Zebra Technologies GC420t manual

User Guide Zebra ® GC420t™ Desktop Thermal Printer[...]

ii P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012[...]

iii 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 ©2012 ZIH Corp. GC420, GC4 20t, ZBI, ZBI 2.0, ZBI-Develo per , Uni-Ribbon, ZebraDesigner , ZebraNet, EPL, EPL2, ZPL, ZPL II and all product names and numbers are Zebra trademarks, and Zebra, the Zebra h ead graphic, ZPL, ZPL II, Element Energy Equalizer circuit, E3 Circuit and, and ZebraNet are regis[...]

iv P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 FCC Compliance St atement This device compli es with Part 15 rules. Operati on is subject to the followin g two conditio ns: 1. This device may not cause harmful in terfer ence, and 2. This device must accept any interference recei ved, i ncluding interferenc e that may cause undesired operation. This [...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 About This Document This section provides yo u with contact informat ion, document structure and or ganization, an d additional re ference docu ments. Content s Who Should Use This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi How This Document Is Orga[...]

Who Shoul d Use This Do cument vi P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Who Should Use This Document This User Guide is intended for use by any pe rson who needs to op erate or to trou bleshoot problems with the printer. How This Document Is Organized The User Guide is set up as follows: Section Description Intr od uction on page 1 This secti[...]

vii Contacts 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Cont act s T echnical Supp ort via the Internet is available 24 hours per day , 365 days per year . W eb Site: www .zebra.com E-mail Back T e chnical Library: E-mail address: emb@zebra.com Subject line: Ema illist Self Service Knowledge Base: www .zebra.com/knowledgebase Online Case Registrat[...]

Document Conventions viii P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Document Conventions The following co nventions are used throughout this do cument to convey certain information. Alternate Color (online only) C ross-references contain h o t links to ot her sections in this guide. If you are viewing this guide on line in .pdf format, you can cl[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Contents About This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Who Should Use This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi How This Document Is Organi zed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

2 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 USB Interface Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Serial Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Parallel Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

3 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Sensor Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Platen Cleaning and Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Other Printer Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

4 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Notes • ___________ __________________ ____________________ __________________ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ ____________[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 1 Introduction This section describes what you get in your sh ipping box an d provides an overview of prin ter features. This includes procedur es that describe how to open and close the printer a n d report any problems. Content s GC420t™ Thermal Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

GC420t™ Thermal Printe rs 2 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 GC420t™ Thermal Printers The Zebra ® GC420t™ model is the best value in a desk top thermal printer . The GC420t™ printer pr ovides th ermal tran sfer and dir ect ther mal pri nting at speeds up to 4 ips (inches per second) at a 203 dpi (dots per in ch) print density . [...]

3 What’s in the Box? 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 What’ s in the Box? Save the carton and all packing materials in case you need to ship or store the printer later . After unpacking, make sure you have all parts. Follow th e procedures for inspecting the printer to familiariz e yourself with prin ter parts so you can fol low the [...]

What’s in the Box? 4 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Y o ur Printer Opening the p rinter T o access the media comp artment, you must open the p rinter . Pull the release la tches towards you and lift the cover . Check the media compartment for loose or damaged co mponents. Interface Connectors Feed Button Status Light Release Latches [...]

5 What’s in the Box? 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Printer Features Sensor Peel Bar Platen Roller Printhead BlackLine Sensor Ribbon Motion Sensor Media Guides Head-Up Sensor (inside) Pinch Roller Dispen ser Door (open) Take Up Spindles Supply Spindles Ribbon Roll Holders Dispenser Option Web (Gap) Sensor Media Guide Adjustment Roll [...]

What’s in the Box? 6 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Operator Controls Power Switch Press up to turn ON or down to turn OFF the printer . Caution • The printer power should b e turned off before connecting or disconnecting the communications and power cable s. Power OFF Power ON Power Swit ch Power Swit ch[...]

7 What’s in the Box? 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Feed Button • T ap the Feed butt on once to force the printer to fee d one blank label. • Press the Feed button to take th e printer out of a “pause” condition. The printer is pu t into “pause” by either a pr ogramming command or an error condition. See What the S tatus [...]

What’s in the Box? 8 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Closing the printer 1. Hold the top cover and press t he “k ick-stand’ c over lock to release. Lower the top cover . The ribbon carriage automatically folds up into place. 2. Press down until the cover sn aps closed.[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 2 Getting Started This section describ es how to set up your printer for th e first time and use the most common operating procedu res for loading media. Contents Attaching Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Loading Roll[...]

Attaching Power 10 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Att aching Power 1. Make sure the p rinter ’ s power switch is in the off positi on (down). 2. Insert the AC po wer cord into the power supply . 3. Plug the other end of the cord into an appropriate AC electrical out let. Note: The active power light will go on if power is on at the A[...]

11 Loading Roll Media 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Loading Roll Media When you load med ia, you must place the roll on to the media hangers. Y ou must use the correct media for the type of print ing you require. Prep aring Media Whether your roll media is inside or outside wo und, you load it into the prin ter the same way . • Remo[...]

Loading Roll Medi a 12 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Placing the Roll in the Media Comp artment 1. Open the printer . Remember that you need to pull the release latch levers towa rd the front of the prin ter . 2. Open the media guides by turning the medi a gu ide adjustment knob towards the rear of the printer .[...]

13 Loading Roll Media 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 3. Open the media rol l holders. Pull the media gui d es open with your fre e hand and place the media roll on the roll holders and relea se the guides. Orient the med ia roll so that its printing surface will face up as it passes over the platen (drive) roller .[...]

Loading Roll Medi a 14 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 4. Pull the media so th at it extends out of the front of th e printer . V erify the roll turns freely . The roll must not sit in the bottom of the media comp artment. V erify that the media’ s printing surface is facing up. 5. Push the media under both of the media guides. Close [...]

15 Loading Transfer Ribbon 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Loading T ransfer Ribbon T ransfer ribbons come in severa l varieties and in some cases colors to match your applic ation needs. Genuine Zebra ® transfer ribbons are sp ecifically designed for your printer and Zebra brand media. Usin g non-Zebra media or ribbo ns not approved f[...]

Loading Transfer Ribbon 16 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 1. W ith the printer open, thread the ribbon thro ugh the ribbon carriage. P ress the righ t side onto the spring lo aded supply hub. Al ign the left side of th e ribbon core notches to the l eft supply (spi ndle) hub spok es. Rotate the roll un til the not ches align a nd lock [...]

17 Loading Transfer Ribbon 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 3. Attach the ribbon to the take up core. Use the adhesi ve strip on new rolls; otherwise, use tape. Y ou must align th e ribbon when you are atta ching it to the core, so that it will be taken straig ht onto the core and alig n with the supply . 4. T urn the ribbon take-up gear[...]

Loading Transfer Ribbon 18 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 6. If printer powe r is on, press the Feed button to h ave the printer feed a minimum of 10 c m (4 inches) of media to remove sl ack and ribb on wrink le, and to ali gn the ribbon on the spindles. Otherw ise, wait to turn on the print er and comple te the printe r ‘Getting Sta[...]

19 Printing a T est (Printer Configuration) Label 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Printing a T est (Printer Configuration) Label Before you connect the printer to your computer , make sure th at the printer is in proper working order . Y ou can do this by printi ng a configuration status label. 1. Make sure the med i a is properly lo ad[...]

Pre-install Windows® Printer Drivers 20 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Pre-inst all Windows® Printer Drivers Zebra is changin g the way you install and use your printer with your W indows based PC systems. W e recommend that at minimum, th e ZebraDesigne r™ W ind ows® driver be pre- installed to take a d vantage of the advancement[...]

21 Pre-install Windows® Printer Drivers 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Universal Serial Bus (USB ) Device Communications The printer is a terminal device (not a host or hub) when using a USB interface. Y ou can refer to the USB Spec ification for d etails regard ing this in terface. Scanners, scales or other data inpu t (terminal) dev[...]

Connecting your Printer to a Computer 22 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Connecting your Printer to a Computer The Zebra ® GC420 printers suppor t a variety of interf ace options and config urations. Th ese include: Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, RS232 Serial, and Parallel (IEEE 1284.4). • USB, Serial and Parallel The Zebra Se[...]

23 Connecting your Printer to a Computer 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 USB Interface Requirement s Universal Serial Bus (ve rsion 2.0 compliant) provid es a fast interface that is compatible wi th your existing PC hardware. USB’ s “plug and play” d esign makes installation easy . Multiple printers can sha re a single USB port/hu[...]

Connecting your Printer to a Computer 24 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Serial Communications The printer has a DCE serial communication port for hardware co mpatibility with legacy 8 88 printers. The required cable must have a nine -pin “D” type (DB-9P) male connector on one end which p lugs into the mating (DB-9S) serial port loc[...]

25 Connecting your Printer to a Computer 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 EPL Y Command Use the serial port setup ( Y ) co mmand to change the communication s settings on the printer . 1. W ith the host computer set at the same co mmunications settings as the printer , send the Y command to chan ge the prin ter to the desi red settings. [...]

Connecting your Printer to a Computer 26 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Parallel Port The required cable must have a 25 pin “D” type (DB-25P) male connector (h ost) on one end and a Centronics (print er) on the other end (I EEE 1284 A-B parallel inte rface specification). Parallel Cable[...]

27 After Y our Printer is Connected 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Af ter Y our Printer is Connected Now that you have basic communication to y our printer , you may want to test printer communications and then install other printer rela ted applications, drivers or ut ilities. T esting Communications by Printing V erifying the print s[...]

After Y our Printer is Connected 28 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Notes • ___________ __________________ ____________________ __________________ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ [...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 3 Print Operations This section pro vides media an d print handling, font and language support, and the setu p of less common printer configurations. Content s Determining Printer Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Long T erm Printer In-act[...]

Determining Printer Configuration 30 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Determining Printer Configuration The printer uses a ZPL printer config uration status label to report the pri nter ’ s config uration status for both EPL and ZPL op erations.The ZPL style label provides a mo re intuitive and functionally descriptive naming conventio[...]

31 Modes of Printing 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Modes of Printing Y ou can operate this printer in many di fferent modes and media configurations: • Direct thermal prin ting (which uses heat sensitive media to print). • Thermal transfer printing (whi ch u ses ribbon to he at transfer pr int to the med ia). • S tandard T ear-O[...]

Print Media T ypes 32 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 T able 1 • T ypes of Media Roll and Fanfold Media Media T ype How It Looks Description Non-Continuous Roll Media Roll media is wound on a core that can be 0.5 to 1.5 in. (12.7 to 38.1 mm) in diameter . Labels h ave adhesive backing that sticks them to a liner , and they are separat[...]

33 Replacing Supplies 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Determining Thermal Media T y pes Thermal transfer media requires ribbon for printing while direct thermal media does no t. T o determine if ri bbon must be used with a partic ular media, perform a media scratch test. T o perform a media scratch test, comp lete these steps: 1. Scratc[...]

Adjusting the Print Width 34 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Replacing a Partially Used T ransfer Ribbon T o remove used transfer ribbon, pe rform the following steps. 1. Cut the ribbon from the take-up roll. 2. Remove the take-up roll an d discard used ribbon. 3. Remove the supply roll and tape the end of any fre sh ribbon to prevent i[...]

35 Media Sensing 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Media Sensing The printer has au tomatic media sensing capabilit y . The printer is design ed to continuously check and adju st media length sensing for minor variations. Once the printer is printing or feeding media, the printe r continually che cks and adjusts the media sensing to accom[...]

Ribbon Overview 36 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Ribbon Overview Ribbon is a t h in film that is co ated on one side with wax, resin, o r wax resin, which is transferred to the media d uring the therm al transfe r process. The media determi nes whether you need to use ribbon and how wide the ribb on must be. When ribbon is used , it m[...]

37 Ribbon Overview 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Ribbon T est with Adhesive If you have lab els available, p erform the adhesive test to determine wh ich side of a ribbon is coated. This method works well for ribbon that is already insta l led. T o perform an adhesive test, comple te these steps: 1. Peel a label fro m its liner . 2. P[...]

Printing on Fa n-Fold Media 38 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Printing on Fan-Fold Media Printing on fan-fol d media requires yo u to adjust the media guide’ s stop position. 1. Open the t op cover . 2. W ith a sample of your media, adjust the medi a roll holders to the width of the media. The hangers should just t ouch, but not rest[...]

39 Printing on Fan-F old Media 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 3. W ith a sample of your media, adjust the gu ides to the width of the media.The guides should just t ouch, but not restri ct, the edges of the media. 4. Run the media between the me d ia guide and roll ho lders. 5. Close the top cover . After printing or feeding several la[...]

Printing with Externally Mo unted Roll Media 40 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Printing with Externally Mounted Roll Media The GC420 printer acc ommodates externally mounted roll media similar to the printer ’ s support of fan-fold media. The printer requires the media roll and stand combination to have a low initial in ertia to pull[...]

41 Fonts and Y our Printer 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Font s and Y our Printer The GC420 printer supp orts your language an d fo nt requiremen ts with a variety of intern al fonts, on-board font scaling, in ternational font sets and character code page support, Unicode support, and font downlo ad. The GC420 printer ’ s font capab[...]

Fonts and Y our Printer 42 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Identifying Font s in Y our Printer Fonts and memory are shared by the programming lang uages in the printer . Fonts can be loaded in many memory areas in the GC420 printer . ZPL programming can recogn ize EPL and ZPL fonts. EPL programming can only recogn ize EPL fonts. See the[...]

43 S tand Alone Printing 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 S t and Alone Printing Y our printer can be config ured to work withou t being attached to a computer . The printer has the ability to automatically run a single l abel form. One or more downlo aded label forms can be accessed and run with a terminal or wedge device or a Zebra ® [...]

Sending Files to the Printer 44 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Sending Files to the Printer Graphics, font s and programming files can be sent to the printer from th e Microsoft Windows operating sy stems by using th e Zebra Setup Utilities (a nd driver), ZebraNet™ Bridge or Zebra ® ZDownloade r found on the user's C D or at ww[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 4 Printer Options This section covers th e common printer opti ons and accessories with bri ef descriptions and how to get yo u started using or configuring yo ur printer option or accessory . Content s Label Dispenser Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

Label Dispenser Option 46 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Label Dispenser Option The factory insta lled label dispen ser option allows yo u to print a la bel with bac king (liner/web) being re moved from the label as it prints, ready for application. When prin ting multiple labels, removing the dispensed (pee led) label notifies the pri[...]

47 Label Dispenser Option 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 2. Lift the liner over the top of the printer and open the dispenser door . 3. Insert the lab el liner between the di spenser door and the printer body .[...]

Label Dispenser Option 48 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 4. Close the disp enser door . 5. Press the Feed button to advance the media. 6. During the print job, the print er will peel off the bac king and present a single labe l. T ake the label fro m the printer to allow the p r inter to print th e next label. Note: If you d id not act[...]

49 Zebra® KDU — Printer Accessory 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Zebra ® KDU — Printer Accessory The Zebra ® KDU (keyboard display unit) is a small terminal unit that interfaces with the printer for accessing EPL la bel forms stored in the printer . The KDU is strictly a termi nal and does not ha ve the ca pability to store data[...]

KDU Plus™ — Printer Accessory 50 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 KDU Plus™ — Printer Accessory The KDU Plus™ is a te rminal device with memory for storing fil es and maintaining one or more remote print ers. The KDU Plus has a lar ger laptop style keyboard than the Zebra’ s original KDU desi gn. The KDU Plus i s designed for[...]

51 ZBI 2.0™ — Zebra Basic Interpreter 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 ZBI 2.0™ — Zebra Basic Interpreter Customize and enhance your printer with ZBI 2.0™ optional programming language. ZBI 2.0 allows Zebra printers to run applications and take input from scales, scanners and other peripherals—a ll without a PC or network con[...]

ZBI 2.0™ — Zebra Basic Interpreter 52 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Notes • ___________ __________________ ____________________ __________________ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ _____________[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 5 Maintenance This section provid es routine cl eaning and maintenance procedures. Content s Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Cleaning the Printhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

Maintenance Cleaning 54 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Cleaning When you clea n the printer , use one of the follow ing supplies that best su its your needs: Y ou can obtain cleaning su pplies at www .zipzebra.com . The cleaning pro cess takes just a couple of minutes us ing the steps outlined below . Cleaning Supplies Order Quantity I[...]

55 Maintenance Cleaning 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Cleaning the Printh ead Always use a new cleaning pen on the printhead (an ol d pen carries contamin ants from its previous u ses that m ay damage the printhead). When you loa d new media, you can also c lean the printhead. 1. Rub the cleaning pen across t h e dark area of the prin[...]

Maintenance Cleaning 56 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Media Path Considerations Use a cleaning swab to remove debris, d ust or crust that has built -up on the holders, gu ides and media path surfaces. 1. Use the alcohol in the clea ning swab to so ak t he debris to break up the adhesive. 2. W ipe the rid ges to remove accumulated deb [...]

57 Maintenance Cleaning 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Sensor Cleaning Dust can accumula te on the media sensors. 1. Gently brush or blow dust away wit h a can of compressed ai r . Do not use an air compressor - oil (from the pump) and dirty water will contaminate the printer and printhead. If necessary , use a dry swab to brus h away [...]

Maintenance Cleaning 58 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Platen Cleaning and Replacement The standard platen (drive roll er) normally does not require cleaning. Pape r and liner dust can accumulate without effectin g print operations. Cont aminates on the platen roller c an damage the printhead or c ause the media to slip or st ick when [...]

59 Maintenance Cleaning 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 3. Lift the pla ten out of the prin ter ’ s bottom frame. 4. Clean the pl aten with the a lcohol moist ened swab. C lean from the center out. Rep eat this process until th e all of the roller surface has been cl eaned. If there has been heavy adhesive build-up or labe l jam, repe[...]

Maintenance Cleaning 60 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 7. Align the plat en with the gea r to the left an d lower it into the p r inter ’ s bottom fra me. 8. Rotate the pl aten bearing latch release tab s down on the right and left side s towards the rear of the printer a nd snap them into place. Allow the printer to dry for one minu[...]

61 Maintenance Replacing the Printhead 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Replacing the Printhead If you need to replace the printhead, read the procedure and re view the removal and installation steps before actually replaci ng the printhead. Before followi ng the steps in this proce dure, open the printer by pulling the release l atches [...]

Maintenance Replacing the Printh ead 62 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 3. Use the spring to pry the printhead clip of f the right si de of the carriage. . 4. Pull the printhead and bracket forward. . 5. Use a #2 Phillips driver to remove the screw t hat holds the ground wire.[...]

63 Maintenance Replacing the Printhead 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 6. Unplug both bun dles of printhead wires from their connect ors. Replacing the Print head The new print head comes with the clip and ground screw attached. 1. Align the print head and bracket to plug the left and right connecto rs into the black and white wire bund[...]

Maintenance Replacing the Printh ead 64 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 2. Attach the ground wire and secure it with the screw . Use a #2 Phil lips driver to tighten it. 3. Slip the left end o f the printhead spring into the left side of the ribbon carriag e; then slide the right e nd into the other side. The an gle of the “V” fits [...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 6 Troubleshooting This section provides info rmation about printer error reporting that you might need for printer troubleshootin g. Assorted diagno stic tests are included. Content s S tatus Light Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

S tatus Light Descriptions 66 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 S tatus Light Descriptions What the St atus Light is T elling Y ou LED St atus and Color Printer St atu s For a Resolution, Refer to Numbe r: Off Off 1 Solid Green On 2 Solid A mber Stopped 3 Flashing Gree n Normal Operat ion 4 Flashing Red Stop ped 5 Double Flashing Green Pa[...]

67 S tatus Light Error Resolutions 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 S tatus Light Error Resolutions The following Status Error Light Resoluti on numbers correspond to the Status Light Description tab le on the previous page. Each error number ma y have one or more reso lution to correct that erro r listed. 1. The printer is not receiving[...]

S tatus Light Error Resolutions 68 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 5. The media is out. • Follow the instructions for Loading Rol l Media on page 1 1 in the Getting S tarted section, and then press t he Feed button to resume printi ng. The ribbon is out. • The printer has sensed the end of the ri bbon roll. Replace the ribbo n. The [...]

69 Print Quality Problems 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Print Quality Problems No print on the label. • The media may not be direct thermal media wh ich is required when printing without ribbon (i.e. thermal t ransfer). See the test procedure Determining Ther mal Media T ypes on page 33 . • The wrong side of the media is facing up[...]

Print Quality Problems 70 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 There are long tracks of missing print (blank vertical lines) on several labels. • The printhead is dirty . Clean the printhead. • The printhead elem ents are damaged. The printing does not st art at the to p of the label or misprinting of one to three labels. • The media m[...]

71 Print Quality Problems 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 A EPL label format was sent to, bu t not recognized by , the printer . • Is the printer i n pause mode? If so, pre s s the Feed button. • If the printer has la bel dispensing enabled, the prin ter may be waiting for the label to be removed. The liner/web must be properly th r[...]

Manual Calibration 72 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Manual Calibration Manual calibrat ion is recommende d whenever you are using pre-pr i nted media or if the printer will not correctly auto calibrate. 1. Make sure media i s loaded. 2. T urn on the pr inter power . 3. Press and hold the Fee d button until the gree n stat us light fla[...]

73 T ro ubleshooting T ests 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 T roubleshooting T est s Printing a Configuration Label T o print out a listi ng of the printer ’ s current configuration, refer to the one-flash sequence in Feed Button Modes on page 76 in this section. See App endix: ZPL Configuration on p age 87 to interpre t the label. Re[...]

Resetting the Factory Default V alues 74 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Resetting the Factory Default V alues Sometimes, resetting the printer to the factor y defaults may so lve some problems. Refer to t he four-flash sequence in Feed Button Modes on page 76 in this section. Communications Diagnostics If there is a problem transferrin[...]

75 Communications Diagnostics 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 The following example of a commun ications DUMP mode printed o ut. The printout displays hexadecimal d ata 00h-FFh (0-255 decimal) with a unique character for each hexa decimal value displayed above the h exadecimal data. The blank lines between t he lines of data are where s[...]

Feed Button Modes 76 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Feed Button Modes Power Off Modes W ith the printer power off, pr ess an d hold the Fee d button wh ile you turn on the power . Flash Sequence Action Amber - Red Flashing Firmware Download Mode - The printer starts rapidly flas hi ng red to denote entr y into the Firmware Download mod[...]

77 Feed Button Modes 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Power On Modes W ith the printer power on and top cove r closed, pres s and hold the Feed button for several seconds. The green status LED will flash a number of times in sequence. The explana tion at the right (Action) sh ows what happens when you release the key after the star t spe[...]

Feed Button Modes 78 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Notes • ___________ __________________ ____________________ __________________ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _______________[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 A Appendix: Interface Wiring This section provides printer interface connection informati on. Content s Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Parallel Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface 80 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface The figure below displays the cable wirin g re quired to use the printer’ s USB interface. The printer requires cable or cable pac k agin g that bears the “ Certified USB™” mark to guarantee USB 2.0 compliance. For printe[...]

81 Parallel Interface 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Parallel Interface The printer ’ s parallel interface uses the IEEE 1284-A to 1284-B parallel interface cables. the host connector h as a DB-25 pin male conne ctor . The printer connecto r is a Centronics sty le connector . PRINTER DB -25 Pin No. Centronics Pin No. DB -25 to Centro[...]

Serial Port In terface 82 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Serial Port Interface The maximum current avai lable through the serial and/o r parallel port is not to exceed a total of 0.75 Amps. When XON/XOFF handshak ing is selected, data flow is controlled by th e ASCII control codes DC1 (XON) and DC3 (X OFF) . The DTR control lead will h[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 B Appendix: Dimensions This section p rovides exte rnal printe r dimensio ns. Content s External GC420t™ Printer Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Optional: Label Dispenser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

External GC420t™ Printer Dimensio ns 84 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 External GC420t™ Printer Dimensions All dimensions are in inches[...]

85 External GC420t™ Printer Dimensions 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 Optional: Label Dispenser[...]

External GC420t™ Printer Dimensio ns 86 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Notes • ___________ __________________ ____________________ __________________ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ _____________[...]

5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 C Appendix: ZPL Configuration This section provides a basic overview of mana ging printer conf iguration, the Configuring Status Printout, and Pr inter Memory Printouts. Content s Managing the ZPL Printer Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 ZPL Config[...]

Managing the ZPL Prin ter Configuration 88 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Managing the ZPL Printer Configuration The ZPL printer is designed to allo w you to change printer set tings dynamically for fast first label out printing . Printer parameters that are pe rsistent, will be retai n ed for following formats to use. Those settings w[...]

89 ZPL Configuration St atus to Command Cros s-reference 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 ZPL Configuration S tatus to Command Cross-reference The Printer Configur ation Label, shown below , provides a listing of a maj ority of the configurations settings that can be set by ZPL command. Figure 2 • Configuration Label Printout Sensor Se[...]

ZPL Configuration S tatus to Command Cross-reference 90 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 T able 2 • ZPL Commands a nd Configuration Receipt Callout Cross-Reference From this point in the Configurat ion Receipt listing, the p r intout has senso r settings and values are displayed t o troubleshoot sensor and media operations. These are t[...]

91 ZPL Configuration St atus to Command Cros s-reference 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 The configuration set tings listed here resume afte r the T AKE LABEL sensor value. These listings contai n printer features seldom chang ed from default or prov ide status infor mation (e.g. Firmware V ersion). T able 3 • ZPL Commands a nd Config[...]

Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Reports 92 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Report s T o help you manage printer reso urces, the prin ter supports a variety format commands to manage memory , transfer object s (between memory areas, import and export ), object naming, and provid[...]

93 Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Reports 5/22/2012 GC420t™ User Guide P1052686-001 T able 4 • Object Management and S tatus Report Commands Command Name Description ^WD Print Directory Label Prints a list of objects and residen t bar codes and fonts in all addressable memory locations ~WC Print Configuration Label Prints a confi[...]

Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Reports 94 P1052686-001 GC420t™ User Guide 5/22/2012 Notes • ___________ __________________ ____________________ __________________ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ ___________ __________________ _____________________ __________________ ______ __________[...]