Zebra GC420d manual

User Guide Zebra ® GC420d™ Desktop Thermal Printer 11/23/1 99711/23/199 7[...]

ii P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1[...]

iii 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 ©201 1 ZIH Corp. GC420,GC420d, ZBI, ZBI 2.0, Z B I-Developer , Uni-Ribbon, ZebraDesigner , ZebraNet, EPL, EPL2, ZPL, ZP L II, OpenACCESS and all product names and numbers are Zebra trademarks, and Zebr a, the Zebra head graphic, ZPL, ZPL II, Element Energy Equal izer circu it, E3 Circuitand, and Zeb[...]

iv P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 FCC Compliance St atement This device compli es with Part 15 rules. Operati o n is subject to the followin g two conditio ns: 1. This device may not cause harmful in terferen ce, and 2. This device must accept any interference recei ved, including interferenc e that may cause undesired operation. This[...]

8/15/1 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Rev . 1 About This Document This section provides yo u with contact informat ion, document structure and orga nization, and additional re ference documents. Content s Who Should Use This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi How This Document Is[...]

Who Shoul d Use This Do cument vi P1039494-001 Rev . 1 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/1 1 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 oduction on page 1 This[...]

vii Contacts 8/15/1 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Rev . 1 Cont act s T echnical Support vi a the Internet is availa ble 24 hours per day , 365 day s per year . W eb Site: www .zebra.co m E-mail Back T e chnical L ibrary: E-mail address: emb@zebra.com Subject line: Ema illist Self Service Knowledge Base: www .zebra.com/knowledgebase Online Cas[...]

Document Conventions viii P1039494-001 Rev . 1 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/1 1 Document Conventions The following co nventions are used throughout this do cument to convey certain information. Alternate Color (online only) C r oss-referenc es contain hot links to othe r sections in this guide. If you are viewing this guide on line in .pdf format, you[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Contents • About This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Who Should Use This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi How This Document Is Organi z ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

x P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Long T erm Printer In-activity or S torag e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Thermal Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Modes of Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

xi 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 T roubleshooting T ests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Printing a Configuration Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Recalibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

xii P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ _______[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 1 Introduction This section describes what you get in your sh ipping box and p rovides an overview of printer features. This includes procedures that descri be how to open and close the print er and report any problems. Content s GC420d™ Thermal Printers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

GC420d™ Thermal Printers 2 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ Thermal Printers The Zebra ® GC420d™ model is the b est value in a desktop thermal printer . Th e GC420d™ printer provides di rect thermal prin ting at speeds up to 4 ips (i nches per second) at a 203 dpi (dots per inch) print de nsity . The GGC420d™ sup port[...]

3 What’s in the Box? 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 What’ s in the Box? Save the carton and all packi ng materials in case you need to ship or store the printer la ter . After unpacking, make sure you have a ll parts. Follow th e procedures for inspe cting the printer to familiarize yourself with printe r parts so you c an follow [...]

What’s in the Box? 4 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Y o ur Printer Opening the p rinter T o access the media comp artment, you must open the printer . Pull the release latch es towards you and lift the cover . Check the media co mpartment for loose or damaged componen ts. Interfac e Connectors Feed Button Status Light Release Latche[...]

5 What’s in the Box? 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Printer Features Label-Taken Sensor Peel Bar Platen Roller Dispenser Option BlackLine Sensor Gap Sensor Roll Holder and Media Guides Head-Up Sensor (inside) Pinch Roller Dispenser Door (open) Printhead Media Guides Media Guide Adjustment[...]

What’s in the Box? 6 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Operator Controls Power Switch Press up to turn ON or down to turn OFF the printer . Feed Button • T ap the Feed button once to force the printer to feed one b lank label. • Press the Feed button to take th e printer out of a “pause” condition. The printer is put in to “p[...]

7 What’s in the Box? 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 S t atus Light Located on the top case next to the feed bu tton, the status light functions as a printe r operational ind icator (see S tatus Light Description s on page 68 ). Feed Butto n Status Light[...]

What’s in the Box? 8 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Closing the printer 1. Lower the top cover . 2. Press down until the cover sn aps closed.[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 2 Getting Started This section describ es how to set up your printer for th e first time and use t he most common operating procedu res for loading media. Content s Attaching Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Loading R[...]

Attaching Power 10 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Att aching Power 1. Make sure the p rinter ’ s power switch is in the of f position (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 outlet . Note: The active power light will go on if power is on a t the[...]

11 Loading Roll Media 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Loading Roll Media When you load med ia, you must pl ace the roll on to the media hang ers. Y ou must use the correct media for the type of printin g you require . Prep aring Media Whether your roll media is inside o r outside wo und, you loa d it into the prin ter the same wa y . ?[...]

Loading Roll Medi a 12 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Placing the Roll in the Media Comp artment 1. Open the printer . Remember that you need to pull the re lease latch levers toward the front of the prin ter . 2. Open the media guides by turning th e media guide adjustment kn ob toward the rear of the printer .[...]

13 Loading Roll Media 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 3. Pull the media ro ll holders op en with your free hand and place the me dia roll on the roll holders and release. Orient the media roll so that its printing surf ace will face up as it passes over the platen (drive) roller .[...]

Loading Roll Medi a 14 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 4. Pull the media so that it exten ds out of the front of the printer . Thread the med ia under the media guides.V erify the roll tu rn s freely . The roll must not sit in the bottom of the media compartment. V erify t hat the medi a’ s printing surface is fac i ng up. 5. Close t[...]

15 Printing a T est (Printer Configurati on) Label 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Printing a T est (Printer Configuration) Label Before you connect the printer to your computer , make sure th at the printer is i n proper working order . Y ou can do this by printi ng a config uration status lab el. 1. Make sure the med ia is properly l[...]

Pre-install Windows® Printer Drivers 16 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Pre-inst all Windows® Printer Drivers Zebra is changin g the way yo u install and use your printer w ith your W indows based PC systems. W e recommend that at minimum, th e ZebraDesigner™ W i nd ows® driver be pre- installed to take a dvantage of the advanceme[...]

17 Pre-install Windows® Printer Drivers 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 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 interf ace. Scanners, scales or other data inpu t (terminal) de[...]

Connecting your Printer to a Computer 18 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Connecting your Printer to a Computer The printer support a va riety of interface option s and configurations. Th ese include: Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, RS 232 Serial, Parallel (IEEE 1284.4) and 10/1 00 Ethernet. • USB, Serial and Parallel • Option[...]

19 Connecting your Printer to a Computer 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 USB Interface Requirement s Universal Serial Bus (ve r sion 2.0 comp liant) provid es a fast interface that is compatible wi th your existing PC hardware. USB’ s “plug and play” design ma kes installatio n easy . Multiple printers can sha re a single USB po [...]

Connecting your Printer to a Computer 20 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Serial Communications The GK888 has a DCE serial communi cation port for hardware compatibil ity with legacy 888 printers. The required cable must have a nine -pin “D” type (DB-9P) male connector on one end which p lugs into the mati ng (DB-9S) serial port loc[...]

21 Connecting your Printer to a Computer 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 EPL Y Command Use the serial port setup ( Y ) co mmand to change the communication s settings on th e printer . 1. W ith the host computer set at the same commu n ications settin gs as the printer , send the Y command to chan ge the prin ter to the desi red set ti[...]

Connecting your Printer to a Computer 22 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 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[...]

23 Connecting your Printer to a Computer 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Ethernet The printer requires UTP RJ4 5 Ethernet cable rated CA T -5 or be tter . For more informatio n on configurin g your printer to run on a compatible Ethernet based network, see the ZebraNet ® 10/100 Intern al Print Server manual. The pr inter must be confi[...]

After Y our Printer is Connected 24 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Af ter Y our Printer is Connected Now that you have basic commu nication to y our printer , you may w ant to test prin ter communications and then install other printer related applications , drivers or util ities. T esting Communications by Printing V erifying the pri[...]

25 After Y our Printer is Connected 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 T est Print with a Copied ZPL Command File for Non-W indows Operating Systems: 1. Create a text fil e with the followin g ASCII three characters: ~WC 2. Save the file as: TEST .ZPL (an arbitrary file name and extension name). 3. Copy the file to the printer . For DOS, [...]

After Y our Printer is Connected 26 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ __________________[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 3 Print Operations This section pro vides media an d print handlin g , font and language support, and the setu p of less common printer configurations. Content s Determining Printer Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Long T erm Printer In-[...]

Determining Printer Configuration 28 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Determining Printer Configuration The printer uses a ZPL printer config uration status la bel to report the printer ’ s configuration status for both EPL and ZPL op erations.The ZPL style label provides a more in tuitive and functionally descriptive naming conventio[...]

29 Modes of Printing 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 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). • S tandard T ear-Of f mode allows you to tea r of f each label (or b atch print a strip of labels) after it i[...]

Print Media T ypes 30 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 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 have adhe sive backing that sticks them to a liner , and they are separa[...]

31 Replacing Supplies 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Determining Thermal Media T y pes Thermal transfer media requires ribbon for pr inting while direct thermal media does no t. T o deter mine if ribbon must be used wit h a particular media, perform a media scrat ch test. T o perform a media scratch test, complete these step s: 1. Scr[...]

Adjusting the Print Quality 32 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Adjusting the Print Quality Print quality is influen ced by the heat (density) setting of the prin thead, the print speed, and the media in use. Experiment with these settings to find the op timal mix for your application. Print quality can be set with the Zebra Setup Utili[...]

33 Media Sensing 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Media Sensing The printer has au tomatic media sens ing capabilit y . The p rinter is designed to continuously check and adju st media length sensi n g for minor variations. Once the printer is printing or feeding media, the printe r continually check s and adjusts the media sensing to a[...]

Printing on Fa n-Fold Medi a 34 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Printing on Fan-Fold Media Printing on fan-fold media re quires you to adjust the medi a roll holde rs’ 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 [...]

35 Printing on Fan-F old Media 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 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 l[...]

Printing with Externally Mo unted Roll Media 36 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Printing with Externally Mounted Roll Media The GC420 printer acc ommodates externally mounted ro ll media similar to the printer’ s support of fan-fold media. The printe r requires the media roll and stand combination to have a low initial in ertia to pu[...]

37 Fonts and Y our Printer 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Font s and Y our Printer The GC420 printer supp orts your language an d fo nt requirements wi th a variety of internal fonts, on-board font scaling, in ternational fo nt sets and character co de page support, Unicode support, and font downlo ad. The GC420 printer ’ s font cap[...]

Fonts and Y our Printer 38 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 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 recognize EPL and ZPL fonts. EPL programming can only recogn ize EPL fonts. See the[...]

39 S tand Alone Printing 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 S tand Alone Printing Y our printer can be config ured to work with ou t being attached to a computer . The printe r has the ability to automaticall y run a single l abel form. One o r more download ed label forms can be accessed and run with a terminal or wedge devic e or a Zebr[...]

Sending Files to the Printer 40 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Sending Files to the Printer Graphics, font s and programming files can be sent to the printer from the M icrosoft W i ndows operating sy stems by using th e Zebra Setu p Utilities (a nd driver), ZebraNet™ B ridge or Zebra ® ZDownloade r found on the user's CD or a[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 4 Printer Options This section covers th e common printer option s and accessories with brief descri ptions and how to get yo u started using o r configuring yo ur printer option or accessory . Content s Label Dispenser Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

Label Dispenser Option 42 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Label Dispenser Option The factory insta lled label dispen ser option allows you to print a label with bac king (liner/web) being re moved from the la bel as it prints, ready for application. When printi ng multiple labels, removing the dispensed (pee led) label notifi es the pr[...]

43 Label Dispenser Option 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 2. Lift the liner over the top of the printer and open the dispenser door . 3. Insert the lab el liner between t he di spenser door and the printer body .[...]

Label Dispenser Option 44 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 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 of f the backing and presen t a single labe l. T ake the label fro m the printer to al low the printer to print the n ext label. Note: If you did n o t a[...]

45 Cutter Option 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Cutter Option The printer supports a factory installed medi a cutter option for full width cutting of lab el liner , tag or receipt media. These cutter option s are all supported in a sing le cutter housing design . The type of cutter optio n installed in your printer can be ve rified by[...]

Cutter Option 46 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Loading Media with the Cutter Option 1. Open the printer . Remember that you ne ed to pull the release latch leve rs toward the front of the prin ter . 2. Open the media guides by turning th e media guide adjustment kn ob toward the rear of the printer .[...]

47 Cutter Option 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 3. Open the media rol l holders. Pull the media gui des open with your fre e hand and place the media roll on the roll ho lders and relea se the guides. Orient the media roll so that its printing surface wi ll be up as it passes over the platen (drive) ro ller . . 4. Thread the med ia th[...]

Cutter Option 48 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 5. Close the media guides by turnin g the guide a djuster knob to th e front. They should just touch, but not restrict. the edges of the media.. 6. Close the prin ter . Press down until the cover snaps closed.[...]

49 ZebraNet® 10/100 In ternal (Wired) Print Server Op tion 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 ZebraNet ® 10/100 Internal (Wired) Print Server Option The ZebraNet ® 10/100 Intern al Print Serv er (PS) is an opti onal factory installed device that connects the network and your ZebraLink TM -enabled printer . The print server pro vides yo[...]

ZebraNet® 10/100 Internal (Wi red) Print Server Option 50 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Printer Network Configuration S t atus Label GC420 printers wi th the ZebraNet ® 10/100 Internal Prin t Server option on-bo ard print an additional printer configura tion status lab el for informati on needed to establish and tro uble shoot netw[...]

51 Zebra® KDU — Printer Accessory 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Zebra ® KDU — Printer Accessory The KDU (keyboard display unit) is a small termin al unit that i nterfaces with the printer for accessing EPL labe l forms stored in the pr inter . The KDU is strictly a termi n al and does not ha ve the capability to store d ata or [...]

KDU Plus™ — Printer Accessory 52 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 KDU Plus™ — Printer Accessory The KDU Plus is a terminal device with memory for storing fil es and maintaining one or more remote printers. The KDU Plu s has a larger laptop style keyboard than the Zebra’ s original KDU design. The KDU Plus i s designed for the [...]

53 ZBI 2.0™ — Zebra Basic Interpreter 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 ZBI 2.0™ — Zebra Basic Interpreter Customize and enhance your printer wi th ZBI 2.0 optional programming language, ZBI 2.0 allows Zebra printers to run appl ications and take input from scales, scanners and other periphe rals—all without a PC or network con[...]

ZBI 2.0™ — Zebra Basic Interpreter 54 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ ____________[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 5 Maintenance This section provid es routine cl eaning and maintenance pro cedures. Content s Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Cleaning the Printhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

Cleaning 56 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Cleaning When you clea n the printer , use one o f the following supplies that best suits your needs: Y ou can obtain cleaning su pplies at www .zipzebra.com . The cleaning pro cess takes just a co uple of minutes us ing the steps out lined below . Cleaning Supplies Order Quantity Intended Pu[...]

57 Cleaning 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Cleaning the Printh ead Always use a new cleaning pen on the printhead (an old p en carries contaminant s from its previous u ses that m ay damage the pr inthead). When you loa d new media, yo u can also c lean the pri nthead. 1. Rub the cleaning pen across t he dark area of the printhead. Cl[...]

Cleaning 58 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Media Path Considerations Use a cleaning swab to remove debris, d ust or crust that has built -up on the holders, guides an d media path surfaces. 1. Use the alcohol in the clea ning swab to so ak t h e debris to break up the adhesive. 2. W ipe the rid ges to remove accumulated deb ris. 3. W [...]

59 Cleaning 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Sensor Cleaning Dust can accumula te on the media sensors. 1. Gently brush away dust; if ne cessa ry , use a dry swab to brush away dust. If adhesives or other contaminates remain, use an alco hol moistened swab to break it up. 2. Use a dry swab to remove any resi due that may be left from th[...]

Cleaning 60 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Platen Cleaning and Replacement The standard platen (drive roll er) normally does not require cleaning. Pape r and liner dust can accumulate without effecting print operations. Contamin ates on the pla ten roller can damage the printhead or c ause the media to slip or st ick when print ing. A[...]

61 Cleaning 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 5. Install the platen in the printer . Discard the cleaning swabs afte r use - do not reuse. 6. Make sure the bearings and gear are on the shaft of the platen as shown. 7. Align the plat en with the gea r to the left and lower it into the pri nter ’ s bottom frame. 8. Rotate the tabs back a[...]

Replacing the Printh ead 62 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Replacing the Printhead If you need to replace the p r inthead, read the procedure and re view the removal and installation steps before actuall y replacing the printhe ad. Before followi ng the step s in this procedure, open the printer by pulling the re lease latches forward[...]

63 Replacing the Printhead 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 2. Grasp the print he ad spring and pull it to the left; then, slide it free of the latch frame. 3. Gently pull th e wire bund les from the printhead. 4. Use a #1 Phillips driver to loosen the two screws and washers and release the print head from the latch frame and bracket .[...]

Replacing the Printh ead 64 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Printhead Installation 1. Route the p rint head ca bles under th e latch shaf t and plug the printhe ad cables in to the receptacles on the printhead. 2. Hold the printhead ag ainst the bracket while replacing the screws and washe rs. Attach the ground wire usin g the right sc[...]

65 Replacing the Printhead 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 3. Slip the left end of the prin thead spring into the left side of the lat ch bracket; then slide the right end into t he other side. The angle of the “V” fits into the indent on the top of the printhead bracket. 4. Align the latch brack et up to the top case and ensure th[...]

Replacing the Printh ead 66 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 6 Troubleshooting This section provides info rmation about prin ter error reporting that you might need for printer troubleshootin g. Assorted diagnost ic tests are included. Content s S tatus Light Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

S tatus Light Descriptions 68 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 S tatus Light Descriptions What the St atus Light is T elling Y ou LED St atus and Color Printer St atus 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 Stoppe d 5 Double Flashing Green Pa[...]

69 S tatus Light Error Resolutions 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 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 may have one o r more resolu tion to correct that erro r listed. 1. The printer is not receivin[...]

S tatus Light Error Resolutions 70 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 6. The printer is p aused. • Press the Feed button to resume prin ting. 7. The printhead is over temperature. • Printing wil l stop until the printhead coo ls to an acceptable printing te mperature. When it does, the printer will auto matically resume operation. 8. [...]

71 Print Quality Problems 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Print Quality Problems No print on the label. • The media may not be direct ther mal media. See the test proc edure Determining Thermal Media T ypes on page 31 . • Is the media loaded correctly? Follow t h e instructions for Loading R oll Media on page 1 1 in the Getti ng S [...]

Print Quality Problems 72 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 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 [...]

73 Print Quality Problems 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 A EPL label format was sent to, bu t not recognized by , the printer . • Is the printer i n pause mode? If so, pre ss the Feed button. • If the printer has la bel dispensing enabled, the printer ma y be waiting for the label to be removed. The liner/web must be properly th r[...]

Manual Calibration 74 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Manual Calibration Manual calibrat ion is recommende d whenever you are using pre-pr inte d media or if the printer will not correctly auto calibrate. 1. Make sure media i s loaded. 2. T urn on the printer power . 3. Press and hold the Fee d button until the gree n status l i ght fl[...]

75 T ro ubleshooting T ests 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 T roubleshooting T est s Printing a Configuration Label T o print out a listing of the printer ’ s current configu ration, refer to the o ne-flash sequence in Feed Button Modes on page 78 in this section. See App endix: ZPL Configuration on page 91 to interpre t the label. R[...]

Resetting the Factory Default V alues 76 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Resetting the Factory Default V alues Sometimes, resetting the printer to the factory defaults may solve some problems. Re fer to the four-flash sequence in Feed Button Modes on page 78 in this section. Communications Diagnostics If there is a problem transferring[...]

77 Communications Diagnostics 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 The following example of a co mmunications DUMP mode printed o ut. The printout displays hexadecimal d ata 00h-FFh (0-255 decimal) with a unique character for each hexadec imal value displayed above the h exadecimal data. The blank lines between t he lines of data are where [...]

Feed Button Modes 78 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Feed Button Modes Power Off Modes W ith the printer power off, pr ess and 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 h ing red to denote entr y into the Firmware Download mod[...]

79 Feed Button Modes 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 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 ha ppens when you release the key after the star t s[...]

Feed Button Modes 80 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ___________[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 A Appendix: Interface Wiring This section provides printer interface connection information . Content s Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Parallel Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface 82 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 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 kagin g that bears the “ Certified USB™” mark to guarantee USB 2.0 compliance. For printe[...]

83 Parallel Interface 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 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 connecto r . The printe r connector is a Centronics style connector . PRINTER DB -25 Pin No. Centronics Pin No. DB -25 to Centro[...]

Ethernet Interface 84 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Ethernet Interface This interface requires a UTP RJ 45 Ethernet cable rated CA T -5 or better . The table below provides the cable’ s pinout assignments. Signal Pin Pin Signal T x + 11T x + T x - 22T x - R x + 33R x + — 44— — 55— R x - 66R x - — 77— — 88— 4 3 2 1 5[...]

85 Serial Port Interface 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Serial Port Interface The maximum current avai lable through the serial and/or parallel port is n ot to exceed a total of 0.75 Amps. When XON/XOFF handshak ing is selected, data flow is con trolled by the ASC I I control codes DC1 (XON) and DC3 (X OFF) . The DTR control lead wil [...]

Serial Port In terface 86 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ______[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 B Appendix: Dimensions This section p rovides exte rnal printer d imensions. Content s External GK Printer Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Label Dispenser Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

External GK Printer Dimensions 88 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 External GK Printer Dimensions All dimensions are in inches[...]

89 External GK Printer Dimensions 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 Label Dispenser Option Cutter Option[...]

External GK Printer Dimensions 90 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ ____________________[...]

8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 C Appendix: ZPL Configuration This section provides a basic overview of mana ging printer config uration, the Configuring Status Printout, and Pr inter Memory Printouts. Content s Managing Printer Configuration with ZPL Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 ZPL Configuration S [...]

Managing Printer Con figuration with ZPL Programming 92 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Managing Printer Configuration with ZPL Programming The printer is desi gned to allow y o u to change pri nter settings dynamicall y for fast first label out printing. Printer p arameters that are persiste nt, will be retained fo r following formats[...]

93 ZPL Configuration St atus to Command Cro ss-reference 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 ZPL Configuration S t atus to Command Cross-reference The Printer Configur ation Label, shown below , provides a listing of a maj ority of the configurations settings that ca n be set by ZPL command. Some printe r options and variations will only b[...]

ZPL Configuration S tatus to Comma nd Cross-reference 94 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 T able 2 • ZPL Commands a nd Configuration Receipt Callout Cross-Reference From this point in the Configurat ion Receipt listing, the pri ntout has sensor set tings and values are displayed t o troubleshoot sensor and media operatio ns. These are[...]

95 ZPL Configuration St atus to Command Cro ss-reference 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 The configuration set tings listed here resume after th e T AKE LABEL sensor value. These listings contai n printer features seldom change d from default or provid e status informati on (e.g. Firmware V ersion). T able 3 • ZPL Commands a nd Confi[...]

Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Reports 96 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Printer Memory Management and Related S t atus Report s T o help yo u manage printer resources, the prin ter supports a variety format commands to manage memory , transfer object s (between memory areas, import and ex port), object nami ng, and pro[...]

97 Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Reports 8/15/201 1 GC420d™ User Guide P1039494-001 T able 4 • Object Management and St atus 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 conf[...]

Printer Memory Management and Related S tatus Reports 98 P1039494-001 GC420d™ User Guide 8/15/201 1 Notes • ___________ ____________________ _____________________ _______________ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ ___________ _____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __ _________[...]