You can leave the short tear-off feature turned on (DIP switch 1-5 off) even when you are using single sheets. When you move the paper release lever to the single sheet position, short tear-off is disabled.

Printing on Special Paper

In addition to using single sheets and continuous paper, your printer can also print on a wide variety of paper types, including multi-part forms and labels. You can even feed envelopes, either manually or with the optional cut sheet feeder. Before printing on these special types of paper, however, you need to adjust the paper thickness setting.

The paper thickness lever

To accommodate various thicknesses of paper, the FX printer is equipped with a paper thickness lever that can be set to eight positions. These positions are identified by a scale on the printer frame next to the lever.

Before changing the paper thickness setting, first make sure the power is off and then remove the printer cover.

WARNING: If you’ve been using the printer just before opening the printer cover, be careful not to touch the print head because it may be hot.

Select the paper thickness you want according to the figure below. For normal use, the lever should always be set to position 2 on the scale.

Paper Handling 2-17

For printing on special types of paper, see the table below. It gives you general guidelines for selecting the right paper thickness lever position to match your paper.

Paper Type

Paper (single sheets or continuous)

Thin paper

Multi-part paper

3-sheet

4-sheet

Labels

Envelopes

Air mail

Plain

Bond (20 lb.)

Lever Position

2

2 i

4

3

3 or 4 z

6

Always return the lever to position 2 when you go back to printing on ordinary paper. Continuous printing with the lever set at a position higher than 2 can shorten the life of the print head.

77

WARNING: Printing past the edge of envelopes, multi-part forms, labels, or thick paper can damage the print head.

When you print on anything thicker than normal paper, such as envelopes or multi-part forms, be absolutely sure that your printing stays within the printable area of the paper. See page 2-20 and Appendix A for more about the printable area of the paper.

Multi-part forms

Your printer can also use continuous multi-part forms. These multiple forms should have no more than four parts including the original.

Note: Multi-part forms should not be used with the single sheet feeding system or the optional cut sheet feeder.

Paper Handling

2-18

You load continuous multi-part paper the same way that you load continuous paper. See the section on loading continuous paper in this chapter for details. The only difference is that you need to adjust the paper thickness lever to suit the thickness of your paper before loading.

See the table above for the correct paper thickness setting.

Labels

If you need to print labels, always choose the type mounted on a continuous base sheet provided with sprocket holes for use with the tractor. If you attempt to print labels using the single-sheet feeding system, labels on a shiny base sheet almost always slip a little.

You load labels the same way that you load continuous paper. See the section on loading continuous paper in this chapter for details. The only difference is that you need to adjust the paper thickness lever to match the thickness of your labels. See the table above for the correct paper thickness setting.

To remove labels, tear off at a perforation behind the push tractor. Then take the printer off line and use the FORM FEED button to eject the labels.

WARNING: Never feed the labels backward through the printer. Labels can easily come off the backing and jam the printer. Therefore, never use the LOAD/EJECT button to eject labels or to feed labels backward to the standby position.

Also, never use the short tear-off feature with labels. If a label does become stuck in the printer mechanism, take the printer to a qualified service person. Since labels are especially sensitive to temperature and humidity, always use them under normal operating conditions.

Envelopes

You can print on a variety of envelopes, including air mail, plain, or bond. To feed envelopes individually, use the single sheet loading feature.

First, set the paper thickness lever as indicated in the table above. Then, follow the single sheet loading instructions at the beginning of this chapter.

Paper Handling 2-19

You can also feed envelopes with the optional cut sheet feeder. See the section on the cut sheet feeder in Chapter 7. Before loading envelopes into the cut sheet feeder, you need to adjust the paper thickness lever. See the table showing envelope types and recommended lever positions on page 2-18.

2-20

WARNING: When printing on envelopes, be sure that your application program settings keep the printing entirely within the printable area of the envelopes as shown below.

-4

4

10.33

a or more

I 9

0.12” or more f

I

0.87” or mom t '

To make sure that the printing fits within this area, always print a test on a single sheet of paper before printing on envelopes.

Paper Handling

Chapter 3

Using the Printer

Operating the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

SelecType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4

Other control panel features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-5

Setting the DIP Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

DIP switch functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6

Selecting Typestyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10

Using SelecType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-11

Character fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-11

Characters per inch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-12

Condensed mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-12

If SelecType does not work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Enhancing Your Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Character size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Emphasized and double-strike printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-14

Italic printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Underlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Superscripts and subscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Selecting typestyles with Master Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Using the Printer

3-1