on the way, press the RESET button, then the ENTER button.
Set-up (continued) Setting the ink ribbon 3. Insert the ink ribbon into the cassette. CAUTION Do not touch the surface of the ribbon with your hands. 1. Activate the slide knob and open the printer Stretch the ink ribbon along three shafts with the ink face of the ribbon facing outside and insert the bobbins firmly into the bobbin holders. door. When the slide knob is moved, the printer door opens downwards. Hold the door with your hand and open it slowly.
(to the next page) 5. Insert the cassette along the guide rail. Insert the cassette until it clicks securely into position. The lever returns to its original position. Memo When the ink ribbon is wound up to the end, Ink Run Out Guide rail appears on the LCD panel. After replacement press the RESET button, then press the ENTER button. If the ink ribbon is not set properly, Ink Search or Ink Broken CAUTION • The cassette containing the ink ribbon is heavy.
Set-up (continued) Setting the retransfer film 3. Insert the retransfer film into the cassette. CAUTION Do not touch the retransfer film surface with your hands. 1. Activate the slide knob and open the printer door. When the slide knob is moved, the door opens downwards. Hold the door with your hand and open it slowly. Stretch the retransfer film along three shafts with the retransfer face of the film facing outside and insert the bobbins into the bobbin holders firmly.
(to the next page) 4. Wind the retransfer film to take up the slack. 6. Setting the number of frames to be used. Turn the knob in the arrow direction to wind a small portion of the retransfer film. If the film does not wind up, go back to step 3, and insert the bobbins firmly into the bobbin holders. The number of frames of the retransfer film being used is set. For details, refer to the “Media Type” setting on page 31. This work must be done when the used film (number of frames) is changed.
Set-up (continued) Caution when loading the retransfer film cassette and/or the ink ribbon cassette This describes the caution when the retransfer film casstte and/or the ink ribbon. Casstte is removed because of card jam or other trouble. Please pay enough attention so that the retransfer film and/or ink ribbon is maintained at the right position. Particulary, the ink ribbon is extremely thin, therefore it apt to slip down when the cassette is removed as shown in the illustration.
(to the next page) Inserting cards 3. Close the card tray. The unit can take about 300 0.76mm-thick cards. Push the card tray back into the printer until it no longer moves. CAUTION When removing new cards from the box, it is possible that cards may be stuck due to static electricity. In this case, peel the cards off one at a time before setting into position. Hold the edges of the card when carrying out these operations. 1. Pull the card bracket back. The card bracket locks when it reaches the hole.
Set-up (continued) When using magnetic cards When using cards with magnetic strips, set the cards in the following manner. For JIS II cards: Loading cards Load cards when the printer’s LCD shows the message “Ready” or “No Card,” etc. and not when printer operations have stopped due to an error. Cards can also be loaded when the power supply is not switched on. If there is a drop in the volume of remaining cards (under 20 cards with a thickness of 0.76mm), the electronic beep sounds before every feeding.
Switching the card thickness 3. Remove the card thickness switching plate and Depending on the material, some 0.25mm thick cards may not be suitable for printing. Consult your dealer regarding the materials and specifications of the card before purchasing. invert the direction. 5 0.2 0.7 6 WARNING 䢇 Before switching the thickness, turn off the printer and the devices connecting to the printer, and take off their power plugs from the outlet to prevent an electric shock.
Before use Names of parts on the operation panel LCD panel READY Operation display LED READY LED (green) ON : unit ready, printer in operation Flashing : receiving image data OFF : unit stopped due to error, or unit being set, initialized or preheated. RESET MENU ERROR EXIT Buzzar ENTER READY LED (red) ON : operation error OFF : normal status If an error occurs while the buzzer is set to ON, an alarm will sound. If this happens, the LCD background color will change to red.
(to the next page) Operation display LED contents and the LCD panel Printer status READY ERROR LCD panel Mechanism set period Initializing.. Preheat period Preheating.. Ready period Ready Printer operation period When an error occurs *Depends on the error content Depends on the user mode content Error occur User mode or : LED on LCD operation display content Boot Up.. OS booting up (this may not be displayed.) Ve r. x x x / x x / x x * Firmware version Shows firmware version number.
Operation Turning on the power 1. Before turning on the power, check the following: Make sure that the printer door is completely closed. Make sure that the card tray is completely closed. Make sure that the host computer is correctly connected. Make sure that any peripheral equipment is correctly connected. Make sure that the power supply outlet is correctly connected. Only switch the unit on after checking the above points.
Be sure NOT to do any of the following during printing operations: Do not open the printer door. Do not open the card tray. (while the LCD panel displays ‘Loading’) Do not turn off the power supply. Do not unplug the unit. Do not pull out the connection cable. Failure to observe the above points will cause printing to be aborted and may result in a malfunction of the unit.
Operation (continued) User modes The settings for printing media, card, etc. can be made in the User mode. Press the MENU button when the unit is in the Ready, Preheat or Error status to suspend printing operations. MENU User mode screen flow MENU Press User Mode , and appears on the LCD. After 0.5 seconds, the display will switch to the following items. MENU > Tr a n s p o r t m o d e MENU >Display> See p. 28 See p. 34 >Counter Reset See p.
(to the next page) User mode settings Main menu Submenu >>Counter >Display> Factory setting 3 counter type settings: [Total, Head, Free] Total To t a l Display mode >>Contrast -2 See p. 28 LCD contrast setting: 7 gradations from –3 to +3, the higher the value the stronger the contrast. LCD background color setting: 8 options >>Back Color SKY BLUE BLUE OK? Counter reset mode For free counter resetting: press the ENTER button.
Operation (continued) Display mode settings CAUTION The beep sounds when pressing the Enter button to save the settings in the user setting mode. The beep will not sound if the buzzer mode setting (see p.32) is set to off. The unit has the following three settings for the display mode. Allows selection of which counter value is displayed when the power is turned on.
(to the next page) Clearing the free counter Reset the free counter. The [Total] counter and [Head] counter cannot be reset. EXIT >Counter Reset OK? Exit user mode. Cleaning mode The printer is provided with an operation mode for cleaning the magnetic head and card feed roller to keep the printer in the best condition. See p.38 and p.39 for executing the cleaning mode. >Cleaning> Press ENTER to reset. (The electronic beep sounds .
Operation (continued) Ink mode setting Change settings according to the ink ribbon used. EXIT >Ink> Exit user mode ENTER Set ink ribbon Set ink type (YMCK:0, YMCK+HS:1) > > I n k Ty p e YMCK:0 EXIT MENU Press Yellow (Y), Magenta (M), Cyan (C) and Black (B) are provided as the standard ink ribbons. Change the setting to YMCK+HS when using a special panel ink ribbon (not yet available). to select the setting and press ENTER to save. (The electronic beep sounds .
(to the next page) Retransfer mode setting Change settings according to the retranfer film and card used. EXIT >Retransfer> Exit user mode ENTER Set retransfer film Set film type Two types of frame settings (1000 frames per film, 250 frames per film) > > M e d i a Ty p e Std(1000/roll):0 EXIT MENU Press > > Te m p . L e v e l to select the ENTER setting and to save. press (The electronic beep sounds .) Set the retransfer temperature.
Operation (continued) Buzzer mode setting The buzzer indicating errors can be turned on or off. EXIT >Buzzer On Exit user mode Set the buzzer: there are two settings Power saving mode settings The printer enters into the power save mode after a specified period of time if none of operation buttons are touched in the Ready state. The heat roller for retransfer, bend remedial roller, and LCD backpanel are turned off in the power save mode.
(to the next page) Setting the bend remedy mode Single-sided printing may cause a bend depending on the cards. Adjust the setting to get rid of the bend. >Bend Remedy> EXIT Exit user mode CAUTION When printing on both sides is done with “Remedy roller temperature setting” set to a high temperature, the cards may show a large deformation. Please set this item to OFF for printing on both sides.
Operation (continued) Card size setting mode The printer is designed to load two sizes of cards. Set the card size according to the card to be printed. EXIT >Card Size Exit user mode Stanard When using IC cards, specify the contact position to stop the cards. (The electronic beep sounds.) Standard: 54.0mm × 85.6mm (complies with ISO7810) Cybernetic: 57.5mm × 85.0mm Antimagnetic setting mode ENTER to select the setting and press to save. Press (The electronic beep sounds.
Care and cleaning Always make sure that the unit is turned off before cleaning. (However, cleaning of the discharge rollers and magnetic head should be carried out with the power turned on.) To achieve the best performance from the printer, always check each part before use for dust and dirt and clean if necessary. The following explains the main rollers that require cleaning. For details about other rollers, see p.40 (Internal roller layout).
Cleaning (continued) Cleaning the thermal head Cleaning the fan filter When the thermal head gets dirty, defects such as unwanted lines appearing on the printed card may occur. It is recommended to clean the thermal head after printing about 10,000 frames. The thermal head is a consumable component, that is, it has a limited service life. When the fan filter gets dirty, partial omissions may occur on the printed cards, or the printing result looks dirty.
(to the next page) 4. Remove dirt on the fan filter using a vacuum cleaner or other cleaning equipment. Hold the sponge with your hand so that it is not sucked into the cleaner. Cleaning the fan filter on the back side When the fan filter on the back side gets dirty, partial omissions on the printed cards may occur, or the printing result looks dirty. If you find the dust on the fan filter, you should clean the fan filter as follows. 1.
Cleaning the card feed rollers Dirty rollers are the major cause of jamming of the cards. It is recommended to clean the rollers once after printing about 1,000 cards. It is also recommended to carry out cleaning before the work, because the retransfer roller (heat roller) does not operate while it is hot. 5. Set a cleaning card. Peel off the protective paper from both sides of the cleaning card and insert it into the card discharge slot.
Cleaning the card feed rollers and heat rollers Dirty magnetic head will cause a write/read error. It is recommended to clean the magnetic head after printing about 1,000 cards. Cleaning the magnetic head is not necessary if the magnetic stripe card is not used. 1. Keep the ink ribbon and retransfer film 5. Set the card on the card tray. Place the card in right direction. See p.20. 6. Press the ENTER button, select “MG Head” with the ↑ or ↓ button, and press the ENTER button.
Troubleshooting Layout of rollers inside the printer Below is a diagram of the layout of rollers inside the printer. Refer to this diagram in the event of card jams and when cleaning the rollers. Retransfer film cassette Ink ribbon cassette Thermal head Magnetic head Card turnover table Card feed rollers Card jams (card turnover unit) (see p.45) J a m ( Tu r n O v e r ) Card jams (card turnover unit) (see p.
The meaning of “reset → enter buttons” in the list is, after pressing the Reset button, press the Enter button to initialize the unit. Error code listing Error code Please, Power Off. Please Remove Media Cassette HR is too hot. Jam (Hopper) J a m ( Tu r n O v e r ) Jam (MG) J a m ( Tr a n s f e r ) Jam (Discharge) Media Broken Description of error Remedy The power must be turned off so that the unit can be initialized. Turn the power off and then on again.
Troubleshooting (continued) Should your printer require servicing, turn it off and unplug it and make inquiries at the outlet where it was purchased. Error code Description of error Remedy Hardware error Turn the power off and then on again. Call for service if the problem persists. MG encode error Check the direction of the magnetic cards. Press the “reset → enter buttons” and call for service if the problem persists.
(to the next page) Error code Description of error Remedy E X T. S W S e t t i n g External device switch setting error Turn the power off and then on again. Call for service if the problem persists. E X T. J a m External retransfer unit jam error Press the “reset → enter buttons” and remove cards if they are not discharged. Press the “reset → enter buttons” and call for service if the problem persists. E X T.
Troubleshooting (continued) Removing card jams To determine the part of the machine affected by a card jam refer to the error code on the operation panel LCD on the printer and the relevant page in this manual. When removing a jammed card, make sure that the power switch is set off before carrying out the following procedure. If you cannot hold the jammed card: Pull out a small portion of the cleaning unit. Hopper jam 1. Pull out the card tray.
Turnover section [Jam (turnover)] 1. Open the printer door and remove the ink ribbon cassette. Retransfer section [Jam (transfer)] 1. Open the printer door and remove the retransfer film cassette. See p.16 in this manual. See p.14 in this manual. 2. Remove any jammed cards. • If you can pull out the jammed cards, take them out. 2. A jog lever are supplied as standard. The jog lever are attached to the center of the card tray.
Specifications Main specifications Recording method : Sublimation type retransfer Feed format : Automatic feed Recording density : 300 dpi Expression gradation : 256 gradations for each color Printing time : Approx.
External appearance and dimensions 343 381 347 Front view Side view unit/mm 47
Ultra Electronics Card Systems Waverley House, Hampshire Road Granby Estate, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 9XD, UK tel: +44 (0) 1305 784 738 • fax: +44 (0) 1305 777 904 email: UKsales@UltraMagicard.com Ultra Electronics Card Systems 6711 - 176th Avenue NE, Redmond, WA98052, USA Tel: (425) 556 9718 • Fax: (425) 556 3962 email: USsales@UltraMagicard.com www.ultramagicard.
