Epson 300 User Manual

EPSON

LX-300

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Seiko Epson Corporation. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, Seiko Epson Corporation assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Neither Seiko Epson Corporation nor its affiliates shall be liable to the purchaser of this product or third parties for damages, losses, costs, or expenses incurred by purchaser or third parties as a result of: accident, misuse, or abuse of this product or unauthorized modifications, repairs, or alterations to this product, or (excluding the U.S.) failure to strictly comply with Seiko Epson Corporation’s operating and maintenance instructions.

Seiko Epson Corporation shall not be liable against any damages or problems arising from the use of any options or any consumable products other than those designated as Original Epson Products or Epson Approved Products by Seiko Epson Corporation.

Epson and Epson ESC/P are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation.

Epson Connection is a service mark of Epson America, Inc.

General Notice: Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Epson disclaims any and all rights in those marks.

User’s Guide

Edge guides

Power switch

Paper supports

Paper guide

Paper-release

lever

Paper-feed

knob

Control panel

Printer cover

Print head

Sprocket unit

Paper-thickness lever

Paper support

Roman

Sans Serif

Draft

Draft Condensed

Tractor

Lights

Micro Adjust

Buttons

Paper Park

3sec

The color samples used on the cover were printed using the LX-300 printer.

Lotus, 1-2-3, and Freelance Graphics are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation.

Light

PauseLF/FFFont

FCC Compliance Statement

For United States Users

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or television reception. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio and television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures.

❏ Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna ❏ Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver ❏ Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the

receiver is connected

❏ Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

WARNING

The connection of a non-shielded equipment interface cable to this equipment will invalidate the FCC Certification of this device and may cause interference levels which exceed the limits established by the FCC for this equipment. It is the responsibility of the user to obtain and use a shielded equipment interface cable with this device. If this equipment has more than one interface connector, do not leave cables connected to unused interfaces.

Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the manufacturer could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.

For Canadian Users

This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions from digital apparatus as set out in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications.

Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites applicables aux appareils numériques de Classe B prescrites dans le règlement sur le brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le Ministère des Communications du Canada.

Where to Get Help for

United States Users

Epson America provides local customer support and service through a nationwide network of authorized Epson dealers and Service Centers.

Epson also provides the following support services through the Epson Connection

❏ Assistance in locating your nearest Authorized Epson Reseller

or Service Center

❏ Technical assistance with the installation, configuration, and

operation of Epson products

❏ Sales of the ❏ Epson technical information library fax service ❏ Product literature with technical specifications on our current

and new products

❏ Sales of ribbons, supplies, parts, documentation, and

accessories for your Epson product

❏ Customer Relations

at (800) 922-8911:

ESC/P® Reference Manual

iii

For United Kingdom Users

Epson product guarantee

Under the law, goods sold must comply with their description and must be of merchantable quality and fit for their purpose or correspond with any sample.

This guarantee does not affect the seller’s legal obligation or the rights of the consumer in the “consumer transactions” under any Statute, including Sections 12 to 15 of the Sales of Goods Act, 1979.

All Epson Products, other than OEM products, are fully guaranteed against faulty operation or performance for a period of ONE YEAR from date of purchase by the user of the product.

All claims under this guarantee MUST be supported by evidence of purchase, normally the bill of sale invoice, and it is the responsibility of the claimant to furnish such proof. Epson (UK) Limited does not issue or operate any form of guarantee registration card.

Claims are made by the user returning the product to the supplier from whom it was purchased or, if this is impractical, to any Epson supplier who also handles the same product. In the event of any difficulty, users are requested to contact the Service Co-ordinator Manager at Epson (UK) Limited.

Epson (UK) Limited, or Epson Appointed Distributors, will at their discretion repair or replace part or all of the product to provide, in their judgement, a satisfactory performance of the product consistent with its age and apparent usage.

This guarantee covers the cost of both the parts and labour required to correct any malfunction of the equipment, but specifically excludes: wear and tear, consumables, physical damage due to incorrect use or misuse and damage or faulty operation due to unauthorized and inexpert repair.

The guarantee is restricted to the performance of the product alone, and Epson (UK) Limited does not accept responsibility for any consequential loss or damage, nor claimed or implied performance, when the product is used in any combination with other equipment or program software.

Product guarantee may be invalidated as a result of excessive or inappropriate use, use in an adverse environment or in conditions outside the specifications or if the product has been subjected to unapproved modifications.

The guarantee does not cover visits to the user’s premises or the repair or commissioning of the product on site.

Use of options

Epson (UK) Limited shall not be liable against any damages or problems arising from the use of any options or consumable products other than those designated as Original Epson Products or Epson Approved Products by Epson (UK) Limited.

Safety information

Warning: This appliance must be earthed. Refer to rating plate for voltage and check that the appliance voltage corresponds to the supply voltage.

Important

: The wires in the mains lead fitted to this appliance are

coloured in accordance with the following code:

Green and yellow — Earth Blue — Neutral Brown — Live

As the colours of the wires in the mains lead of this appliance may not correspond with the coloured markings identifying the terminals in your plug, proceed as follows:

The green and yellow wire must be connected to the terminal in the plug which is marked with the letter E or with the earth symbol (

) or coloured green or green and yellow.

The blue wire must be connected to the terminal in the plug marked with the letter N or coloured black.

The brown wire must be connected to the terminal in the plug marked with the letter L or coloured white.

If damage occurs to the plug, replace the cord set or consult a qualified electrician.

Replace fuses only with a fuse of the correct size and rating.

Introduction

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-1

Finding Your Way Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-2

Warnings, Cautions, and Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-2

Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-3

Chapter 1

Unpacking the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

Choosing a place for the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Assembling the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Installing the paper-feed knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Attaching the paper supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5

Installing the ribbon cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5

Plugging in the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

Running the Self Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10

Connecting the Printer to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

Using the parallel interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

Using the serial interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15

Setting Up Your Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16

Microsoft

Using non-Windows software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-18

Chapter 2

Using the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Lights and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Selecting fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4

Printing on Single Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Loading single sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Getting the results you expect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6

Setting Up the Printer



Windows

3.1 and all Windows programs . . . . 1-17



Using the Printer

Adjusting the loading position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

vii

Printing on Continuous Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

Printing with the push tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

Switching back to single sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11

Printing with the pull tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11

Printing on Special Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-15

Adjusting the paper-thickness lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-16

Multi-part forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17

Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17

Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-18

Changing the Printer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19

Printer setting descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-22

Character spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-22

Shape of zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-22

Skip-over-perforation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-22

Character table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Auto line feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Page length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Auto tear off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24

Bit rate, parity bit, data length, and ETX/ACK . . . . . . 2-24

Installing and Using Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24

Cut-sheet feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24

Pull Tractor unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-28

Roll paper holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29

Color upgrade kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-31

Chapter 3 Troubleshooting

Problems and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Power is not being supplied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

The printer does not print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

The print is faint or uneven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4

Dots are missing in printed characters or graphics . . . . . . . 3-4

Printed characters are not what you expected . . . . . . . . . 3-5

The print position is not what you expected . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

viii

Paper Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6

Single sheets do not feed properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6

Continuous paper does not feed properly . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7

Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

When you use the cut-sheet feeder, the paper does not feed

properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

Switching between the cut-sheet feeder and the push tractor

does not work properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9

Using the pull tractor with the push tractor, continuous paper

does not feed properly

With color upgrade kit installed, printer doesn’t operate

properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10

Appendix

Printer Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2

Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2

Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3

Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6

Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6

Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7

Safety approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7

Interface Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7

Parallel interface specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7

Serial interface specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8

Serial pin assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8

Printer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9

Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-10

Sending printer commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-10

Using the command summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-10

Printer operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-11

Data control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-11

Vertical motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-11

Horizontal motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-12

Overall printing style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13

Print size and character width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13

Print enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13

Word processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-14

Character tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-14

User-defined characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-15

Color printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-16

Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-16

Index

Introduction

Features

Your Epson® 9-pin dot matrix printer offers these outstanding features:

❏ High-speed printing. Print up to 220 characters per second

(cps) in 10-cpi draft mode.

❏ Quiet operation. You’ll notice the benefit of quiet printing in

your work environment.

❏ Simple control panel. Three buttons and three lights give you

fingertip-access to most printer functions.

❏ Two built-in interfaces: parallel and EIA-232D serial. ❏ Detachable push and pull tractor. Feed continuous paper with

ease and print on single sheets without removing the continuous paper supply.

❏ Compact design. This printer fits neatly into available space in

your home or office.

❏ Longer printable area. Print up to 66 lines on A4-size or

62 lines on standard letter paper.

❏ IBM

In addition, you can get custom results with the following options:

❏ Color Upgrade Kit (C83208

❏ Pull Tractor (C80030

2380 printer emulation mode.

) adds visual interest to printed

✽

documents by switching to a color ribbon cartridge.

) for printing continuous paper and

✽

multi-part forms (used in the pull-tractor position in conjunction with the standard tractor in the push tractor position).

Introduction 1

❏ Roll Paper Holder (#8310) uses 81⁄

used by telexes and similar machines. This option is not available in some countries.

)

❏ Cut-sheet feeder (C80637

single-sheet bond paper automatically.

loads up to 50 sheets of

✽

-inch or 21.6-cm roll paper

Finding Your Way Around

This manual provides fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions for setting up and operating your printer.

❏ Chapter 1 describes how to unpack, set up, test, and connect

the printer to your computer. Be sure to read this chapter first.

❏ Chapter 2 includes information on how to get the printing

results you want, how to install options, and how to maintain your printer.

❏ Chapter 3 offers simple tips on solving printing problems. If

printing results are not what you expect, or the printer doesn’t work properly, turn here for help.

❏ The Appendix covers the printer’s specifications and lists

programming commands.

❏ An index at the back of the manual helps you find information

on specific topics quickly.

Warnings, Cautions, and Notes

Warnings

must be followed carefully to avoid bodily injury.

Cautions

must be observed to avoid damage to your equipment.

Notes

contain important information and useful tips on the operation of

your printer.

Introduction

Important Safety Instructions

1. Read all of these instructions before you set up your printer.

2. Follow all warnings and instructions marked on the printer.

3. Unplug this printer from the wall outlet before you clean it. Use a damp cloth for cleaning and do not use liquid or aerosol cleaners.

4. Do not use your printer near water or spill any liquid on it.

5. Do not place the printer on an unstable cart, stand, table, or other surface that may allow the printer to fall.

6. Do not block any slots or openings in the cabinet. These are provided for the ventilation necessary to ensure reliable operation and protection from overheating. Placing the printer on a bed, sofa, rug, or other similar surface may block the openings. Also, do not place the printer in a built-in installation, such as a bookcase, unless proper ventilation is provided.

7. Never place the printer near or over a radiator or heat register.

8. Use the type of power source indicated on the label. If you are not sure of the type of power available, consult your dealer or local power company.

9. This printer may be equipped with a plug having a third (grounding) pin, which fits only into a grounding-type outlet. This is a safety feature. If you are unable to insert the plug into the outlet, have an electrician replace your obsolete outlet. Do not defeat the purpose of the grounding-type plug.

10. Do not put your printer where the cord will be walked on.

Introduction 3

11. If you use an extension cord, make sure that the total of the ampere ratings on the products plugged into the extension cord does not exceed the extension cord’s ampere rating. Also, make sure that the total of all products plugged into the wall outlet does not exceed 15 amperes.

12. Never push objects of any kind into your printer as they may touch dangerous voltage points or short out parts that could result in a risk of fire or electric shock.

13. Except as specifically explained in the user’s manual, do not attempt to repair the printer yourself. Opening or removing those covers that are marked “Do Not Remove” may expose you to dangerous voltage points or other risks. Refer all servicing in those compartments to service personnel.

14. Unplug this printer from the wall outlet and have it repaired by a qualified service person under the following conditions:

A. When the power cord or plug is damaged or frayed.

B. If liquid has been spilled into it.

C. If it has been exposed to rain or water.

D. If it does not operate normally when the operating

instructions are followed. Adjust only those controls that are covered by the operating instructions since improper adjustment of other controls may result in damage and will often require extensive work by a qualified technician to restore the printer to normal operation.

E. If it has been dropped or the cabinet has been damaged.

F. If it exhibits a distinct change in performance, indicating a

need for service.

4 Introduction