Alea Systems DeskJet 9xx, User Manual

Page 1: ...Copyright 2002 2003 Alea Systems Inc Pingo Photo Rep Pingo Photo Rep High Performance Photo Quality autoloading CD Printer ...

Page 2: ...formation in this document is subject to change without notice Alea assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document Alea the Alea logo design and Pingo Photo and Pingo Rep are trademarks of Alea Systems Inc Initial issue July 2002 Current revision 1 13 March 2003 Alea Systems Inc 10810 Guilford Road Suite 103 Annapolis Junction MD 20701 Tel 301 776 3754 Fax 301 776 7561 e...

Page 3: ...ration of the Pingo Photo printer 12 5 9 User control panel 12 6 CD Template layout 13 7 Printing with Diskus or Surething label software 14 8 Creating Templates and a Print Mask 15 9 Troubleshooting the Pingo Photo 18 10 Printer Maintenance 18 10 1 Using and Caring for your print cartridges 19 10 2 Replacing print cartridges 19 10 3 Storing Print Cartridges 19 10 4 Cleaning Ink Cartridges 20 11 F...

Page 4: ...d by mail the customer agrees to insure the products or assume the risk of loss or damage in transit The customer also agrees to prepay shipping charges Standard warranty turnaround is 4 5 days except duplication drives see above Warranty coverage includes the cost to return the repaired or exchange item via 2 day on part replacements 3 day on systems and Fed Ex Int l for shipments outside the US ...

Page 5: ...POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THESE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU FCC Interference Statement This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received inc...

Page 6: ...ate the thickness of a CD R disc and providing the means to properly position a printable CD R when the printer normally would load a sheet of paper Load control is derived from the printer s movements therefore no special software is required Any program or system that will print using the HP printer drivers will operate the Pingo Photo The printer controller functions are totally independent of ...

Page 7: ... upon popularity and consumer demand 2 3 System Requirements Any computer with a parallel port or USB port can be used to control the Trace Affex CD Artist Depending on the user s requirements application programs used with the printer may vary from high end graphics to simple page layout and word processing programs Generally when the print command is issued the file to be printed will be spooled...

Page 8: ...ation when choosing a place to operate CD R printing equipment By adhering to these guidelines your print quality criteria should be achieved The site chosen should have the following conditions stable and ample electrical power unstable power may cause equipment failure adequate air circulation a relative humidity from 40 60 non condensing ambient temperature from 59ºF to 77ºF 15ºC 25ºC print med...

Page 9: ...the cartridges may last up to 500 discs Full bleed printing where the ink covers 100 of the disc surface may yield as little as 50 CDs from a color cartridge The printer will monitor ink usage and provide low ink warnings and stop the printer when it senses it is out of ink This is a reasonably good indicator and should be followed 5 Getting Started Before actual CD printing can begin there are se...

Page 10: ...ication can be used to print on a CD Applications which allow position control such as graphics applications e g Adobe Illustrator Corel Draw Surething etc will be the easiest to use If you do not have a graphics application included is a 30 day trial version of SureThing software for PC users only and the Diskus software for PC users only which is located on the Compact Disc labeled Pingo Photo T...

Page 11: ...ia place the disc in between the 3 metal tabs and send the print job to the printer For multiple prints an operator will need to remove and replace each CD as it is completed The printer will automatically detect the next disc as it is placed on the carrier tray To install the components to print on business card CD s do the following and see diagrams below Place Clamp Adapter on the Carrier Tray ...

Page 12: ...ues about the state of the printer 1 Cancel button 2 Print Cartridge Status light and symbol 3 Resume light and button 4 Power button and light 1 cancel button Pressing this button cancels the current print job 2 print cartridge status symbol and light The light above the Print Cartridge Status symbol flashes when a print cartridge is low on ink or incorrectly installed 3 resume button and light T...

Page 13: ...h letter page The printable area size shown is maximum possible Actual print area will vary with media type Page placement dimensions vary between applications Business card CDs 63mm X 80MM use exactly the same print center coordinates for each printer 8 400 4 724 4 25 2 700 DO NOT PLACE ANY PRINTABLE IMAGE OR TEXT BELOW THIS LINE ...

Page 14: ...nual 14 7 Printing with Diskus or Surething label software Please refer to the documentation suplied with the lagel design software The Diskus software is shown on the desk top as follows The Sure Thing software is shown on the desk top as shown below ...

Page 15: ...new file in the target application 2 Configure the page to letter and portrait orientation 3 Display the layers used in the application name the first layer Non Printing Mask 4 Measure the printable inner and outer diameters of the media to be used 5 Create concentric circles of the diameters to be used and position them on the page approximately as shown in Fig 4 1 CD Print Placement Use one poin...

Page 16: ...the center hole circle Select a fill color and delete the line or make the line color white Mark the layer for viewing only and not printing Fig 5 3 Group the objects and note their coordinates it may be possible to lock or fix the layer so it cannot be accidently changed Fig 5 3 Non Printing layer mask with background color 11 Copy the grouped object to the clipboard 12 Create a new layer and pla...

Page 17: ... the layers shown on the screen The top layer is non printing the next layer down is a white mask and the layer below is content For convenience it may be desireable to keep different CD images using the same mask on different layers and only select the layer for viewing and printing when desired Further it may be desireable to create different printing mask layers for different media and select t...

Page 18: ...d on the advanced tab in the printer driver 4 Ink prints light lines across the disc Clean print head at next available opportunity See maintenance section of this manual for print head cleaning instructions 5 Print image is misregistered on disc Review template and or mask setup Adjust as required 6 Ink smears off the disc Try another media type i e Photo Coat Glossy 7 Poor print quality Try incr...

Page 19: ... full 10 2 Replacing print cartridges Note When buying replacement print cartridges check the part numbers carefully The print cartridge numbers for your printer are BLACK HP C6615d SERIES TRI COLOR HP C6578 SERIES When a print cartridge runs out of ink leave the empty cartridge in the cradle until you can replace it The printer does not print with only one print cartridge in the cradle Open the t...

Page 20: ...button twice and the form feed button middle button once Release Power button Level 3 If Level 1 isn t enough Hold the Power button down press the cancel X button twice and the form feed button middle button twice 11 Frequently Asked Questions About USB Universal Serial Bus Note This option is only available in Windows 98 What is USB Universal Serial Bus USB makes it easy to connect devices to you...

Page 21: ...ur disk drive select Setup then click Open 5 The setup exe file will appear in the dialog box Click OK 6 Select the Remove Pingo Photo driver option 7 Connect the USB cable to your printer again The USB installation screen should appear again 12 Support of Your Printer If you need help using your Pingo Photo printer please contact Alea Systems Customer Support 301 776 3754 or e Mail your questions...

Page 22: ...n the printer normally would load a sheet of paper Load control is derived from the printer s movements therefore no special software is required Any program or system that will print using the HP printer drivers will operate the Pingo Photo The printer controller functions are totally independent of the data stream between the computer and printer The Pingo Photo is controlled by a Windows based ...

Page 23: ...ntrol serial cable one cross linked DB9 F F cable to COM2 Note If your system is only equipped with USB you may use standard USB Serial converters to convert USB to serial port 15 Unpacking and setting up the Pingo Rep The Pingo Photo Rep system is shipped to you packed into three boxes One wooden box holds the Robotics one wooden box holds the Head and a conventional carton box holds the CD Print...

Page 24: ...id As shown below Gently take the top foam out and free the Pingo Rep Head If you want to keep the wooden box unfolded take the head out of it If you want to keep the wooden box folded take the bottom 4 screws out and lift the frame and free the the head Wooden frame These bottom screws 6 hold the wooden frame to its skid While re packing the Head push the carrier to your right till the carrier st...

Page 25: ... top cover to its base Lift the Pingo Rep top cover and place it flat on the desk table Take the CD Printer out of its box and place it over the Pingo Rep base top corner Locate the CD Printer position adjusting plate and the pins Take the CD Printer with both hands and position it carefully on the bottom of the Pingo Rep base Make sure that the CD Printer holes slide over the adjusting plate pins...

Page 26: ...o move the CD Printer to verify that its sits firmly on its base Take the Pingo Rep top cover and put it back on its base Mount and tight the hand screws CD Printer locking holes CD Printer position adjusting plate and pins 2 CD Printer position adjusting plate screws 2 ...

Page 27: ...Alea Systems Inc Rev 1 13 Pingo Photo Rep User manual 27 15 1 Connecting Pingo Photo Rep to a PC Printer connector Parallel and USB Printer status connector DB9 Power connector ...

Page 28: ...the printer Cable 4 Power on the CD Printer and the Pingo Rep first then the PC Status and tray control port connect to PC COM 2 port with a DB9 F F cross linked modem cable USB and Centronics Printer connector Robotics control port connect to PC COM 1 port with a DB9 F F null modem cable Head cable connects between Head and base connectors Power connector USB and Centronics Printer connector PC P...

Page 29: ...C and to the Pingo Rep The Pingo Rep program has been successfully installed in you Windows 98 ME XP 2000 or NT To start the Pingo Rep system please follow this sequence Switch the Pingo Rep power on Switch on the power to the printer Turn on the computer and get to the desk top From the desktop of the computer click the Pingo Rep icon The Pingo Rep application screen will now be displayed If the ...

Page 30: ...ead and it is activated when the CD Grabber does not hold the CD and snaps open This happens when there no CD left in the CD Magazine 1 15 5 2 2 2 2 T Te es st t t th he e C CD D P Pi ic ck ke er r s sw wi it tc ch he es s It is very important for a reliable and dependable operation of the Pingo Rep that the CD is dropped properly centered on the center of the CD Printer tray To center the CD Prin...

Page 31: ... You should get the DISK FOUND message Test the FREE PATH SWITCH Click on the DOWN ARROW button to move the head down toward the center of the INPUT magazine or any CD Writer CDR Printer tray where you have already placed a CDR While the beak is traveling down press the tip of the beak upward as shown below The beak motion will stop at once and the CD Picker will be retracted immediately You shoul...

Page 32: ... is very important for a reliable and dependable operation of the Pingo Rep that the CD is dropped properly centered on the center of the CD Printer tray To center the CD Printer select the Tools Calibration option Place one disc in the input CD Magazine first magazine on the right hand side of the CD Printer tray Move the CD Picker tip into the CD hub To grab the CD close the CD Picker Place the ...

Page 33: ...nput CD Magazine 16 Replacing ink cartridges Remove the four hand screws and gently pull the top cover toward you till it stops CD fixed centering pins CD holding finger READ CAREFULLY Make sure the CDR is dropped in the center of the CD Printer tray If necessary to align the tray to the beak move the printer slightly Front Back or Right Left till the beak enter the CDR hub freely ...

Page 34: ...While the power is on lift the CD Printer cover as shown below The Ink Cartridges will move immediately toward the center of the CD Printer Insert the ink cartridges Close the CD Printer Tray Gently push the top cover back Mount and tight the four hand screws ...

Page 35: ...lick on the Pingo Rep icon The Pingo Rep application screen will now be displayed If the Pingo Rep is unable to detect the hardware the following screen is displayed If the hardware detection succeeded the Pingo Rep goes in idle mode Place as many printable surface discs as required into the input CD Magazine s Click on the Tools setup option Pingo Photo Rep LNK ...

Page 36: ...to reload the CD magazine and start the process again The JOB MODE deals with the printing of the CD Label Print from File PRN This option requires that you create the CD label file first The PRN file is created when you print to a file rather than directly to the printer You are required to assign a file name before you save it The main benefit of this option is that the Pingo Rep application sof...

Page 37: ... Pingo Rep Head and the CD Printer tray The selection can be done automatically or you can select which port drives the Head or the tray Automatic detection is recommended The PARALLEL PORT section deals with the selection of the printer port Please notice that no USB connection is supported The ROBOTICS section allows yhou to select either the Pingo Rep or the Duplico 500 Pphoto mode ...

Page 38: ...ght side of the CD Printer tray Pingo Rep is ready for a print job Define your print settings and issue the print command The print image will spool to the system hard disk drive and then begin sending data to the printer As the printer receives the image data a load paper command will be issued and the printing will begin The Pingo rep will automatically load a disc into the printer tray for prin...

Page 39: ...and the number of copies If you have chosen to print from the Graphic Application Program the Pingo Rep will open the window below immediartely The Pingo Rep is ready to print Select your graphic application program open your printing job select the Pingo Photo CD Printer and start printing If during the job the Pingo Rep does not find any CD to print following window pops up Before starting the P...

Page 40: ...hooting Pingo Rep If an internal printer error occurs most likely cause for this error is the selection of an incorrect paper type If this happens cancel the print job at the PC then turn off the printer power and wait until the PC indicates that the print job has been deleted Then turn off the main power to the system Turn on the main power then the printer power To provide the troubleshooter all...

Page 41: ...ition 14 Tray did not reverse after reaching TOF 15 Print did not complete within allotted time 16 Printer EEPROM setup is lost 17 Tray did not reach home position from F command 18 Tray should be at home but sensor not indicating correct tray position 20 Printer initializing 29 Tray stopped by S command 30 Print was canceled tray home Status must be reset by O command after disc is removed from t...