User's Manual P310C & P310F User's Manual No. 980261-001 1999 Zebra Technologies Corporation Rev.
FOREWORD This manual contains installation and operation information for the P310 Series card printers manufactured by Zebra Technologies Corporation, Camarillo, California. 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 Product 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 P310 Plastic Card Printer. These printers produce cards ideal for personalized identification, access control, visitor, membership, promotion and luggage card, badges and tags. This manual guides you to an efficient start up and operation of your new Card Printer. P310 PRINTER MODELS Eltron's Product Numbers tell the story: Here is a quick review of Eltron's 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 ICONS ............................................................................... vi GETTING STARTED ............................................................ UNPACKING YOUR CARD PRINTER ................................... INDICATORS AND CONTROLS ........................................... PRINTER INSTALLATION ..................................................... 1 1 3 4 OPERATION ............................................................ P310 PRINTER FEATURES ..................
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GETTING STARTED UNPACKING YOUR CARD PRINTER Your P310 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 occurred during shipping. Please ensure that you have a clean and nearly dust free environment for proper operation and storage of the printer. 980261-001 Rev.
In addition to user documentation, make sure the following items are included with your P310 printer: CARD CARTRIDGE CARD OUTPUT HOPPER CLEANING KIT POWER CABLE INTERFACE CABLE PRINTER DRIVER DISK (Floppy or/and CD Rom for P310C only) + OPERATOR HELP GUIDE (Not Shown) CARD CLEANING CARTRIDGE If any items are missing, please contact your dealer. To reorder, please refer to Appendix C of this manual. 2 980261-001 Rev.
INDICATORS AND CONTROLS Your P310 Printer has three Status indicators and a panel button on the front and a power switch on the rear: PANEL BUTTON INDICATORS INDICATORS (green, amber & red) signal printer activity by illuminating or flashing, as follows: INDICATOR ON FLASHING POWER ON PROCESSING LOAD CARDS REPLACE RIBBON PRINTER ALERT ENCODER ALERT REFER TO TROUBLESHOOTING REFER TO TROUBLESHOOTING OTHER ALERTS AMBER & RED FLASHING ALL FLASHING PANEL BUTTON PRINTER CLEANING PROCESS REQUIRED
PRINTER INSTALLATION The following will guide you through the installation of your P310 Printer. CAUTION: Limit AC power supplied to the P310 to 110 ~ 230 volts, 60 ~ 50 Hertz, for an associated 680 ~ 280 milliamps. 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 P310 PRINTER FEATURES The following shows the features found on your P310 Printer. PLEASE NOTE: Any blue items inside the printer can be operated by the user. STANDARD FEATURES 1. Print Head 2. Print Head Unlock Lever 3. Manuel Holder 4. Card Output Hopper 980261-001 Rev. B OPTIONAL FEATURES A. Magnetic Encoding Station B. Smart Card Contact Station 5. Status Indicators 6. Panel Button 7. Card Cleaning Cartridge 8. Card Cartridge 9.
LOADING RIBBONS The P310 Printer requires approved ribbons (See Appendix C). The Resin Thermal Transfer and Dye Sublimation ribbons for P310C only and monochrome ribbons for P310F only are specifically designed for your P310 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.
SUPPLY SPINDLE 3. Load ribbon onto the supply spindle (under print head carriage) and empty core (with tape attached) onto the take-up spindle. Make sure the ribbon comes off of 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.
LOADING CARDS To help you load, print, and collect cards, the P310 has with the following items: A - CARD CARTRIDGE For loading cards. 1. Install Card Cartridge by hooking onto printer as shown and clicking down. 'CLICK' 2. Install cards into Cartridge.* 3. Close Cartridge. 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.
B - INSTALL CARD CLEANING CARTRIDGE This item is used to clean the cards entering the printer. 1. Remove Card Cleaning Cartridge from packaging. Peel protective wrapper from adhesive roller. 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. 980261-001 Rev.
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 correct position. Repeat for different card thickness. (Factory setting is for 30mil (0.762mm) 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.
FEEDING ONE CARD AT A TIME A Manual Feed Slot is available on the size of the Card Input Hopper for feeding single cards. Cleaning Cards are fed manually through this slot. The Card Cartridge must be empty for manual card feeding to work properly. For one-at-a-time printing, feed cards through slots on side of Hopper. Do not feed more than one card at a time. REMOVING CARD CARTRIDGE Remove the Card Cartridge prior to packaging the printer for shipment. To remove, pull hook back, and lift hopper out.
PRINTING A TEST CARD With ribbon and cards loaded, your P310 printer is ready to print. To check the operation of the printer you should print a test card. 1. Place the printer's power switch in the OFF (0) position. 2. While pressing the panel button, switch printer on. Green indicator will show. 3. Keep pressing panel button until green indicator starts flashing. 4. Release panel button and a test card will print after a few seconds. This is an example of the test card 12 980261-001 Rev.
PRINTING A SAMPLE CARD Printing with the P310 Printer requires the Windows printer driver, your card design/issuing Windows Software , or printer command level programming through the printer interface. The P310 Card Printer can be used with any Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0 software application program, using the drivers provided with the printer.
A. To install the P310 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 P310 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 P310 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 authorized technicians to service the P310 Printer. NEVER loosen, tighten, adjust, or bend, etc. a part or cable inside the printer. NEVER use a shop air compressor to remove particles in the printer. 980261 -001 Rev.
CLEANING SYSTEM Your P310 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, Transport Rollers, and Magnetic Encoder Station (optional feature). WHEN TO CLEAN When the amber & red indicators flash (Every 1000 cards* approx.) *Using 5-panel color ribbon (YMCKO). (Every 5000 cards* approx.) *Using monochrome ribbon. *Optional factory setting.
CLEANING THE PRINT HEAD A cleaning using the Cleaning Cards usually suffices. However, a seperate Print Head cleaning using swabs can remove more stubborn deposites when print anomalies persist. To avoid deposits, only use foam-tipped swabs. 1. Turn power OFF. 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). 3. Turn power ON.
CARD CLEANING CARTRIDGE Your P310 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. WHEN TO MAINTAIN When the amber & red indicators flash (Every 1000 cards* approx.) *Using 5-panel color ribbon (YMCKO). (Every 5000 cards* approx.) *Using monochrome ribbon.. *Optional factory setting. HOW TO MAINTAIN 1. Open Cover and locate Cleaning Cartridge. 2.
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. To 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.
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TROUBLESHOOTING The following offers causes or solutions to symtoms related to improper operation. Check this table when experiencing any loss of operation or print quality. Note that the LEDs appear white for ON, dark for OFF, and circled with radial lines for FLASHING. PROBLEMS / DESCRIPTION AMBER INDICATOR ILLUMINATES Alert: cards The Printer stops and an error comes up in the Windows application program or in WindCard Software. AMBER INDICATOR FLASHES REASON / SOLUTION 1.
RED INDICATOR ILLUMINATES Printer alert: Print Head Bracket open Card Jam Ribbon Jam Command Error The printer stops working RED INDICATOR FLASHES Magnetic Encoder alert: The printer needs cleaning 1. Check Print Head Bracket is closed. 2. Check if you are using correct card type (see Technical Specifications). 3. Check Card Thickness Control Lever is properly adjusted for correct card thickness (see Chapter 2 - Loading Cards). 4.
1. Incorrect position of ribbon. Check ribbon is properly rolled onto the ribbon core and there are no pleats. Incorrect rolled ribbon 2. There may be dust on the print head. Dust (see Chapter 4 - Cleaning). Print Head 3. An element on the print head may be There are non-printed horizontal lines scratched or burnt. Contact technical support (white) on card surfaces. for print head replacement information. CARDS HAVE 'SCRATCH LINES' MISSING PRINTING 1.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS General • For P310C: High speed printing, over 140 cards/hour edge to edge in full color (YMCKO) throughput • For P310F: High speed printing, over 1000 cards/hour throughput • Small footprint • Windows Drivers for 95/98 and NT 4.
Fonts Cards* • Resident: Arial Normal 100, Arial Bold 100 • True Type fonts available via Windows Driver • Types PVC, Composite • Card width/length: ISO CR-80 - ISO 7810 2.125" (54mm) by 3.385" (86mm) • Option: Magnetic Stripe - ISO 7811 • Option: Smart Card - ISO 7816-2 • Card Thickness: 10mil (0.25mm) to 60 mil (1.
Ribbons* Overlay Varnish Interfaces Mechanical • Monochrome: 1500 cards/roll • Monochrome colors: black, red, blue, green, yellow, silver, gold, white For P310C only • K-Resin + O: 800 cards/roll • K-Dye + O: 800 cards/roll • YMCKO : 350 cards/roll: • Thermal Transfer • 4 microns thick • Clear and holographic options: - Clear - Genuine/Secure Hologram - Pcard Hologram - Custom Hologram • Parallel standard (cable included) • RS-232C Serial (option) • Width: 11.8" (315mm) • Depth: 7.
Options • • • • • RS-232C serial port Smart Card Contact Station (30 mil cards only) Magnetic Encoder (30 mil cards only) Cleaning supplies Service Manual Use only Eltron-approved card and ribbon media. Using non-approved card or ribbon media can void your warranty. Refer to the Appendix C for more information about Card and Ribbon Media available from Zebra Technologies. 30 980261-001 Rev.
APPENDIX A - MAGNETIC CARD STRIPE ENCODER Operation and maintenance requirements for the P310 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. The magnetic encoder is a factory installed item with the read/write head positioned below the card path, available with HICO encodingor LOCO encoding.
MAGNETIC ENCODER CLEANING The read/write head requires periodic cleaning to maintain error-free encoding. WHEN TO CLEAN When the amber & red indicators flash (Every 1000 cards* approx.) *Using 5-panel color ribbon (YMCKO). *Optional factory setting. HOW TO CLEAN 1. Leave power on. Open Cover and release Print Head Bracket to remove ribbon. Close Print Head. Close Cover. Remove cards from Card Cartridge. 2. Insert one Pre-saturated Cleaning Card (provided) through slot on the side of the Card Cartridge.
APPENDIX B - SMART CARD CONTACT STATION This section contains information on the additional operations of the P310 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. The P310 may be equipped with an optional contact station for programming Smart Cards (ISO 7816).
MEDIA LOADING ORIENTATION Orient the cards with the Smart Card Chip at the top of the card and facing away from the printer. 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. DO NOT position printing over the Smart Card Chip.
APPENDIX C - ACCESSOIRES & SUPPLIES Please contact your Zebra-authorized dealer to place an order accessories and supplies RIBBONS The following ribbons are optimized for use in the P310 Printers: Monochrome Resin Ribbons (Sold by the roll) Part Number Description 800015-301 800015-302 800015-303 800015-304 800015-305 800015-306 800015-307 800015-309 Black Red Green Blue Yellow Gold Silver White 1500 images 1500 images 1500 images 1500 images 1500 images 1500 images 1500 images 1500 images Color Ri
CARDS The following cards are optimized for use in the P310 Printers: Blank White Cards (sold by the box) Part Number 104523-114 104523-110 104523-111 104523-112 104523-113 104524-101 104524-102 104524-103 Description Premier Grade PVC Card, 10 mil Card, Card, Card, Card, 10 mil adhesive back 30 mil 30 mil -low coercivity Mag. Stripe 30 mil -High coercivity Mag.
ACCESSORIES Accessories available for P310 Printers appear below. Always refer to the part number when placing an order. Printer Supplies Part Number 300055-001 105912-024 105912-038 109909-112 Description Card Printer Parallel/ Serial Interface Cable, ft.
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.
