Graphic Products, Inc.

DuraLabel

THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTER

®

LabPRO

PRINTER MANUAL

v.

1.0

Graphic Products, Inc.

1-800-788-5572 www.DuraLabel.com www.GraphicProducts.com

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright 2009 Graphic Products, Inc.

Contents

1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................

2. Getting Started .....................................................................................................

2.1 Unpacking and Inspection ............................................................................

1

2.2 Equipment Checklist .....................................................................................

2.3 Printer Parts ...................................................................................................

3. Setup ....................................................................................................................

3.1 Setting Up the Printer ...................................................................................

1

1

1

2

3

3

3

3.2 Loading the Ribbon ......................................................................................

3.3 Loading Label Stock .....................................................................................

3.4 Instructions to Top Cover Operation ............................................................

4. Power on Utilities .................................................................................................

4.1 Ribbon Sensor Calibration ...........................................................................

5

7

9

9

4.2 Gap/Black Mark Calibration ........................................................................

4.3 Initialization ..................................................................................................

9

12

5. Maintenance ........................................................................................................

5.1 Cleaning .........................................................................................................

13

13

6. Troubleshooting ...................................................................................................

6.1 LED Status .....................................................................................................

6.2 Print Quality ...................................................................................................

14

14

15

7. Specifications .......................................................................................................

16

7.1 Printer Specifications ....................................................................................

7.2 Label Stock Specifications ...........................................................................

7.3 Ribbon Specifications ...................................................................................

16

17

17

8. LED and Button Operation ..................................................................................

8.1 LED .....................................................................................................................

8.2 Button Operation ...............................................................................................

18

18

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1. Introduction

Thank you for purchasing the DuraLabel

®

LabPRO Thermal Transfer Printer.

Although the printer takes only a small amount of space, it delivers reliable, superior performance.

This printer provides thermal transfer printing at user selectable speeds of: 1.0 or

2.0. It accepts continuous and die-cut labels for thermal transfer printing. All common bar code formats are available. Fonts and bar codes can be printed in 4 directions, 8 different alphanumeric bitmap fonts and a built-in true type font capability.

2. Getting Started

2.1 Unpacking and Inspection

This printer has been specially packaged to withstand damage during shipping.

However, please carefully inspect the packaging and printer upon receipt. Please retain the packaging materials in case you need to reship the printer.



2.2 Equipment Checklist





Installation CD





Label spindle (1 inch diameter core)





Fixing Tabs (2 pcs.)





Ribbon supply/rewind spindles (2 pcs.)





AC Adaptor





USB Interface





Parallel Interface





QuickStart Guide





User’s Guide

If any parts are missing, please contact your Customer Sales Representative.

Please contact us for all your labeling needs. From standardized to custom labels, we’re ready to provide the labeling supplies you need. Call 1-800-788-5572 today to get your labeling problems solved.

1

2.3 Printer Parts

Fig. 1 Top front view

Clear Window

Ribbon Access Window

LED Indicator

Feed Button

Printer Top Cover

Top Cover Release Lever

1 2 3 4 5

Fig. 2 Rear view

1.

USB Interface

2.

Centronics Interface

3.

RS-232 DB-9 Interface

4.

Power Jack

5.

Power Switch

6.

Rear Paper Guide

2

Centronics

RS-232

Power Cable

3. Setup

3.1 Setting Up the Printer

1. Place the printer on a flat, secure surface.

2. Make sure the power switch is off.

3. Connect the printer to the computer with the Centronics or USB cable.

4. Plug the power cord into the power supply connector at the rear of the printer,

then plug the power cord into a properly grounded receptacle.

Plug

Power Switch

Power Cable

Power Supply

USB

Centonics

RS-232

Fig. 3 Attach power supply to printer

3.2 Loading the Ribbon

The printer automatically detects if a ribbon is installed after power on and will switch to thermal transfer or direct thermal printing mode. If printer does not detect the ribbon, the motor that drives the ribbon rewind spindle will be turned off. In the case that a ribbon is installed, but the ribbon rewind spindle does not turn, please refer to the ribbon calibration procedure in section 4.1 to calibrate the ribbon sensor sensitivity. Also check that the print driver is set to Thermal Transfer on the Stock tab of printer preferences. (See page 26 of the User’s Guide).

3

Make sure both the ribbon access window and the printer top cover are closed when powering up the printer.

1.

Push down on the ribbon access window to unlock and open the ribbon cover.

2.

Place a paper core onto the ribbon rewind spindle.

3.

Mount the ribbon rewind paper core on the front hubs.

4.

Install a ribbon on the ribbon supply spindle.

5.

Mount the ribbon supply spindle on the rear hubs .

6.

Open the top cover of the printer.

7.

Pull the ribbon from the ribbon supply roll under the print head and attach it to

the ribbon rewind paper core. (See diagram inside back of printer)

8.

Rotate the ribbon rewind paper core by turning the spindle flange with your

thumb until the ribbon rewind core is completely wrapped with the black

section of the ribbon.

9.

Close the top printer cover and ribbon cover.

Ribbon Cover

Ribbon Access

Window

Paper Core

Ribbon Spindle

Flange of Ribbon

Spindle

Rear Hub

Front Hub

Flange of Ribbon

Spindles fit on right side of printer

Fig.4 Ribbon installation (I)

4

Ribbon Supply Spindle

Ribbon

Leader

Rear Hub

Fig. 5 Ribbon installation (II)

Ribbon Rewind

Spindle with

Paper Core

3.3 Loading Label Stock

The ribbon and various print media for the DuraLabel

®

LabPRO have been optimized for compatibility and print quality. Only authorized supplies from Graphic Products will print correctly in the DuraLabel

®

LabPRO.

1.

Insert a 1” label spindle into a roll of label stock.

Label Stock

Printing Side

Face Up

Fixed Tab

1

"

Label Spindle

Fig. 6 Label roll installation (I)

2.

Open the printer’s top cover by releasing the turquoise levers located on each side of the printer and lifting the top cover. A top cover support at the rear of the printer will hold the printer top cover open.

5

Pull release lever forward

Lower Cover

Fig. 7 Pull the lever to open the cover

3.

Place a roll of label stock onto the center of the paper roll mount.

4.

Feed the label stock, printing side face up, under the Teflon bar and the label

guides and pass over the platen, then feed through the cutter.

5.

Adjust the green center-biased label guides to slightly touch the edges of the

label stock.

6.

To close the printer top cover, lift the cover until it stops then use both hands to close

the cover gently. C lose the printer top cover slowly and make sure the cover locks

securely.

Note:

1. Make sure your hands are not inside the printer when closing the top cover.

2. Do not let the top cover free fall.

3. Failure to securely close and lock the cover will result in poor print quality or a

flashing LED and the inability

to print.

Label Roll Mount

Printer Top Cover

Support Bar

Adjustable

Label Guides

Cutter

Platen Roller

Teflon Bar

Fig. 8 Label installation (II)

Top Cover

Release Lever

6

3.4 Instructions to Top Cover Operation

Please take care when opening or closing the printer’s top cover by carefully following these instructions.

To Open:

1.

When facing the front of the printer, pull the cover release levers on both sides of printer towards you.

2.

Lift the top cover slowly.

There are two stop positions for the top cover. Position 1 and 2 are indicated on the label below.

Note: To hold the cover open at position 1, you must lift the cover higher than the stopping point at position 1 and gently lower the cover to stopping point 1.

Do not let the cover free fall!

3.

Fully open the top cover and gently lower it to stop position 2.

Fig. 1 Top cover support is fixed at position 2

7

4.

To close the cover, lift the top cover all the way up then lower the top cover gently.

Use both hands to gently push down the top cover to close it and make sure the cover is latched on both sides.

Note: Do not place your hands between top cover and lower cover when closing the top cover!

Fig. 2 Top cover is fully open and ready to close

Fig. 3 Use both hands to close the top cover

5.

Do not force the cover! If the cover does not close with gentle pressure, lift the cover as far as it will go and try to gently close it again.

8

4. Power on Utilities

There are three power-on utilities to set up and test printer hardware. These utilities are activated by pressing FEED button and by turning on the printer power simultaneously. The utilities are listed as below:

1.

Ribbon sensor calibration

2.

Gap or black mark sensor calibration

3.

Self-test

4.

Printer initialization

4.1 Ribbon Sensor Calibration

Please follow the steps below to calibrate the ribbon sensor.

1.

Turn off the power and wait 5 seconds.

2.

Press and hold the FEED button then turn on printer power.

3.

Release the button while the LED blinks red.

The LED color will blink in the following pattern:

Orange red (5 blinks) orange (5 blinks) green (5 blinks) solid green

4.2 Gap/Black Mark Calibration

Gap/black mark sensor sensitivity should be calibrated at the following conditions:

1.

The printer is brand new

2.

The die-cut label stock has been changed

3.

Printer initialization

Calibration of the gap or black mark sensor depends on the sensor setting in the last print job. Please follow the steps below to calibrate the sensor.

1.

Turn off the power and wait 5 seconds.

2.

Press and hold the FEED button then turn on printer power.

3.

Release the button while the LED blinks orange

The LED color will blink in the following pattern:

Orange red (5 blinks) orange (5 blinks) green (5 blinks) solid green

9

While calibrating the gap/black mark sensor, the printer will measure the label length, print the internal configuration and then enter the dump mode.

A self-test printout can be used to check if there is any dot damage on the heater element, printer configurations or available memory space.

Turn the power off, wait 5 seconds and turn it back on to resume normal printing.

Print head check pattern

Firmware version

Firmware checksum

Printed mileage (meter)

Serial port configuration

Country code

Print speed (inch/sec)

Print darkness

Label size (inch)

Gap distance (inch)

Gap/black mark sensor sensitivity

Number of download files

Total & available memory space

Fig. 29 Self-test printout

10

The printer will enter dump mode after printing the printer configuration. In the dump mode, all characters will be printed in two columns as follows:

ASCII Data

Hex decimal data related to left column of

ASCII data

Fig. 30 Dump mode printout

The left side characters are received from your system and right side data are the corresponding hexadecimal value of the characters. It allows users or engineers to verify and debug the program. Turn off and on the power switch to reset the printer for normal printing.

11

4.3 Initialization

Printer initialization is used to clear DRAM and restore printer settings to defaults. The only one exception is ribbon sensitivity, which will not be restored to default.

Printer initialization is activated by the following procedures.

1.

Turn off printer power and wait 5 seconds.

2.

Press the FEED button and then turn on power. The LED will blink five times

per color (red, orange, green).

3.

Release the FEED button when the LED blinks green.

The LED color will be changed as following pattern:

Orange red (5 blinks) orange (5 blinks) green (5 blinks) solid green

4.

Printer configuration will be restored to defaults as below after initialization.

Parameter Default setting

Speed 2 in. per second

Density

Label Width

Label Height

Sensor Type

Gap Setting

Print Direction

Reference Point

Offset

Tear Mode

Peel off Mode

Cutter Mode

Serial Port Settings

5

4 in.

6 in.

Gap sensor

0.12 in. (3.0 mm)

0

0,0 (upper left corner)

0

On

Off

Off

9600 bps, none parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit

Code Page

Country Code

850

001

Clear Flash Memory No

12

Printer Part

Printer Head

Platen Roller

Exterior

Interior

5. Maintenance

5.1 Cleaning

Use one or more of the following supplies that meets your needs:

Cleaning pens

Cleaning swabs



Always unplug the printer when performing cleaning!

The cleaning process is described as follows.

Method





Allow the print head to cool for one minute. Use a cleaning swab to wipe the print elements.



Rotate the platen roller and wipe it thoroughly with a cleaning swab or lint-free cloth.



Wipe it with water-dampened cloth.



Brush or air blow.

13

6. Troubleshooting

This section provides possible solutions to common printing, operating, and LED status problems you may encounter.

6.1 LED Status

LED Status / Color

Off

Solid Green

Blinking Green

Blinking Red

Printer Status

Off

On

Pause

Stopped

Solution Number

1

2

3

4

1. No power.



Turn on the power switch.



Check if the green LED is lit on power supply. If it is not lit, the power

supply is broken.



Check both power connection from the power cord to the power supply

and from the power supply to the printer power jack.

2. The printer is on and ready to use.



No action necessary.

3. The printer is paused.

 

Press the feed button to resume printing.

4. The out of label or ribbon or the printer setting is not correct

Out of label or ribbon



Load a roll of label stock as instructed in Loading the Label Stock,

(Section 3.3) then press the feed button to resume printing. 



Load a roll of ribbon as instructed in Loading the Ribbon, (Section 3.2) then press the feed button to resume printing.

Printer setting is not correct







Initialize the printer by following the instructions in “Power on Utility”.

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6.2 Print Quality

Continuous feeding labels



The printer setting may go wrong. Please do the Initialization and Gap/Black

Mark Calibration. (See pages 25-26 of the User’s Guide).

No print on the label



Is the label or ribbon loaded correctly? Follow the instructions in

Loading the Label Stock

(See section 3.3)

or Loading Ribbon.



Has the ribbon run out? Follow the instructions in Loading the Ribbon

(See section 3.2)

.

Poor print quality



Top cover is not closed properly. Close the top cover completely and make sure the right side and left side levers are latched to top cover properly.



Clean the thermal print head with a cleaning swab.



Adjust the print density setting and or speed setting.

(See page 27 of the User’s Guide).

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7. Specifications

7.1 Printer Specifications

Item

Mechanism

Resolution

Max. Print Width

Max. Print Length

Ribbon Capacity

Printing Speed

Printing Method

Enclosure

DuraLabel

®

LabPRO

300 dpi.

4 in.

40 in.

984 ft. with 1 in. core

2 and 3 ips.

Direct thermal and thermal transfer printing

Structure

Dimension

Operation Panel

Hardware

Sensor

Double-walled plastic.

Standard Model: 12.4 in.(L) x 8.4 in.(W) x 7.4 in.(H)

One push switch, and one indicator LED (Green,

Orange, Red colors).

Transmissive sensor (offset 0.25 in. from liner edge).

Reflective sensor (position adjustable). Head open micro switch. Ribbon end sensor

Memory

Interface

Power

Firmware

Font Type

Rotation

Barcode Format

2 MB Flash memory 8 MB DRAM

RS-232 (max baud rate, 115,200 bps).

USB: 2 (full speed mode)

Centronics

AC input: 100-240V universal auto switching power supply. DC output: 24V 3.75A

8 alpha-numeric bitmap fonts, and 1 true type font

0, 90,180 and 270 degrees

1D Bar code

Code 39, Code 93, Code 128UCC, Code128 subsets

A.B.C, Codabar, Interleave 2 of 5, EAN-8, EAN-13,

EAN-128, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN and UPC2(5) digits add-on,

MSI, PLESSEY, POSTNET, ChinaPOST.

16

Command Set

Environment

Operation

Storage

2D Bar code

PDF-417, Maxicode, and DataMatrix, QR CODE

TSPL-EZ™

Temperature: 41°F ~ 104°F (5°C ~ 40°C).

Relative Humidity: 25% ~ 85% (Non Condensing)

Temperature: -40°F ~ 140°F (-40°C ~ 60°C).

Relative Humidity: 10% ~ 90% (Non Condensing)

7.2 Label Stock Specifications

Item

Type

Wound Type

Width

Length

Specification

Label (Continuous & Die-cut)

Outside wound

0.5 in. – 4 in.

0.4 in. – 40 in.

2.3 mil. ~ 7.4 mil.

Thickness

Roll Diameter

Roll Core Diameter

Gap Height

Black Mark Height

Black Mark Width

5 in.

1 in.

0.12 in. min.

0.08 in. min.

0.31 in. min.

7.3 Ribbon Specifications

Item

Type

Core Diameter

Width

Capacity

Wound Type

Ribbon End

Specification

Wax, Wax / Resin, Resin

1 in.

Max 110 mm.

300 m. with 1 in. core

Outside wound

Clear or silver end tape

17

8. LED and Button Operation

8.1 LED

LED Color Description

Green

Orange

This shows that the power is on and the device is

ready to use.

This shows that the system is detecting the paper

and ribbon status

Red

This shows a printing error, such as paper empty,

ribbon empty, or cover opened etc.

18

8.2 Button Operation

Feed



Press the button when the LED is green. 



It feeds the label to the beginning of the next label.

Pause



Press the feed button during printing.



The printing job is suspended.

Ribbon Sensor

Calibration



Turn off the power switch and wait 5 seconds.



Press the button while turning on the power switch.



Release the button when LED blinks red.



It will calibrate the ribbon sensor sensitivity.

Gap/Black Mark Sensor

Calibration, Label

Length Measurement,

Self Test and Enter

Dump Mode





Turn off the power switch and wait 5 seconds.

Hold down the button while turning on the power switch.





The LED color will flash as follows:

Orangered (5 blinks)orange (5 blinks)

green (5 blinks)solid green.



It calibrates the sensor, measures the label length

and prints internal settings then enters the dump mode.

Printer Initialization



Turn off the power switch and wait 5 seconds.





Hold down the button while turning on the power switch.





Release the button when LED turns green after 5

orange blinks.



The LED color will flash as follows:

orangered (5 blinks)orange (5 blinks) green (5 blinks)solid green.





Always do gap/black mark sensor calibration after

printer initialization when printing on die-cut labels.

19