FARGO electronics CD Color Printer manual

971015-510225-(01) U ser Õ s Manual © 1997 by F ARGO Electronics, Incorporated CD Color Printer 510225 Fargo/CD Color Prtr 7/29/98 2:39 PM Page i[...]

Notices The information in this document is subject to change without notice. NO W ARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS MADE WITH REGARD 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 her ein or for incidental damages in connection w[...]

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

Getting Started 1 Section 1: Getting Started THANK YOU… ...for choosing the CD Color Printer . This printer is the perfect way for you to label all of your custom CDÕs quickly , easily , and with a touch of class. The CD Color Printer lets you print razor-sharp text, vibrant spot colors, and even stunning photo- realistic photographs dir ectly o[...]

2 Getting Started ¥ W arranty Statement and Registration Card ¥ This manual and other printed information Save the carton and packing materials. They will come in handy when transporting the printer . C. IDENTIFYING THE P ARTS This illustration shows the extended CD T ray and all of the control buttons and LED indicator lights found on the printe[...]

Getting Started 3 This illustration shows the input ports found on the rear panel of the printer . Both a parallel and a serial interface port are provided. If using the printer with W indows, you will use its Parallel Interface Port. If using the printer with an Apple ¨ Macintosh, you will use its Serial Interface Port. Note that the printer Õs [...]

4 Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s Section 2: Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s A. ABOUT INK CARTRIDGES AND PRINT ABLE CD-R’S For full-color printing, a 3-color ink cartridge is available. This cartridge contains the three pr ocess-color inks of yellow , magenta, and cyan, which combine to produce up to 16.7 million printable colors. A[...]

Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s 5 2. Remove the ink cartridge from its packaging. 3. Remove the tape covering the cartridgeÕs printhead. DO NOT TOUCH THE COPPER AREA! 4. Press and r elease the Ink Cartridge button to move the carrier to the load position. 5 Insert the ink cartridge into the cartridge carrier , copper- end first. 6. Push the[...]

6 Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s C. LOADING BLANK CD-R MEDIA The CD Color Printer is capable of printing onto a variety of CD-R related media including printable CD-RÕs, car dboard CD templates, and jewel case booklets and inserts. Each of these items is loaded one at a time, before the start of each print job. Loading a Blank CD-R 1. W it[...]

Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s 7 Loading a Blank Jewel Case Booklet or Insert Blank CD-R jewel case booklets and inserts are available for creating custom jewel case labels. The jewel case booklet is what slips into the top lid of the jewel case. The jewel case insert is what is enclosed along the spine and back of the jewel case. T o load [...]

8 Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s 3. Press and r elease the CD T ray button to close the CD T ray . If you wish, you may also leave the CD T ray open and it will automatically close at the start of the print job. Once printing is complete, the CD T ray will automatically re-open. In order for the printer to print pr operly , CD-R media must [...]

Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s 9 E. REPLACING OR SWITCHING INK CARTRIDGES Once you begin using your CD Color Printer on a regular basis, you will eventually need to replace an empty ink cartridge or switch between color and monochrome cartridges. T o do this from a Macintosh, W indows 3.1x, or W indows NT , use the same steps described in P[...]

10 Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s 4. From within the printer driver setup window , click on the Cartridge button and then on the Change button to move the carrier to the load position. Note that the printer driver must be installed and that the printer must be connected to your computer (see Section 3) in order to complete this step. 5. Rem[...]

Ink Cartridges and Printable CD-R’ s 11 7. Push the cartridge back until it snaps into place. 8. Go back to the printer driver setup window and click on either the New Cartridge Installed or the Old Cartridge Installed button to indicate whether you installed a fresh, new cartridge or simply switched between a previously used color cartridge and [...]

12 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows Section 3: Using the CD Color Printer with W indows A. CONNECTING THE PRINTER TO YOUR COMPUTER The CD Color Printer is designed to be used with nearly any IBM-PC ¨ or compatible running W indows 3.1x, W indows NT , or W indows 95. For best performance, a minimum of a 486/66 computer with 8Mb of RAM or hi[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 13 The printer must have its Power light illuminated to receive data. If the light is not on, press the Power button. B. INST ALLING THE PRINTER DRIVER The Color CD Printer can be used with virtually any W indows application program. This is accomplished by installing in W indows what is called a Òprinter d[...]

14 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 3. Double-click on the Add Printer icon. 4. Follow the on-screen instr uctions to complete installation. When prompted, do not have W indows print a test print since you most likely performed a printer self test in Section 2. Once installed, the ÒCD Color PrinterÓ icon will appear in the Printers folder[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 15 6. Select the Install button. 7. Insert the supplied Printer Driver diskette into your computer Õs disk drive. If you insert the diskette in a drive other than the A: drive displayed in the Install Driver dialog box, you must change the drive designation. Select the OK button. 8. ÒCD Color PrinterÓ sho[...]

16 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 2. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and select Control Panel. 3. Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. 4. Follow the on-screen instr uctions to complete installation. When installed, the 32-Bit Print Spooler will appear in the Programs gr oup of the Start menu. NOTE Before installing upd[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 17 When the 32-Bit Print Spooler is running, its icon will appear in the W indows 95 T ask Bar . During a print job, it is sometimes helpful to click on this icon to bring the 32-Bit Print Spooler status window to the foregr ound of your application. This window provides a number of details about the print j[...]

18 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows W indows 95 or W indows NT , click the Start button, point to Settings, and select Printers. Then, click on the CD Color Printer icon with the right mouse button and select Properties if using W indows 95 or Document Defaults if using W indows NT . 2. In W indows 3.1x, select the Setup button. In W indows[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 19 Ink Cartridge Select either Color or Monochrome accor ding to the type of ink cartridge you have installed. Print Quality Select the appropriate print quality option for your image. Keep in mind that Draft pr ovides the lowest quality but fastest print, and that Presentation 600 x 300 pr ovides the highes[...]

20 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows Ink Saturation This option controls the ink saturation of the printed image. When printing onto the printer manufacturer Õs T uffCoat CD-R media, this option should be left at its default setting of 100%. When printing onto other brands of printable CD-R media, you may need to adjust this control in or d[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 21 and printing process. In this case, the W rite Direct to Port option should be selected. For some computers, however , this option may not be supported by the particular brand of PC and should not be selected. Fast 32-bit Spooler Select this option for consistently faster print processing under W indows 9[...]

22 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows If this window appears as shown below , check that an ink cartridge is installed, that the 32-Bit Print Spooler is installed, and that your computer is connected and communicating properly with the printer . The Cartridge Maintenance Functions window also provides the following other functions: Select the[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 23 Calibrate Select this button to display options for fine-tuning the position of your printed image and the size of a CD-RÕs non-printable center . When facing the printer , the V ertical adjustment moves the printed image toward the printer if a positive number is enter ed and away from the printer if a [...]

24 Using the CD Color Printer with W indows If you have just unboxed your new printer and are using it for the first time, you should run a simple calibration pr ocedure to assure that your images will be center ed when printed on a CD. T o calibrate your printer , refer to the following steps: 1. V erify that a car dboard CD template and a color i[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with W indows 25 After your selections have been made, close out of the printer setup window . Y ou are now r eady to go to an application program and print. All printer driver selections will stay the same until you change them. E. PRINTING A CD-R Now that you have hooked up the printer , loaded the print supplies, and i[...]

correct for your image. Be sur e the proper Media and Ink Cartridge options are selected accor ding to the supplies you have installed in the printer . Once the driver is set, select Print fr om the programÕs File menu. 4. The printer driver will then begin to process the image. Depending upon the size of the image and the processing speed of your[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh 27 Section 4: Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh A. CONNECTING THE PRINTER TO YOUR COMPUTER The CD Color Printer is designed to be used with any Apple Macintosh supporting Color QuickDrawª and running system software 7.0 or higher . For best performance, a Macintosh with a 68040 processor and 8Mb of[...]

28 Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh The printer must have its Power light illuminated to receive data. If the light is not on, press the Power button. B. INST ALLING THE PRINTER DRIVER The CD Color Printer can be used with virtually any Macintosh application program. This is accomplished by installing what is called a Òprinter driver .Ó [...]

Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh 29 4. When the Installer window appears, select the options you would like the installer program to install. In most instances, the default selections will suffice. For a description of each of these options, refer to the notes found in the box directly above these options (use the up and down arrows to scr[...]

30 Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh 3. Select either the Modem or Printer Port to indicate to which port the serial interface cable was connected. If the Printer port is selected, AppleT alk should remain inactive while printing unless you are using AppleT alk through your Ethernet port. AppleT alk does not apply when printing with the Mod[...]

Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh 31 Ink Cartridge Select either Color or Monochrome accor ding to the type of ink cartridge you have installed. Print Quality Select the appropriate print quality option for your image. Keep in mind that Draft pr ovides the lowest quality but fastest print, and that Presentation pr ovides the highest quality[...]

32 Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh click on the Set Profile… button, select the F ARGO Default System (icc) pr ofile, and click on the Select button. The profile is now selected. Ink Saturation This option controls the ink saturation of the printed image. When printing onto the printer manufacturer Õs T uffCoat CD-R media, this option [...]

Using the CD Color Printer with Macintosh 33 Cartridge Select this button to display options for changing or cleaning an ink cartridge. Select the Change button to move the printer Õs ink cartridge carrier to the load position in order to change ink cartridges. Note that pressing the printer Õs Ink Cartridge button serves this same purpose. See S[...]

The Center Size adjustment enlarges the non-printable center if a positive number is entered and r educes its size if a negative number is entered. As a rule, an adjustment of 12 pixels is equivalent to approximately 1 millimeter . Once you have entered the optimum calibration values, you will most likely not need to change them again. The followin[...]

4. When the second run of the print is compete, you should have a test print that looks like the following: 5. Along the V ertical axis of the printed CD template, find the number whose lines touch. For example, in the above illustration, the number would be -6. Enter that number into the V ertical box of the Calibration window . Repeat this same s[...]

¥ If creating a label for a CD-R, set your page size to 4.56Ó x 4.56Ó (1 16 x 1 16mm). Although your image will appear square on scr een, the printer driver will automatically crop your image to the r ound shape of a CD-R for printing. The driver will also automatically crop out the center 1.6Ó (41mm) of your image to accommodate a CD-RÕs non-[...]

Using the Print Backgrounder for Macintosh 37 Section 5: Using the Print Backgrounder for Macintosh The printer driver for Macintosh provides a backgr ound print utility called the Print Backgrounder . This print utility is turned on or off thr ough the Chooser . When the Backgrounder is turned on, it allows you to conveniently continue working in [...]

38 Using the Print Backgrounder for Macintosh your print jobs. Backgrounder pr ocesses all print jobs in the order in which they wer e sent to the printer . C. THE BACKGROUNDER ST A TUS WINDOW The Backgrounder status window gives you detailed information about the status of the print job currently processing and about each print job waiting in the [...]

Using the Print Backgrounder for Macintosh 39 D. BACKGROUNDER MENUS File menu Open Status W indow and Close Status W indow: Opens and closes the Backgrounder status window . The Backgr ounder continues to work if the status window is closed. Log Files: The Backgrounder has the ability to cr eate and maintain a sequential history file, or Log file, [...]

40 Using the Print Backgrounder for Macintosh lower left-hand corner of the window indicates that Backgrounder has stopped. Y ou cannot quit from Backgr ounder while it is processing a job. Stop Processing must first be selected to cancel the processing job and stop Backgrounder . When Backgrounder stops, the menu changes to Continue Processing. Wh[...]

Using the Print Backgrounder for Macintosh 41 E. PROBLEMS DURING A BACKGROUND PRINT Errors that ar e detected during a background print must be reported. The Backgr ounder , however , cannot simply present a dialog box as soon as the error occurs, since the dialog could obscure work that is being done in the for eground. Err or dialogs appear immed[...]

42 Interpreting the Printer ’ s Indicator Lights Section 6: Interpreting the Printer ’ s Indicator Lights The Power and Busy LED indicator lights located on the top of the printer can tell you a lot about what is happening inside the printer . T o accurately interpret what it means when these lights are on, of f, or flashing, please refer to th[...]

Maintaining the Printer 43 Section 7: Maintaining the Printer The CD Color Printer is designed to requir e very little maintenance. Nevertheless, there ar e a few procedur es you can perform on a regular basis or as needed to ensur e your printer Õs best performance. A. CLEANING THE INK CAR TRIDGE NOZZLES This procedur e is done if the printer doe[...]

44 Maintaining the Printer B. CLEANING THE CD TRA Y AND PRINTER CASING If ink gets on the printer Õs CD T ray , it may stain if left on the tray too long. T o avoid this, simply wipe off any ink fr om the CD T ray as soon as you notice it. Use a lint-free cloth slightly moistened with isopropyl alcohol to wipe of f the CD T ray . If necessary , us[...]

T echnical Specifications 45 Section 8: T echnical Specifications Print Method: Thermal Ink-Jet Print Resolution: Normal: 300 x 300 dpi Highest Quality: 600 x 300 dpi Print Speed: Depends upon coverage and print quality mode; about two minutes per full-color CD, less than 30 seconds for monochrome black (15% coverage) Colors: 16.7 million colors or[...]

46 Interfacing Information 14 25 13 PIN 1 36 18 PIN 1 19 WIRE DIAGRAM DB36P DB25P 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 32 15 31 16 36 17 THROUGH 3019 THROUGH 25 SHELL SHELL T ABLE A-1: Parallel Interface Pin Assignments Appendix A: Interfacing Information A. INTRODUCTION The CD Color Printer is equipped with both a standard 8-bi[...]

Interfacing Information 47 C. MINI 8-PIN SERIAL INTERF ACE The mini 8-pin serial interface connector is the standard interface used by Macintosh. The printer Õs serial port mates with a standard computer to printer serial cable. For best results, always use a high-quality serial cable which is less than 6 feet in length. Pin assignments are as fol[...]

48 Interfacing Information D. 6-PIN MINICIRCULAR AUXILIAR Y INTERF ACE The 6-pin minicircular auxiliary interface is used for connecting the printer with auxiliary equipment such as a CD transporter/ auto-loader . Pin assignments are as follows: Uses 74HC logic voltage levels Pin Number Signal Description 1 Busy - Output is high when the printer is[...]

Index 49 Index Algebraic .....................................................................................19, 31 Auxiliary Port ...............................................................................3, 48 Backgrounder ...................................................................................37 Booklet ..........................[...]

F ARGO Electronics, Incorporated Printed in the United States of America Eden Prairie, Minnesota, U.S.A. P/N 510225 510225 Fargo/CD Color Prtr 7/29/98 2:39 PM Page 52[...]