Primera Technology LX900 manual

User's Manual © 2010 All rights reserved F or the most recent version of this manual please visit http://www .primera.com/manuals.html 062211-511271 LX900.qxd 6/22/2011 6:40 AM Page i[...]

ii Notices : The information in this document is subject to change without notice. NO W ARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS MADE WITH REG ARD TO THIS MA TERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO , THE IMPLIED W ARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A P ARTICULAR PURPOSE. No liability is assumed for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential [...]

iii T able of Contents Section 1: Getting Started ...............................................................................1 A. Choosing a Good Location ................................................................1 B. Unpacking and Inspection.................................................................2 C. Identifying the P arts .....[...]

There are interactive features that will allow you to jump to different locations within the document. Each listing in the T able of Content s is interactive. Place the cursor on either the words or the p age number . A small hand with a pointing finger icon appears. Click on the line with the icon and the document will jump to that p age. If you w[...]

Getting Started 1 Section 1: Getting Started THANK Y OU… ...for choosing an LX900 Color Label Printer . The LX900 Printer will print razor -sharp text and barcodes, vibrant colors, and even stunning photo -realistic photographs directly onto rolls of labels, card stock and a variety of other approved media. This User's Manual is your complet[...]

2 Getting Started B. UNP ACKING AND INSPECTION While unpacking your printer , inspect the carton to ensure that no damage has occurred during shipping. Make sure that all supplied accessories are included with your unit. The following items are included in the supply box: • P ower A dapter • Separate P ower Cord • USB Cable • Software Insta[...]

C. IDENTIFYING THE P ARTS This illustration shows the front of the printer with its control buttons and LED indicator lights. The P ause Button pauses the printer AFTER the printing of the current label has finished to allow for loading of label stock and ink cartridge. The P ower LED indicates that the printer is on and ready to receive print jobs[...]

4 Getting Started This illustration shows the input ports and power switch found on the rear panel of the printer . This illustration shows the interior of the printer . D. COMPUTER SPECIFICA TIONS Recommended PC Specifications F or optimal printing speed you must have a PC with the following recommended specifications: • P entium Dual Core P roc[...]

Label Stock 5 Section 2: Label Stock A. LABEL AND R OLL SPECIFICA TIONS A wide variety of label stock can be used in the Printer . Refer to the specifications and settings in the following sections before ordering custom stock from Primera or any stock from another company . Important! T est all custom made label stock with the intended printer bef[...]

6 Label Stock Max Min Label width 8.25" (209mm) 0.75" (19mm) Liner/media width 8.375" (212mm) 1.5" (38mm) Label height/length 17" (431mm) 0.75" (19mm) Gap between labels 10" (253mm) 0.10 (2.5mm) W idth of thru-hole 0.5" (12.65mm) 0.25" (6.325mm) opening Distance from edge of 2.25" (57mm) 0.20" [...]

Label Stock 7 Roll Specifications Label Side Out Core I.D. Core O.D. Roll O.D. 3” 6” Label Stock LX900.qxd 1/14/2010 12:40 PM Page 7 TO C INDEX TO C TO C INDEX[...]

8 Label Stock B. INST ALLING LABEL STOCK The following steps will guide you through loading label stock in your printer: Make sure power is connected and printer is on. 1. Open the T op Cover . 2. Lower the Roll Guide and pull it outward to make room for your label stock. Lift Here LX900.qxd 1/14/2010 12:40 PM Page 8 TO C INDEX TO C TO C INDEX[...]

Label Stock 9 3. Remove any shipping tape from your label stock roll to ensure that it can unroll freely , making certain that no adhesive portion is exposed. It is important to note that any exposed adhesive surface can attach itself the the inner workings of the print mechanism and cause a media jam. 4. Place your roll of label stock on the Roll [...]

10 Label Stock 6. Pull the Movable Throat Guide outward to mak e room for the label stock. 7. Place the leading edge of the label stock under the "label stock" symbols on the Throat Guides. The label stock should be placed far enough into the throat of the printer to correctly position the Movable Throat Guide but not yet into the printer[...]

Label Stock 11 C. ADJUSTING THE LABEL ST OCK TOF (TOP OF FORM) SENSOR If you are using label stock other than standard square / rectangular diecut labels such as circular die-cut labels or through-hole stock use the instructions below to adjust the position of the label stock sensor . The sensor can be adjusted using the slide bar on the inside of [...]

12 Label Stock The sensor can only be moved a maximum of 2.3 inches from the left side of the printable area. This means that the maximum diameter circular label that can be printed is 4.6 inches. F or circular labels larger than 4.6 inches in diameter , you must have a black mark printed on the back of the label stock. This means that you must cha[...]

Label Stock 13 D. SET THE STOCK SENSOR MODE The stock sensor mode refers to the method the printer will use to detect the print starting position for each label. T o adjust the stock sensor mode, open the PTStatus program. PTStatus automatically installs with your printer driver and can be accessed through the printer driver or as program that is a[...]

14 Label Stock Continuous . (Sensor off) If you have continuous stock with no die-cut, reflective mark or holes, set the sensor type to Continuous. This will turn off the stock sensor . It this mode there is no way to set the print starting position. The printer will simply start printing the first label and print each subse- quent label immediatel[...]

Label Stock 15 There are two different output modes: Present labels ? - Y es (Default). This setting will cause the printer to feed the last label printed forward so that it and the previously printed labels can be torn off using the tear bar . If no other jobs are sent to the printer within one second after the last label has printed, the last pri[...]

16 Ink Cartridges Section 3: Ink Cartridges (Status Monitor) PTStatus or Status Monitor is used to interact with the printer for gathering ink levels, maintenance, alignment, cost calcula- tion and several other functions. PTStatus automatically installs with your printer driver and can be accessed through the printer driver preferences or as a pro[...]

Ink Cartridges 17 A: MONIT ORING INK LEVELS Ink levels can be monitored at any time by using the Status Monitor . Immediately after printing starts the Status Monitor will display the ink levels in the lower right corner of your screen. The print status will also be displayed on the top bar . In the example above the label name "Strawberry .lb[...]

18 Ink Cartridges B. USING THE COST ESTIMA T OR The cost estimator is found on the last tab of the Status Monitor . The Status Monitor automatically opens as soon as you begin printing. However , you can also access it at any time as long as the printer is turned on and communicating by going to Start - Programs - P rimera T echnology - PTStatus. I[...]

Ink Cartridges 19 C. REPLACING INK CAR TRIDGES / LO W INK WARNING Y ou can replace cartridges at any time or wait for the Low Ink W arning to prompt you to replace cartridges. Low Ink W arnings occur at the following levels: • 10% - If any cartridge is lower than 10% at the beginning of a job you will be prompted to change that cartridge. A t thi[...]

20 Ink Cartridges 2. Remove the cartridge by pressing the corresponding colored tab on the back of the printhead. The cartridge will pop up slightly . 3. Remove the cartridge. 4. Locate a new cartridge and remove it from its packaging. Remove the foil outer package and the clear plastic shrink wrap. Also remove the cartridge cap. Note: If you opene[...]

Ink Cartridges 21 5. Place the new cartridge into its corresponding colored slot. Press down near the back of the cartridge until it clicks into position. Impor tant Note: Mak e sure the cartridge is securely in place. An improperly positioned cartridge will cause no ink of that color to be printed. LX900.qxd 1/14/2010 12:41 PM Page 21 TO C INDEX T[...]

22 Printing Section 4: P rinting A. USING NICELABEL Y our printer ships with a basic version of Niceware's NiceLabel software. This easy-to-use software is designed to allow you to create full color labels with text and barcodes quickly and sim- ply . The following is a tutorial to guide you through creating and printing a sample label. Launch[...]

Printing 23 b. Select your printer . This should be the Color Label Printer 900. Click F inish . 3. Now you will see your label in the Document W indow . Y ou can start to design your label using T ools from the T ool Box. First, we will use the T e xt T ool. a. Click the T ext T ool Icon in your T oolbox, then move the text cursor over the Documen[...]

24 Printing 4. Now , insert a barcode. a. Click the Barcode T ool Icon from the T oolbox. Y ou will now have a Barcode Cursor that can be positioned anywhere within the Document W indow . P osition your cursor in the general area where you wish your barcode to print and click to start entering your barcode information. There is no need to be exact,[...]

Printing 25 b. The first screen in the Barcode W izard will allow you to select the type of Barcode you wish to print. Y ou can also enter the data to be used in the barcode. F or this we are doing a simple UPC-A barcode. F or more information on other types of barcodes, please see Section 3B. Creating Bar codes in NiceLabel . c. Click OK , then cl[...]

26 Printing 5. Now insert a Picture. Click on the Picture T ool Icon in the toolbox. Y ou will now see a Graphics Cursor . Drag the cursor to the general area where you wish to place the graphic and click to get an Open dialog box. Y ou will be prompted to browse for graphic files. NiceLabel accepted file for mats : NiceLabel will accept universal [...]

Printing 27 b. There are other tools at your disposal to align the object or add shapes. On the right side of the screen you will see alignment tools so you can align the objects on your label in relation to each other . Select objects by clicking on them or clicking and dragging a "lasso" around multiple objects or by holding down the SH[...]

28 Printing B. CREA TING BARCODES IN NICELABEL a. Click the Barcode T ool Icon from the T oolbox. b. Y ou will now have a Barcode Cursor that can be positioned anywhere within the Document W indow . P osition your cursor in the general area where you wish your barcode to print and click to start entering your barcode information. Once clicked, you [...]

Printing 29 iii. This contains four tabs, General , Check Digit , Human Readable and Details . iv . The General T ab allows you to choose the appropriate barcode type from the A vailable barcodes : menu. Y ou can choose one- or two -dimensional barcodes. Note that different barcode types have different requirements - some of them only allow numbers[...]

30 Printing When you change the barcode dimension directly from the screen by moving the drag handle, the changed dimension will also appear in this dialog box. Some of the barcode types also allow the definition of Narrow- to -wide bar ratio. It can only be set from the predefined steps in the pull-down menu - 1:2, 1:3 or 2:5. Base element width ([...]

Printing 31 C. PRINTING FROM O THER PROGRAMS Since this printer uses a standard W indows printer driver you can print from any application you would like. There are just a few things to remember that will make it much easier . 1. Set the P age/ Label Size in the Driver . NiceLabel auto matically prompts you for the size of the label that you are us[...]

32 Printing 3. Choose the right printing program. There are many different applications that are capable of printing to the LX900. However there are only a few that are ideal printing applications. F or example, A dobe Illustrator is an ex cellent design program but is not always the best printing program. It can be difficult to find the printing p[...]

Printing 33 A djust print alignment using the Status Monitor . Go to the Alignment T ab (third tab). Three items can be adjusted here: • T ear off P osition . This value adjusts the position of the last label printed after it has been presented for tear off . This only applies if the output mode is set to "Y es" Present the label. A dd [...]

34 Printing Y ou may have to make several adjustments to one or more of these values. After each adjust- ment you can click the T est but- ton to print a small test pattern on the label. This will help you find the proper alignment value. E. CREA TING A FULL BLEED PRINT 1. If you are having trouble making the image cover the entire label, first mak[...]

Printing 35 TOF . Decrease the T op of form by 10. This will cause the printer to start printing before the label and ensure a fully printed label. Note: It is best to over bleed as little as possible to avoid excess ink on the label backing. Also, over bleeding too much will cause the printer to skip labels. This is because the printer stops print[...]

36 Printing T o find Driv er Settings: Click the Start button, choose Printers and F axes (XP), P rinters (V ista), Devices and Printers (W indows 7) . Right-click on the Color Label 900 Icon and select Printing P references from the drop-down menu. The preferences screen will appear . NO TE on PC Settings : Most applications allow you to change th[...]

Printing 37 Paper Siz e If you are using NiceLabel, this setting is adjusted during the label setup wizard. If you are using a program other than NiceLabel you will need to set this to the dimensions of your label. K eep in mind that the dimensions are always relative to the width and height of the actual label in the printer . Orientation of an im[...]

38 Printing Ink Car tridge Color + Black is best for images that have large areas of black graphics or text. Although you can print these same images with just the color cartridge, often the blacks will look darker with this setting. Color is the default setting and is best for most images. W ith this setting the printer only uses the color cartrid[...]

Printing 39 Best for Photos mode is best used for photographic images where accurate color reproduction is very essential. Images printed in this mode will look lighter than those printed in Photo mode. Skin tones especially will look more natural in this mode. NO TE: Exact color matching of the printed labels to the screen may never be possible si[...]

40 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance Section 5: T r oubleshooting and Maintenance A. SOL VING PRINT ALIGNMENT PROBLEMS Image is V ertically Offset The LX900 decides where to start printing by detecting the start of die-cut label, detecting a black mark on the back or detecting a thru-hole that cor responds to the start of the label. The following i[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 41 backing, try label stock that has a black mark on the back to show where the label begins. Y ou will need to change the Stock Sensor Mode in the Status Monitor . 3. Insufficient Label Gap Distance. See Section 2A for label specifications. 4. P age Size is Bigger than Label Stock Size. If the page size set in the[...]

42 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance P age Size. Often the page size is not large enough for the label. If this is the case you may see white space on the right (printers left) side of the the label and no image over -lap on the opposite side. This indicates that the page size needs to be increased. Increase the page size through the printer prefer[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 43 print quality . Align the printhead by opening the PTStatus Monitor . Click on the Align P rinthead button on the Cartridge Utilities T ab (second tab). F ollow the onscreen prompts to load your paper for alignment. 5. Clean the Maintenance Station. Clean the maintenance station located on the right side of the [...]

44 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 8. Media. Make sure your label stock is inkjet printable. Many thermal label stocks look the same as inkjet but do not allow the ink to soak into the surface of the media. 9. Source File Image Mode. The image mode of the source file may be set to RGB instead of CMYK. This can cause the color matching to be off .[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 45 2. Resolution . Resolution is measured in dots per inch or dpi . 300 dpi is sufficient to get the best possible quality from most images. A 72 DPI image will look fine on screen but WILL NOT print well. Graphics and logos found on web- sites are typically 72 DPI. The image below was printed from a 72 DPI image. [...]

46 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 4. Color Mode. Set the color mode in the source graphic application to CMYK. In most cases this will produce the most accurate color reproduction of the image on screen. However , if CMYK is not producing the desired color matching try changing the source image to RGB and then exporting the image again in one of[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 47 D. CREA TE A SUPPOR T REPORT If you are encountering any problems with you LX900 tech support may ask you to create a T ech Support Report. Y ou can do this from the Status Monitor by clicking the "i" icon and clicking Create Report… A zip file will be create on your desktop. E. CLEANING THE PRINTER [...]

48 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance F . CLEANING THE PRINTHEAD It may be necessary to clean the printhead nozzles if you notice reduced print quality , missing colors or if you suspect an cartridge nozzle has become slightly dried out or clogged. T r y the following solutions: 1. Secure Cartridges. Mak e sure the cor responding cartridge is snappe[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 49 During this process the printer will make several loud whirring noises. This is nor mal! This is the sound of a pump forcing ink through the nozzles. If you do not hear this sound, the clean purge print did not complete successfully . T r y again. 3B. Deep clean the cartridge. (Optional - Only clean in this mann[...]

50 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance PRINTHEAD / CAR TRIDGE REPLA CEMENT PROCEDURE If you think your cartridge/printhead is defective, please con- tact tech support to arrange for a replacement. T ech support may ask you to perfor m troubleshooting before sending a replacement cartridge or printhead. Notes on Ink R eplacement • All replacements f[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 51 G. REPLACING THE PRINTHEAD Regular replacement of the printhead is not necessary . However it may become necessary if you notice a gradual decrease in print quality or if some of the print nozzles are still clogged after repeated manual cleanings as described in Section 5F . F ollow this procedure: 1. P ress the[...]

52 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 3. Remove the printhead. Grasp the printhead near the back as shown in the illustration. 4. Locate a new printhead and place it in the carriage. LX900.qxd 6/22/2011 6:40 AM Page 52 TO C INDEX TO C TO C INDEX[...]

T r oubleshooting and Maintenance 53 5. Close the latch until you hear a click. 6. P ress the P ause and Load/F eed buttons simultaneously to move the print carriage back to nor mal position. 7. Now align the print head as described in Section 5B. Press Pause + Load/Feed to Start and Finish. Power Ink Pause Load/ Feed Unload LX900.qxd 6/22/2011 6:4[...]

54 T r oubleshooting and Maintenance H. INTERPRETING THE PRINTER’S INDICA TOR LIGHTS Most error messages will appear on your computer screen via the Status Monitor application. However , if the error prevents communication with the computer the LED lights may be used to help diagnose the problem. LED Explanation Intermittent Flashing Printer is d[...]

T echnical Specifications 55 Section 6: T echnical Specifications Print Method: Thermal inkjet with Primera Imaging P er fection enhancements Print Resolutions: Up to 4800 DPI Print Speeds: Draft Mode: 4.5" per second Normal Mode: 1.8" per second High Quality Mode: 0.8" per second Print Head: Semi-permanent, user-replaceable Ink T an[...]

56 Index Inde x Align Printhead ...............................................................................42 Alignment T ab .....................................................................13, 16, 40 Barcode W izard .........................................................................24, 28 Bidirectional ...............................[...]

Index 57 Printer Driver Settings ...................................................................35 Printhead Aligning.....................................................................................42 Cleaning ..............................................................................42, 48 Replacing .....................................[...]

Printed in the United States of America P/N 511271 LX900.qxd 6/22/2011 6:40 AM Page 60[...]