Gerber Solara ion Owner's Manual

Gerber Solara ion

UV Ink Jet Printer

Owner’s Guide

V ™

4/29/10 Rev G

Solara ionV Print Modes

User Selectable Print Modes Print

Throughput

(4' x 8' sheet)

Performance (2 Pass, Bidirectional) 181 ft2 / hr 11 min - ­Performance (2 Pass, Unidirectional) 125 ft2 / hr 15 min 36 ft2 / hr 53 min
Production (4 Pass, Bidirectional) 107 ft2 / hr 18 min - ­Production (4 Pass, Unidirectional) 70 ft2 / hr 27 min 18 ft2 /hr 107 min
High Quality (8 Pass, Bidirectional) 55 ft2 / hr 35 min - ­Ultra-High Quality (8 Pass, Unidirectional) 33 ft2 / hr 58 min 9.5 ft2 / hr 202 min

Approximate

Print Time

(4' x 8' sheet)

360 x 360 720 x 720

Print

Throughput

(4' x 8' sheet)

Approximate

(4' x 8' sheet)

Print Time

 Warranty

Please see Product Specifications for required operating environment and consult your
Owner’s Guide for required preventative maintenance procedures.

 Additional Documentation

Further documents, and updates to current documentation, will be available with each
new firmware release. For the most up-to-date literature, contact your Gerber Service
representative or check the eService Document Library which can be accessed from the
Support section of the Gerber web site: www.gspinc.com.

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Copyright Notice

COPYRIGHT 2010 Gerber Scientific International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This document may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without written
permission of the copyright owner.

This document is furnished to support the Gerber Solara ion
of the furnishing of the information contained in this document, the party to whom it is given
assumes its custody and control and agrees to the following:

The information herein contained is given in confidence, and any part thereof shall not be
copied or reproduced without written consent of Gerber Scientific International, Inc.

This document or the contents herein under no circumstances shall be used in the manufacture
or reproduction of the article shown and the delivery of this document shall not constitute any
right or license to do so.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Printed in USA

Gerber Solara ion, GerberCAT, Cold Fire Cure Technology, FastFacts, ImageRIP, OMEGA, Support First,
and Matched Technology System are trademarks and GSP is a registered trademark of Gerber Scientific
Products. Onyx and PosterShop are registered trademarks and ProductionHouse is a trademark of Onyx
Graphics. X-ACTO is a registered trademark of Hunt Corporation. Anticon is a registered trademark of
Milliken & Company. Firefox is a registered trademark of Mozilla. Microsoft, Internet Explorer,
Windows, and Windows XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft in the USA and other countries.
Wasatch SoftRIP is a registered trademark of Wasatch Computer Technology. SignLab is a trademark of
CADlink Technology Corporation. Flexi and PhotoPrint are trademarks of SA International, Inc.

V

Ink Jet Printer. In consideration

4/29/10 Rev G

FCC Compliance

Warning: Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible
for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.

Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital
device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable
protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial
environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if
not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful
interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely
to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference
at their own expense.

This Class A digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.

Cet appareil numérique de la classe A est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.

4/29/10 Rev G

Contents

Quick Print Checklist................................................................................................................ 10

Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................... 11

In this manual.........................................................................................................................................12

Conventions used in this booklet ........................................................................................................12

Safety information .................................................................................................................................13

Electrical...............................................................................................................................................13

Ink handling and disposal.................................................................................................................13

Printer ventilation...............................................................................................................................14

Personal precautions ..........................................................................................................................14

UV lamp precautions .........................................................................................................................14

Technical support ..................................................................................................................................14

Additional sources of information ...................................................................................................14

Chapter 2: Product Overview ................................................................................................. 15

General requirements............................................................................................................................15

Size and weight...................................................................................................................................15

Ambient conditions ............................................................................................................................16

Power requirements ...........................................................................................................................16

Printer orientation...............................................................................................................................17

Locating the serial number................................................................................................................17

Computer and software requirements.............................................................................................18

UV bulb technology...............................................................................................................................18

UV ink technology.................................................................................................................................19

Storing inks and materials....................................................................................................................19

UV ink storage.....................................................................................................................................19

Material storage ..................................................................................................................................20

Gerber Solara ion control panel ...........................................................................................................20

Main control panel..............................................................................................................................21

Auxiliary keypad................................................................................................................................21

Control Panel keys..............................................................................................................................22

Power-up functions ............................................................................................................................24

Exploring the printer's menu system..................................................................................................24

Status..........................................................................................................................................25

Setup..........................................................................................................................................25

Calibration ................................................................................................................................25

Maintenance..............................................................................................................................26

The Gerber Solara ion web pages ........................................................................................................27

Starting and stopping the printer ........................................................................................................27

Firmware startup and internal diagnostics.....................................................................................28

Automatic ink level check .................................................................................................................28

Automatic printhead cleaning check ...............................................................................................28

Sleep/Idle mode .................................................................................................................................28

Emergency Stop ..................................................................................................................................29

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Chapter 3: Setting up the Gerber Solara ion...................................................................... 31

Networking your Gerber Solara ion printer ......................................................................................31

Setting fixed (static) network addresses..........................................................................................31

Setting the IP Address and Subnet Mask of your computer.........................................................33

Checking network connections............................................................................................................37

Viewing the current network settings.................................................................................................37

Chapter 4: Loading Inks and Materials ............................................................................... 39

Loading the inks.....................................................................................................................................39

Checking the ink level........................................................................................................................40

Replacing ink pouches when ink remains in the reservoir...........................................................40

Replacing an ink pouch when the reservoir is empty ...................................................................42

Loading the material .............................................................................................................................42

Printer/graphic orientation...............................................................................................................44

Choosing a material type...................................................................................................................45

Normalizing material.........................................................................................................................46

Cleaning material................................................................................................................................46

Using material hold-down devices for roll material......................................................................48

Loading roll material in the Roll-to-Roll configuration....................................................................49

Using the material roller....................................................................................................................50

Loading roll material into the printer..............................................................................................51

Using the winding unit......................................................................................................................52

Removing material from the winding unit and printer ................................................................54

Loading rigid material ..........................................................................................................................55

Uniform Print Gap & Elimination of Gap Between Prints............................................................56

Understanding printing margins.........................................................................................................59

Chapter 5: Printing Jobs on the Gerber Solara ion........................................................... 61

Using RIP software and profiles..........................................................................................................61

Print mode options ................................................................................................................................61

Printer operations ..................................................................................................................................62

UV lamp automatic shut-off or Continuous mode ........................................................................62

Lamp Delay mode ..............................................................................................................................62

Lamp Spec mode.................................................................................................................................63

Large Field mode ................................................................................................................................64

Step Blending mode ...........................................................................................................................64

X Gantry Adjustment .........................................................................................................................65

UV lamp warm-up..............................................................................................................................66

Sleep/Idle mode .................................................................................................................................66

Automatic spitting to clear the nozzles ...........................................................................................66

Cleaning the printheads.....................................................................................................................67

Pausing a job due to data starvation................................................................................................67

Choosing a print mode for Roll-to-Roll printing...............................................................................67

Single mode .........................................................................................................................................67

Continuous mode ...............................................................................................................................67

Viewing job information at the printer...............................................................................................68

Printing a single Roll-to-Roll or Flat Bed job......................................................................................69

Media feed adjustment on a Roll-to-Roll job ..................................................................................71

Printing a full bleed Flat Bed job .........................................................................................................72

Printing double-sided, full-bleed......................................................................................................73

Printing multiple Roll-to-Roll jobs in Continuous mode .................................................................75

Canceling a job .......................................................................................................................................77

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