Eltron LAB+ Series, User Manual

Page 1: ...User s Manual No 980090 001 Rev B 1996 Eltron International Inc LAB Series User s Manual User s Manual No 980090 001 Rev B 1996 Eltron International Inc LAB Series User s Manual ...

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Page 3: ...other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders 980090 001 Rev B iii FOREWORD This manual provides installation and operation information for LAB Series printers manufactured by Eltron International Incorporated Simi Valley California The contents includes installation operation instructions TECHNICAL SUPPORT If for any reason you require product technical support p...

Page 4: ...ou l operateur a pendre les dispositions necessaires pour en eliminer les causes iv 980090 001 Rev B 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 Eltron warrants the mechanism control electronics and power supply under normal use and service to be free from defects in material an...

Page 5: ... A Troubleshooting 39 Appendix B Accessories 51 Appendix C ASCII Character Map 53 980090 001 Rev B v Table Of Contents Getting Started Introduction 1 Unpacking the Printer 2 Parts Check List 3 Installation 4 Operation Controls Indicators 7 Loading Labels or Tags 10 Threading The Label Dispenser Option 15 AutoSense Gap Sensor Adjustment 17 Cleaning The Print Head 18 Introduction to LAB Programming ...

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Page 7: ...es of bar code symbologies High resolution print head for sharp graphics and text 980090 001 Rev B 1 1 Getting Started This section provides information on the instal lation of the printer and software Introduction The LAB Series printers are low cost direct thermal printers specifically designed for print ing labels tags or continuous receipts with or without bar codes from any DOS or Win dows or...

Page 8: ...stroy the print head or electronic components used in this device Getting Started 2 980090 001 Rev B Unpacking the Printer The printer is shipped in a carton and protec tive bag Keep all packing material in case you need to move or re ship the printer Avoid touching the electrical connectors to prevent Electro Static Discharge damage while setting up the printer The discharge of electrostatic ener...

Page 9: ...f any items are missing contact your dealer for replacement parts Getting Started 980090 001 Rev B 3 Parts Check List Your printer kit should contain the items listed below The LAB printer The printer Power Supply Printer User s Guide this manual 1 roll of Sample Labels and Spool 1 printer Cleaning Card If any items are missing contact your dealer for replacement parts Getting Started 980090 001 R...

Page 10: ...ocation where either one can get wet Personal injury could result Getting Started 4 980090 001 Rev B Installation The following sections will step you through the installation of the printer Step Attach Power Supply Place the printer in a suitable location that allows easy access to printed labels The printer should never be operated while resting on it s side or upside down Place the power supply...

Page 11: ...ng and connection parameters refer to Appendix A Trouble Shooting Getting Started 980090 001 Rev B 5 Step Attach Interface Cable Parallel Interface Attach a suitable parallel printer cable from the computer to the Centronics interface connector on the rear of the printer Serial Interface Attach a suitable serial printer cable from the computer to the DB 9 RS 232 Serial interface connector at the b...

Page 12: ...peration for information on loading labels and using your printer Getting Started 6 980090 001 Rev B When the power switch is moved to the ON 1 position the Power Indicator should light Red indicating that the printer is out of paper If the indicator fails to light refer to Appendix A Trouble Shooting Refer to Section 2 Operation for information on loading labels and using your printer Getting Sta...

Page 13: ...rol switch labeled FEED and one indicator light labeled POWER Refer to Figure 2 1 980090 001 Rev B 7 2 Operation This section provides information on the op eration of the LAB printers Controls Indicators The printer s power switch is located on the rear of the unit near the power cord Placing this switch in the 1 ON position will apply power to the printer Place this switch in the 0 OFF position ...

Page 14: ...ators Power Indicator Feed Control Tension Release Push Back To Release Operation 8 980090 001 Rev B Power Switch Serial Interface Connector Power Connector Figure 2 1 Controls Indicators Power Indicator Feed Control Tension Release Push Back To Release Operation 8 980090 001 Rev B ...

Page 15: ...n labels are loaded refer to the Trouble Shooting section in Appendix A Operation 980090 001 Rev B 9 The FEED Control The FEED control can be used in two ways tapping or holding When power is first ap plied to the printer tapping the FEED control will cause the paper to advance approximately 0 25 This condition is refereed to as a Line Feed After printing a label tapping the FEED control will caus...

Page 16: ... printer will automatically resume printing when new labels are loaded Operation 10 980090 001 Rev B Loading Labels or Tags Your printer can print on adhesive backed labels or non adhesive tags Loading either type of material is easy however the feed direction of the roll is different If adhesive backed labels are used that do not lay flat on the liner paper the exposed edges may stick to the labe...

Page 17: ...Top Feed Figure 2 2 Loading Labels Bottom Feed Figure 2 3 Loading Tags Operation 980090 001 Rev B 11 Step Open the top cover and remove the spindle from the printer Place the spindle inside the roll of labels or tags Cutting the corners off the end of the roll allows for easier insertion into the feed slot If loading labels place the roll in the top cover so that the end feeds from the top as show...

Page 18: ...felt approximately 3 Figure 2 4 Open Paper Guides Figure 2 5 Feed Slot Operation 12 980090 001 Rev B Step Adjust the guide tabs to their widest position by pushing one or both towards the sides of the printer Step Insert the end of the roll into the feed slot between the guide tabs until resistance is felt approximately 3 Figure 2 4 Open Paper Guides Figure 2 5 Feed Slot Operation 12 980090 001 Re...

Page 19: ...f the liner Figure 2 6 Press FEED Control Figure 2 7 Center The Labels Operation 980090 001 Rev B 13 Step While continuing to gently push the labels into the feed slot press the FEED control to ad vance labels until the end is visible at the front of the printer Step Press the tension release towards the rear of the printer and center the labels in the slot Adjust the guide tabs so they just touch...

Page 20: ...nter will automatically resume printing Figure 2 8 Place Roll In Slots Operation 14 980090 001 Rev B Step Rewind the excess paper onto the roll while placing the spindle into the holder slots Step Tap the FEED control 3 times or until the POWER indicator glows Green If you were in the middle of printing labels the printer will automatically resume printing Figure 2 8 Place Roll In Slots Operation ...

Page 21: ...Dispenser Stopper Peeler Slot Figure 2 9 Threading The Label Dispenser Operation 980090 001 Rev B 15 Threading The Label Dispenser Optional Feature If your printer is equipped with the optional label dispenser and you would like the printer to automatically peel adhesive labels from the backing liner follow the steps below Step Perform steps 1 7 of the Loading Labels pro cedure Step Advance the la...

Page 22: ... peeled labels Push Sensor Out To Activate Figure 2 10 Activate Sensor Operation 16 980090 001 Rev B Step Press the FEED control to feed the leader through the dispenser Step Push the Label Release towards the rear of the printer and pull the excess liner through the front until it is tight across the peeler bar Step Activate the Label Taken Sensor by pushing on the top and sliding towards the fro...

Page 23: ...tion When the indicator switches to Green the printer is ready for use Operation 980090 001 Rev B 17 AutoSense Gap Sensor Adjustment Your printer is equipped with a sensor capable of detecting the gap between labels while they are being printed This feature depends on the ability of the sensor to see through the label carrier between labels Due to manufacturing differences in label stock the senso...

Page 24: ...ds are only effective for one cleaning cycle and should not be re used Operation 18 980090 001 Rev B Cleaning The Print Head As you use your printer the print head may become dirty resulting in poor print quality Whenever new labels are loaded into the printer the print head should be cleaned with a Cleaning Card Cleaning cards P N 800100 001 are avail able for the LAB printer Supplies can be orde...

Page 25: ...ommand is sent The label will print and advance to the correct tear off position 980090 001 Rev B 19 3 INTRODUCTION TO LAB PROGRAMMING This section contains information about the basic programming features command syntax and terminology Features Eltron s LAB Language is an ASCII based command language used to control Eltron s LAB series printers The command set includes features for printing recei...

Page 26: ...inued from one line to the next in the manual should be be typed all on one line 20 980090 001 Rev B Command Conventions The manual uses the following typographic conventions to describe commands Example Description or LF Line Feed Character ASCII value 10d 0Ah CR Carriage Return Character ASCII value 13d 0Dh A Commands p1 p2 p3 Required parameters p1 p2 p3 Optional parameters DATA Text or bar cod...

Page 27: ... 1 1 N THIS IS A TEST Command Command Parameters Figure 3 1 Basic Command Syntax 980090 001 Rev B 21 Basic Command Syntax Each command consists of one or two ASCII alpha characters to identify the specific com mand desired Some commands require one or more additional parameters to supply the command with sufficient information to com plete the command Each command parame ter is delimited by a comm...

Page 28: ...ging the width to 256 dots will result in an image length of 999 dots 4 92inches 22 980090 001 Rev B Program Sample D5 R0 8 Q256 24 B24 0 0 2 2 5 72 N 12345 6789 A24 88 0 4 1 1 N Name P2 P X8 2 5 200 30 LO220 2 200 5 P Command Storage During power up the Print image buffer is cleared Form length is set 592 dots with no 0 gap Margins zero offset 0 0 Print density is set to level 3 A P Print command...

Page 29: ...bject Rotated 90 Point of Origin for BarCode Object Figure 3 2 Image Positioning 980090 001 Rev B 23 Image Positioning When placing text or bar codes on the receipt or label locations are expressed in dots The print head is 54mm 2 20inches wide and there are 8 dots per millimeter 203 dots per inch This results in a print width of 432 dots The maximum print length is limited only by the length of t...

Page 30: ...rix 7W by 12H G and g Figure 3 4 Example of Multiplier Effects 7W x 2 by 12H x 1 24 980090 001 Rev B Font Character The native fonts 7x12 10x18 and 14x22 in the LAB printer are bit mapped characters Each bit in a font is represents a dot when printing a font character Font Scaling The LAB printer supports font scaling The scaling is individually controlled by the hori zontal and vertical font mult...

Page 31: ...Q Form Length Gap 34 q Override Form Width 35 R Margin Position 36 X Box Draw 37 980090 001 Rev B 25 4 COMMAND REFERENCE This section contains a complete listing of all commands in alphabetical order Command Description Page A Text 27 B Bar Code 29 D Print Intensity 31 LO Line Draw 32 P Print 33 Q Form Length Gap 34 q Override Form Width 35 R Margin Position 36 X Box Draw 37 980090 001 Rev B 25 ...

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Page 33: ... Fonts 1 2 and 4 are fixed pitch For character availability maps see Ap pendix B 980090 001 Rev B 27 A Command Text Description This command is used to set the size type style and position of an ASCII text string 95 ASCII characters are supported represented as deci mal 32 through 127 excluding character 32 the quote Syntax Ap1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 DATA Parameters p1 Horizontal start position X in do...

Page 34: ... character is used to bound the data field and may not be used in the data field 28 980090 001 Rev B A Command Text p5 Horizontal multiplier expands the text horizontally Acceptable values are 1 4 p6 Vertical multiplier expands the text verti cally Acceptable values are 1 4 Multiplier Font Size 7 x 12 8 x 14 10 x 22 Horizontal max character per line 1 48 36 27 2 24 18 14 3 12 9 7 4 6 4 3 Vertical ...

Page 35: ...e bar width Acceptable values are 4 12 p7 Bar height Acceptable values are 1 216 980090 001 Rev B 29 B Command Bar Code Description This command is used to set the barcode type size and position of a bar code Syntax Bp1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 DATA Parameters p1 Horizontal start position X in dots p2 Vertical start position Y in dots p3 Rotation Value Description 0 No rotation 1 90 degrees p4 Bar Cod...

Page 36: ...tically supports extend or non extended POSTNET Numeric US Postal Zipcode format 30 980090 001 Rev B B Command Bar Code p8 Human readable fonts with the barcode Value Description N No human readable 1 90 degrees DATA Represents a fixed data field Code 128 automatically supports subset B and C Interleaved 2 of 5 Numeric data only automatically adds a leading zero 0 for an odd number of data charact...

Page 37: ...ypically require a change to the print density Example D5 selects density 5 NOTE 980090 001 Rev B 31 D Command Density Description This command is used to select the print den sity or heat intensity Syntax Dp1 Parameters p1 Density setting The default value is 3 Acceptable values are 0 7 with 0 as the lightest print and 7 as the darkest The density command controls the amount of heat produced by t...

Page 38: ...591 Point of Origin for Line Box Object Figure 2 5 Orienting a Line or Rectangle 32 980090 001 Rev B LO Command Line Draw Description This command is used to draw one line or rectangle as a bit mapped graphic Syntax LOp1 p1 p3 p4 Parameters p1 Horizontal start position X in dots p2 Vertical start position Y in dots p3 Horizontal width in dots p4 Vertical length in dots Example LO96 144 240 48 defi...

Page 39: ...t The maximum number per print command is 99 Example P4 prints 4 forms or labels 980090 001 Rev B 33 P Command Print Description This command is used to initiate printing and control the quantity of forms or labels to be printed The print command clears the image print buffer after command has completed The print command also acts as a formfeed command A print command issued without any text or gr...

Page 40: ...ls in dots The default value is 000 p1 p2 Figure 2 6 Form Length Gap Orientation 34 980090 001 Rev B Q Command Form Length Gap Description This command is used to set the length of the form or label and the gap between labels to be printed Syntax Qp1 p2 Parameters p1 The length of the form or label in dots The default value is 000 p2 The length of the gap between the forms or labels in dots The de...

Page 41: ...ult and maximum form width is 432 dots p1 Figure 2 7 Form Length Gap Orientation 980090 001 Rev B 35 q Command Form Width Description This command is used to set the length of the form or label and the gap between labels to be printed The maximum form or label length is increased by narrowing the image width with this com mand The maximum width is 432 dots Syntax qp1 Parameters p1 The width of the...

Page 42: ...e default value is 000 p2 Additional top margin in dots The default value is 000 36 980090 001 Rev B R Command Margin Position Description This command is used to adjust the Left and Top Margins Syntax Rp1 p2 Parameters p1 Additional left margin in dots The default value is 000 p2 Additional top margin in dots The default value is 000 36 980090 001 Rev B ...

Page 43: ...on Of Feed 0 0 431 591 Point of Origin for Box Object Figure 2 8 Orienting a Box 980090 001 Rev B 37 X Command Box Draw Description This command is used to draw one hollow box as a bit mapped graphic Syntax Xp1 p1 p3 p4 Parameters p1 Horizontal start position X in dots p2 Vertical start position Y in dots p3 Box line width in dots p4 External horizontal width in dots p5 External vertical length in...

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Page 45: ...or your assistance and support with Eltron printers and software Troubleshooting 980090 001 Rev B 39 Appendix A Troubleshooting This section addresses the most common issues user s may face with operation and configura tion of your printer The first trouble shooting reference source is the Common Problems Trouble Shooting table on the following page Eltron International also provides a variety of ...

Page 46: ...labels and tags 3 Possible label jam 4 Possible software problem Troubleshooting 40 980090 001 Rev B Common Printing Problems Trouble Shooting Guide Problem Solution or Reason POWER indicator does not light Green when power switch is turned to 1 ON position 1 Check power connections from power supply to printer and A C outlet POWER indicator lights Green but printer will not print 1 Check interfac...

Page 47: ... N C GND RDY N C N C RDY 5 Volts TxD RxD N C GND RDY N C N C RDY Troubleshooting 980090 001 Rev B 41 Serial Interface Cable Wiring The figure below displays the cable wiring re quired to use the printer s serial interface Serial Port Mode Settings The communication port mode setting should be 9600 baud no parity 8 data bits and one stop bit An example of DOS Mode Statement is shown below MODE COM2...

Page 48: ... to the OFF 0 position Disconnect the power and interface cables Troubleshooting 42 980090 001 Rev B Removing Stuck Labels Under certain conditions labels can become stuck inside the printer on the print head or the mechanism This usually occurs when the edges of a label pull away from the label liner The adhesive comes in contact with the print head or the mechanism and the label peels off the li...

Page 49: ...m the top cover to the main circuit board noting there positions Troubleshooting 980090 001 Rev B 43 Step Remove Top Cover Move the power switch to the OFF 0 position and disconnect the power and interface cables Place the printer upside down and remove the four rubber feet by pulling them out of the mounting holes Using a 1 Phillips screw driver remove the four screws that secure the top cover Ca...

Page 50: ...d bracket Remove the bracket and the head tension spring CAUTION Troubleshooting 44 980090 001 Rev B Step Remove The Print Head The most common location of stuck labels is at the print head Check this area first before checking the remainder of the print mecha nism The discharge of electrostatic energy that accu mulates on the surface of the human body or other surfaces can damage or destroy the p...

Page 51: ...ead The surface can be easily damaged Print Head CAUTION CAUTION Troubleshooting 980090 001 Rev B 45 While lifting the lower head bracket remove the tension release rod Without disconnecting and cables lift and rotate the print head so that the surface can be inspected Do not unplug the print head The cable pro vides ground for E S D protection Carefully clean the print head surface with 91 Isopro...

Page 52: ... two screws removed earlier and tighten to secure the print head Troubleshooting 46 980090 001 Rev B Step Install The Print Head To install the print head first position it back over the platen Lift the front slightly and insert the tension release rod under the metal tabs at the front edge Lower the head down so that the ends of the rod drop into the slots on the sides of the carriage Next instal...

Page 53: ...e four cables that lead to the main board noting their positions Troubleshooting 980090 001 Rev B 47 Step Remove Mechanism Labels can become stuck to several parts in side the print mechanism To clear labels stuck in side the mechanism it must be removed from the printer base Remove the three screws that secure the mechanism to the base and the screw that secures the ground wire Carefully lift up ...

Page 54: ...pare parts can be ordered by contacting Eltron at 1 800 344 4003 Troubleshooting 48 980090 001 Rev B Step Remove Sensor Assembly Locate the push tabs on the rear of the mecha nism While pushing in on both tabs pull the lower sensor assembly away from the mecha nism This provides easy access to the inside of the print mechanism If the clear mylar label guide is damaged it should be replaced Spare p...

Page 55: ...uto Sense procedure it check for proper operation of the printer Troubleshooting 980090 001 Rev B 49 Step Install Print Mechanism Replace the lower sensor assembly by sliding back into the mechanism until it locks in place Reconnect the four connectors to the main board Position the print mechanism on the printer base and install the three screws re moved earlier Install the ground wire retaining ...

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Page 57: ...800110 001 User s Manual 980090 001 Keyboard Display Unit 120180 001 Accessories 980090 001 Rev B 51 Appendix B Supplies and Accessories Supplies and Accessories can be ordered from ELTRON by calling 1 800 344 4003 Eltron gladly accepts Mastercard and Visa For easier ordering use the supplies order form included with your printer For an up to date supplies spare parts list call Eltron s FaxBack se...

Page 58: ...Accessories 52 980090 001 Rev B Accessories 52 980090 001 Rev B ...

Page 59: ...f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 32 48 64 80 96 112 t e e Character Map 980090 001 Rev B 53 ASCII Charactor Map This chart shows the characters supported by the LAB printer The left hand column lists the decimal value of the first character in the row The SPACE character is shown as SPACE The quote character is not available for use 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R ...

Page 60: ...41 Moreland Road Simi Valley CA 93065 1692 805 579 1800 41 Moreland Road Simi Valley CA 93065 1692 805 579 1800 ...