User's Manual P420 Part Number No. 980292-001 Zebra Technologies Corporation Rev.
FOREWORD This manual contains installation and operation information for the Eltron P420 Series card printers manufactured by Zebra Technologies Corporation. RETURN MATERIALS AUTHORIZATION Before returning any equipment to Zebra Technologies Corporation for in-warranty or out-ofwarranty repair, contact Repair Administration for a Return Materials Authorization (RMA) number. Repack the equipment in the original packing material and mark the RMA number clearly on the outside.
WARRANTY INFORMATION WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU! To establish your warranty period and provide access to technical support, send us your warranty registration card today! Zebra warrants the mechanism, control electronics and power supply, under normal use and service, to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of twelve (12) months from the date of purchase by the end user.
INTRODUCTION Thank you for choosing the Eltron P420 Plastic Card Printer. These printers produce cards ideal for personalised identification, access control, visitor, membership, promotion and luggage card, badges and tags. This manual guides you to efficient start up and operation of your new Card Printer. P420 PRINTER MODELS The Eltron Product Number tells a story: Here is a quick review of the Eltron Card Printer Series numbering and lettering system to help you.
ICONS Throughout this manual, different icons highlight important information, as follows: Important general information Mechanical hazard, such as one associated with moving parts, capable of resulting in equipment damage or personal injury. Electrical hazard, such as an exposed voltage point, capable of causing electrical shock and personal injury. An area where electrostatic discharge (ESD) can cause component damage. Use a grounding wrist band.
Table of Contents ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 1 2 GETTING STARTED ........................................................... 1.1 Unpacking your card printer ............................................... 1.2 Indicators and controls ....................................................... 1.3 Printer installation .............................................................. 1 1 3 4 OPERATION ...................................................................... 2.
APPENDIX A - MAGNETIC CARD STRIPE ENCODER ......... Introduction .................................................................. A- Media Loading Orientation ............................................... B- Magnetic Encoder Cleaning .............................................. 39 39 40 41 APPENDIX B - SMART CARD CONTACT STATION .............. Introduction .................................................................. A- Media Loading Orientation ...............................................
GETTING STARTED ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 1.1 Unpacking your card printer Your P420 printer ships in a carton and protective anti-static bag. Keep all packing material in case you need to move or re-ship the printer. While unpacking, inspect the carton to ensure that no damage occured during shipping. Please ensure that you have a clean and nearly dust free environment for proper operation and storage of the printer.
In addition to user documentation, make sure the following items are included with your P420 printer: CLEANING KIT CARD OUTPUT HOPPER POWER CABLE CLEANING CARTRIDGE PRINTER DRIVER DISK (floppy or/and CD) If any items are missing, please contact your dealer. To reorder, please refer to Appendix C of this manual.
1.2 Indicators and Controls Your P420 printer has an LCD Display, two LED's and two Panel Buttons. LCD Display Power LED Clear Button [Select] Alert LED Menu Button [Next] LCD Display : The 16 character LCD Display is used for : Showing the printer's current status Providing operator and service messages (Chapter 5) LED's : The two LED's are used for : Green: Power LED Amber: Alert LED (with beeper) This Alert LED is on when an error condition exists.
1.3 Printer Installation The following will guide you through the installation of your P420 printer. CAUTION : Limit AC power supplied to the P420 Printer to 110 - 230 V AC, 60 - 50 Hz for an associated 680 mA - 310 mA. Limit excess current draw to 16 amps or less, using an associated circuit breaker or other such device. Never operate the printer in a location where operator, computer, or printer can get wet. Personal injury could result.
OPERATION ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 2.1 Printer Features The following shows the features found on your P420 Printer: 9 1 8 2 7 3 5 A 6 4 B STANDARD FEATURES 1. Print Head 2. Print Head Unlock lever 3. Manual Holder 4. Card Output Hopper 5. Card Cleaning Cartridge 6. Rejected Card Box 7. LCD Display & 2 Panel Buttons 8. Card Feeder + cover 9. Card Thickness Control Lever OPTIONAL FEATURES A. Magnetic Encoder Station B.
2.2 Loading Ribbons The P420 Printer requires approved ribbons (See Appendix C). The Resin Thermal Transfer and Dye Sublimation ribbons are specifically designed for your P420 Printer. For optimum performance and printer life (Print Head), always use approved ribbons. DO NOT TOUCH the print head or the electronic components on the print head carriage. Discharges of electrostatic charge from the human body or other surfaces can damage the print head or other electronic components used in this device. 1.
SUPPLY SPINDLE 3. Load ribbon onto the supply spindle (under print head carriage) and empty core (with tape attached) onto the takeup spindle. Make sure the ribbon comes off the top of the supply spindle and feeds to the top of the take-up spindle. TAKE UP SPINDLE `CLICK' 4. Push down on the Print Head Lock Lever until an audible 'click' signals the locked-down position. 5. Close Cover. Please note that the ribbon automatically synchronises whenever the print head lock down occurs.
2.3 Loading Cards To help you load, print, and collect cards, the P420 has the following items: A - CARD FEEDER This item is used for loading cards. 1. Open Card Feeder Cover by putting your fingers on both sides and rotating the cover in a clockwise direction to the open position. 2. Install cards into Feeder* as shown. 3. Close Card Feeder Cover.
DO NOT bend cards or touch print surfaces as this can reduce print quality. The surface of the cards must remain clean and dust free. Always store cards in an enclosed container. Ideally, use cards as soon as possible. If cards stick together, carefully shuffle them. * See Chapter 6, Technical Specifications, for card requirements and capacities.
B - INSTALL CARD CLEANING CARTRIDGE This item is used to clean the cards entering the printer. 1. Remove Card Cleaning Cartridge from packaging. 2. Open Printer cover and remove the yellow reminder tape from the location for the Cleaning Cartridge. 3. Make sure the arrow on top of the assembly is facing toward the rear of the printer. Hook assembly into slot on printer and rotate down. Ensure the assembly locks in place.
C- CARD THICKNESS CONTROL LEVER This item is operated by the user to prevent more than one card feeding into the printer at the same time and causing a jam. Open Cover, and adjust lever to the correct position for the card thickness you are using. Repeat for different card thickness. (Factory setting is for 30mil (0.762 mm) card thickness). See diagram below : Card thickness: A - 60mil (1.524mm) to 50mil (1.27mm) B - 40mil (1.016mm) C - 30mil (0.762mm) D - 20mil (0.508mm) E* - Less than 20mil (0.
2.4 Rejected Card Box The P420 Printer is equipped with a Rejected Card Box. When an encoding can not be completed, the card is ejected into the Rejected card box. The P420 Printer counts the number of cards which go into the Rejected Card Box. After 20 cards the printer stops, the Amber LED Flashes and a LCD Message is displayed indicating the need to empty the reject box. REJECT BOX FULL WHEN TO MAINTAIN When LCD screen reports message HOW TO MAINTAIN 1.
3. Swing up the Rejected Card Box Door and press the top. An audible "click" signals the locked position. 4. Press the Clear Button on the front panel to re-start the current printer job and to clear the rejected cards counter.
2.5 Feeding one card at a time A Manual Feed Slot is available on the side of the Card Feeder cover for feeding single cards. Cleaning Cards are fed manually through this slot. The Feeder must be empty for manual card feeding to work properly. For one-at-a-time printing, feed cards through slot on side of Feeder. Do not feed more than one card at a time.
2.6 Printing a Test Card With ribbon and cards loaded, your P420 printer is ready to print. To check the operation of the printer you should print a test card. 1. Press the Menu Button until the LCD screen shows "SELF TEST" 2. Then press the Select Button once. 3. A test card will print after a few seconds. LCD display will show printing status. Test Card is printed on both sides of the card. This is an example of the test card.
2.7 Printer Menu Information The printer is equipped with a LCD Display and two key buttons which gives access to printer menus. When the Menu button to enter the Menu Mode. Menu Button [NEXT] Clear Button [SELECT] The top line display shows menu information. The second line of display clarifies the function of the two [NEXT] and [SELECT] key buttons relative to the current menu item.
READY Next Next PRINTER Select INFO Printer Model Number Printer Firmware Version Next Number of impressions Reject Box Status To show the number of cards remaining in the reject box CLEANING MENU Select Select Next GO TO MAIN MENU Next CLEAN PRINT HEAD To clean the Thermal Print Head and card transport system CLEAN MAG.
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PRINTING A SAMPLE CARD ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Printing with the P420 Printer requires the Windows Printer Driver, your card design/issuing software or printer command level programming through the printer interface. The P420 Card Printer can be used with any Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0 software application program, using the drivers provided with the printer.
A. To install the P420 Printer Driver in Windows 95/ 98, use the following steps: IMPORTANT NOTE - ENSURE THAT YOUR PC PRINTER PORT IS SET TO STANDARD MODE AND ALSO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE DELETED ANY PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF THIS PRINTER DRIVER. IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS PLEASE CONTACT YOUR IT DEPARTMENT. This installation uses floppy drive 'A' or from CD Rom as the installation drive with the printer used as stand alone. ° Start your computer and then Windows.
B. To install the P420 Printer Driver in Windows NT4.0: ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE PRIVILEGES TO PERFORM THIS INSTALLATION OR CONTACT YOUR IT DEPARTMENT. Set printer as Not Shared for stand alone use. Use the steps provided for Windows 95/98 installation with the exception of step 6. where you must type in 'A:\nt40' instead and click OK. Once the printer driver has been successfully installed, you will need to configure it for your printer.
D. Printing a sample card: Follow the steps to print your first card ° Go to the Microsoft Word Software. ° If the printer was not selected as the default printer, go to the File menu and Select Printer and choose Eltron P420 Card Printer in the printer names list. Then Close the print dialog box. ° Come back to File menu and choose Page Setup. ° Select Paper Size tab and in Paper Size choose Card. Then select the orientation: "landscape".
CLEANING ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ PROTECT YOUR WARRANTY ! FACTORY The recommended maintenance procedures must be performed to maintain your factory warranty. Other than the recommended cleaning procedures described in this manual, allow only Zebra authorised technicians to service the P420 Printer. NEVER loosen, tighten, adjust, or bend, etc. a part or cable inside the printer. NEVER use a high pressure air compressor to remove particles in the printer.
4.1 Cleaning System Your P420 Printer includes a simple cleaning system using the Pre-Saturated Cleaning Cards provided. The regular use of these cards will clean and maintain important parts of your printer: including the Print Head, and Transport Rollers. CLEAN PRINTER WHEN TO CLEAN When LCD screen reports message. HOW TO CLEAN 1. Leave power on. Open Cover and release Print Head Bracket to remove ribbon. Close Print Head bracket. Close Cover. Remove cards from Card Feeder. 2.
4.2 Cleaning the Print Head A cleaning using the Cleaning System with cards usually suffices. However, a separate Print Head cleaning using swabs can remove more stubborn deposits when print anomalies persist. To avoid deposits, only use foam-tipped swabs. 1. Raise Print Head and remove the Ribbon. 2. Clean Print Head by moving alcoholmoistened swab tip side-to-side across Print Head elements. Only use moderate force. (To reorder swabs see Appendix C).
4.3 Card Cleaning Cartridge Your P420 Printer also has a Card Cleaning Cartridge. This item cleans the cards entering the printer. To ensure print quality, the cleaning roller requires periodic replacements. CLEAN PRINTER WHEN TO MAINTAIN When LCD screen reports message. Run a printer cleaning first . (see 4.1 Cleaning System for more instructions.) HOW TO MAINTAIN 1. Open Cover and locate Cleaning Cartridge. 2. Gently remove Cleaning Cartridge by rotating up and away from printer.
3. Remove Cleaning Roller from Cartridge and discard. 4.Install new Cleaning Roller into Cartridge*. To avoid contamination, always hold the Cleaning Roller assembly by the ends. SLOT 5. Carefully peel off wrapper from new Cleaning Roller while in Cartridge. 6. Replace Cartridge into printer. Make sure the arrow on top of the assembly is facing toward the rear of the printer. Hook assembly into slot on printer and rotate down. Ensure the assembly locks in place.
TROUBLESHOOTING ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ This section offers solutions to potential problems you may experience with your P420 printer. The table below lists the screen messages that will be displayed on the printer's LCD, both during normal operation and to alert operator of any error conditions. There is also some additional information dealing with quality issues concerning printing onto cards. 5.
SCREEN MESSAGE PRINTING BLACK MEANING A monochrome panel is being printed PRINTING VARNISH The overlay is printing PRINT HOLOGRAM A hologram overlay is printing CLEAN PRINTER CLEAN MAG HEAD CLEANING REMOVE RIBBON OUT OF RIBBON MECHANICAL ERROR OUT OF CARD ROTATION ERROR COVER OPEN HEAD OPEN COMMAND ERROR PARAMETERS ERROR 30 ACTION The printer is prompting operator maintenance The printer is prompting operator Carry out the cleaning procedure as detailed in section 4 of this manual Carry out th
SCREEN MESSAGE ENCODING ERROR READING ERROR REJECT BOX FULL MAGNETIC ERROR FLASH ERROR MEANING ACTION Data cannot be written or read from the card's magnetic stripe Check that the cards are loaded with the magnetic stripe in the correct orientation. Check whether high or low coercivity cards have been specified. Check that the data conforms to ISO specifications. See Appendix A of this manual for further information.
5.2 Print Quality Issues This section will help you resolve print quality problems. The print quality is dependent on several factors. The two most important factors that will increase your print quality are cleanliness and card stock. To diagnose and fix print quality problems, follow the troubleshooting procedure below: •Small spots appear on the printed card with a non-printed area or a different color. Possible Cause A.Contamination on the card surface. B.
•Printing shows very pale or inconsistent results. Possible Cause A.Ribbon may have been stored improperly or is damaged. B.Cards may not meet specifications. C.Contrast and/or Intensity may be set to values which are too high. D.Dust or embedded contamination on elements of the Print Head. ⇒ Solution A1.Change ribbon and print again. B1.Use a different supply of cards. C1.Adjust Contrast and/or Intensity values in software D1.Perform a cleaning of the Print Head (see 4.2 Cleaning the Print Head.
•No printing on the card. Possible Cause A.Ribbon may not be installed in the printer B.Cards may not meet specifications. C.Cable on Print Head may be disconnected. D.Print Head elements may be scratched or burnt. ⇒ Solution A1.Check for ribbon in the printer. B1.Use a different supply of cards. C1.Power off the printer and check the Print Head cable connections. D1.Call Service for Print Head replacement information.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ General High speed printing, over 102 cards/hour edge to edge in full color (YMCKOK) throughput Small footprint Windows Drivers for 95/98 and NT 4.0 (option) One year printer warranty One year print head warranty Colour Printing Color dye sublimation or monochrome thermal transfer printing 35 seconds per card 2 sides (YMCKOK) throughput 300 dpi (11.
CARD DIMENSIONS ISO STANDARD DIMENSIONS FOR PLAIN CARD ISO STANDARD DIMENSIONS FOR MAGNETIC STRIPE CARD CHIP POSITION FOR SMART CARD 36 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Ribbons* Overlay Varnish Monochrome: 1500 cards/roll Monochrome colors: black, red, blue, green, yellow, silver, gold, white. K-resin + O: 800 cards/roll K-dye + O: 800 cards/roll YMCKO: 350 cards/roll YMCKOK: 250 cards/roll Thermal transfer 4 microns thick Clear and holographic options: - Clear - Genuine/Secure Hologram - Custom Hologram Interfaces Centronics Parallel Standard RS-232C Serial (Optional) USB port (Optional) Mechanical Width: 20.9" (523 mm) Depth: 10.
Options Centronics Cable RS-232C serial port USB port Smart Card Contact Station (0.76mm cards only) Magnetic Encoder (0.76mm cards only) Cleaning supplies Service Manual *Use only Zebra-approved card and ribbon media. Using non-approved card or ribbon media can void your warranty. Refer to the Accessories section for more information about Card and Ribbon Media available from Zebra Technologies Corp.
APPENDIX A ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Magnetic Card Stripe Encoder This section contains information on the additional operations of the P420 Printers with Magnetic Card Stripe Encoder. (See Chapter 2 for location.) INTRODUCTION Operation and maintenance requirements for the P420 Printer with the optional magnetic card stripe encoder. (See Chapter 2 for location). The magnetic encoder can be set for either high or low coercivity.
A. MEDIA LOADING ORIENTATION The magnetic encoder is a factory installed item with the read/write head positioned below the card path, available with HICO encoding (P420 CM1 or P420 CEM1) or LOCO encoding (P420 CM2 or P420 CEM2). STRIPE DOWN When loading cards into the Card Cartridge, please ensure that the magnetic stripe is facing down and closest to the rear.
B. MAGNETIC ENCODER CLEANING There exists two different processes to clean the Magnetic Stripe Encoder. The first process consists of a standard cleaning of the printer. This cleans the most important parts of the printer; including the Print head, Transport Roller and Magnetic Stripe Encoder (refer to chapter 4 "Cleaning" for more instructions). The second process consists of a cleaning of the Magnetic Encoder using the Menu Button from the LCD Display.
APPENDIX B ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Smart Card Contact Station This section contains information on the additional operations of the P420 Printers with Smart Card Contact Stations. (See Chapter 2 for location.) INTRODUCTION Smart Cards can have a built-in microcomputer and a battery. Card Memory can store fingerprints, voice recognition patterns, medical records and other such data.
A. MEDIA LOADING ORIENTATION Position the cards with the Smart Card Chip at the top of the card and towards the printer. B. SMART CARD CONTACT STATION INTERFACE When a command to the parallel printer interface sends a card to the Smart Card Contact Station, the printer connects the Smart Card Contact Station to the female DB-9 connector on the rear of the printer. An attached external Smart Card Programmer can be used to program Smart Card chips.
APPENDIX C ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Accessories & supplies Please contact your Eltron authorised dealer to place an order for accessories and supplies RIBBONS The following ribbons may be used in the P420 Printer: Monochrome Resin Ribbons (Sold by the Roll) Part Number Description 800015-101 800015-102 800015-103 800015-104 800015-106 800015-107 800015-109 800015-185 Black Red Green Blue Gold Silver White Scratch-Off Gary 1000 images 1000 images 1000 images 1000 i
CARDS The following plain white plastic cards are available for use in the P420 printers: Blank White Cards (sold by the box) Part Number Description Premier Grade PVC 104523-114 104523-110 104523-111 104523-112 104523-113 104524-101 104524-102 104524-103 Card, Card, Card, Card, Card, 10 mil 10 mil 30 mil 30 mil 30 mil adhesive back -low coercivity Mag. Stripe -High coercivity Mag.
ACCESSORIES Accessories available for P420 Printers appear below. Always refer to the part number when placing an order.
World Wide Sales and Support: Zebra Technologies Corporation Eltron Card Printer Products 1001 Flynn Road Camarillo, CA. 93012-8706.USA Phone:+1 (805) 579 1800 Fax.:+1 (805) 579 1808 Toll Free in US: (800) 452-4056 e-mail:cards@eltron.com Zebra Technologies Corporation Eltron Card Printer Products, (Europe, Middle East, Africa) The Valley Centre, Gordon Road, High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP13 6EQ, England Phone: +44 (0) 870 241 1527 Fax.: +44 (0) 870 241 0765 e-mail:eurosales@eltron.
