Zebra Technologies P640i User Manual

980541-001 Rev. A

Zebra® P640i Card Printer

Card Printer

User Guide

© 2004 ZIH Corp.

The copyrights in this guide and the printers described therein are owned by Zebra Technologies Corporation. Un­authorized reproduction of this manual or the software in the label print engine may result in imprisonment of up
to one year and fines of up to $10,000 (17 U.S.C.506). Copyright violators may be subject to civil liability.

Printer Software © ZIH Corp. All rights reserved worldwide.

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks
belong to their respective holders.

Customer Order # 980541-001

Manufacturer Part # 980541-001 Rev. A

Caution labels on P640i Printers

Pinch Hazard • Keep fingers away from printer cover hinges and back of cleaning

cassette

Hot surfaces • Danger of skin burns near laminator components

Advisories used in this Guide

Important • Advises you of important information

Caution• Failure to follow instructions to the letter can cause malfunction, dam-

age to the printer, or personal injury.

ii P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

P640i Card Printer User Guide

Caution • The separate Quick Start Guide shows how to

set up the printer using the standard USB interface. If your
printer was configured for the optional Parallel or Ethernet
connections, refer to Technical Note 9 in Section 4 of this
Guide for instructions on driver installation.

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide iii

WARRANTY INFORMATION

Printers

All Zebra Card Printers are warranted against defects in material or workmanship for twelve (12)
months from the purchase date.

Proof of purchase or shipment date is required to validate the warranty period. The warranty becomes
void if the equipment is modified, improperly installed or used, damaged by accident or neglect, or if
any parts are improperly installed or replaced by the user.

Note: Products must be packaged in the original or comparable packaging and shipping container. In
the event equipment is not so packaged, or if shipping damage is evident, it will not be accepted for
service under warranty. Surface transportation charges for return to customers in the continental Unit­ed States is paid by Zebra. Otherwise, Zebra pays CPT (carriage paid to) nearest airport, customer
pays customs, duties, taxes and freight from airport to destination. If Zebra determines that the prod­uct returned for warranty service or replacement is not defective as herein defined, the customer will
pay all handling and transportation costs.

Printheads

Since printhead wear is part of normal operation, the original printhead is covered by a twelve (12)
month warranty. Warranty period begins on purchase date.

To qualify for this warranty, the printhead must be returned to the factory or to an authorized service
center. Customers are not required to purchase Zebra supplies (media and/or ribbons) for warranty
qualification. However, if it is determined that the use of other manufacturer supplies has caused any
defect in the printhead for which a warranty claim is made, the user is responsible for Zebraís labor
and material charges required to repair the defect. The warranty becomes void if the printhead is
physically worn or damaged; also if it is determined that failure to follow the preventative maintenance
schedule listed in the Userís Guide has caused defect in the thermal printhead for which warranty
claim is made.

Software

Software is warranted to be free of defects in material and workmanship for 30 days from the date of
purchase. In the event of notification within the warranty period of defects, Zebra will replace the de­fective CD or documentation.

Supplies

Supplies are warranted to be free from defect in material and workmanship for a period of six (6)
months for media and twelve (12) months for ribbon from the date of shipment by Zebra. This is pro­vided the user has complied with storage guidelines, handling, and usage of the supplies in Zebra
printers.

Zebraís sole obligation under these warranties is to furnish parts and labor for the repair or possible
replacement of products found to be defective in material or workmanship during the warranty period.
Zebra may in its discretion issue a credit for any such defective products in such amount as it deems
reasonable.

Spare Parts

All parts, maintenance kits, options kits, and accessories are warranted to be free of defects in mate­rial and workmanship for 90 days (except where otherwise denoted) from date of purchase. This war­ranty becomes void if the item is modified, improperly installed or used, or damaged by accident or
neglect.

iv P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

Warranty Exclusions and Conditions

The warranties provided above are the only warranties applicable. No other warranties, expressed or
implied, are given. Zebra does not make any IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PAR TICULAR PURPOSE in connection with its sale of products or services. While
Zebraís desire is to be responsive to specific needs and questions, Zebra does not assume respon­sibility for any specific application to which any products are applied including, but not limited to, com­patibility with other equipment. All statements, technical information or recommendations relating to
Zebra products are based upon tests believed to be reliable yet do not constitute a guaranty or war­ranty.

Zebraís maximum liability for warranty claims is limited to the invoice price of the product claimed de­fective. Zebra does not assume responsibility for delays or replacement or repair of products. Zebra
shall not under any circumstances whatsoever be liable to any party for loss of profits, lost data, dim­inution of good will, or any other special or consequential damages whatsoever with respect to any
claim made under agreement with Zebra. Specifically for software, Zebra is not liable for any inciden­tal or consequential damages caused by abuse or misapplication of the software or by its use in vio­lation of the U.S. copyright law or international treaty.

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide v

AGENCY APPROVALS

Product Disposal

Do not dispose of this product in unsorted municipal waste. This product is recyclable.
Please recycle according to your local standards. For more information, please see our
web site at: http://www.zebra.com/recycle

CONTACT INFORMATION

Zebra Technologies • Card Printer Solutions

North America
1001 Flynn Road
Camarillo, CA 93012-8706 USA
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Toll free in the US: 800 452 4056
e-mail: [e-mail]

Europe, Middle East and Africa
The Valley Centre, Gordon Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire HP13 6EQ, UK
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

www.zebracard.com

Asia Pacific
16 New Industrial Road
#05-03 Hudson TechnoCentre
Singapore 536204
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

Latin America
9800 NW 41St Street, Suite 220
Doral, FL 33178
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

vi P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

Table of Contents

Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

1 • Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Photo ID card printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Printing basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What makes the P640i a different kind of printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What to expect when you turn on the power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Test card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Push buttons and Indicator lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

PRINT button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

RIBBON button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

LAMINATE button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

INDICATOR LIGHT SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

A typical card production sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 • Media Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Loading cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Hot Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Loading the cleaning cassette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Why 10 cards is the normal clean frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Loading the color ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Laminating Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Laminate Cassettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Main components of the laminating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Removing the cassettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Loading the cassettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Installing the cassettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Clearing the Laminate Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Laminating smart cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide vii

Table of Contents

3 • Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Image Adjustment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Troubleshooting quality problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Poor color registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Examples of color mis-registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Poor color rendering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Faint, non-uniform image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Gaps in image at edges and corners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Continuous white or black stripes on card’s longer dimension. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Random occurences of white (unprinted) spots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Image not centered on card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Image missing at top or bottom of card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Consistent image defects, card after card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Random colored patterns on image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Scratches/dings on long edges of card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Laminate not centered on card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Laminate not parallel with card edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Laminate wrinkling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Unusual Printer/Lmainator Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Color ribbon runs for longer than 2 or 3 seconds when cover is closed (MEDIA

light stays on) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

ALARM light stays ON after error condition is cleared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Card has both front and back images printed on same side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

MEDIA light ON steady, but no obvious visual problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Completely unexpected print results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

YMC color panels stick to card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

K (Black) panel sticks to card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Loud rattling/screeching from card transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Brief rattling noise before every print job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Rattling noise every 10 cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Unusual events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Laminator spot check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Additional help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Error messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

viii P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A 10/15/2004

Table of Contents

4 • Technical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Technical Note 1 - General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

P640i Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

ID/Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Printer Parameters in the Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Password Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Technical Note 2 - Card Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

No-slip card transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Card transport knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Take care of the platen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Removing the platen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Truck interlock (arrowed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Truck home sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Card presence sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Cleaning cassette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Underside of hopper base molding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Transport Parameters in the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Avoid These Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

TEchnical Note 3 - Magnetic Stripe Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Mag encoder installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Mag encoder components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Cleaning the read/write head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Replacing the read/write head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Magnetic Encoding Functions in the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Magnetic Encoding Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Techncial Note 4 - Print Station. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Examples of printhead problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Cleaning the print head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Print head attachment hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Replacing the print head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Print quality tests and adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Print Stati on Parameters in the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

K (Black) Panel Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Technical Note 5 - Flip Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

How the flip station works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Flip station adjustment procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Flip Station Routines in the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Carrier Motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

980541-001 Rev. A 10/15/2004 P640i Card Printer User Guide ix

Table of Contents

Techncial Note 6 - Laminator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Laminate position adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Laminator Parameters in the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Correcting Laminator Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Technical Note 7 - ID/Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Technical Note 8 - Using the Windows Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Operator screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Printing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

What is black extraction? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Printer Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

IDPrint Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Card Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Technical Note 9 - Installing the Windows Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

First things first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Driver CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Uninstalling the printer driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Windows file missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Installing the printer driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

New Hardware Found Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Install using Zebra’s Printer Setup screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Install using “Add a Printer” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Firewall issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Configuring the Ethernet option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Technical Note 10 - Printer Pooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Set up the Printers individually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

x P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A 10/15/2004

1

Introduction

Main cover

Interlock actua-

Card hopper
cover

ID/Key (option-

Card
Hopper

Push
buttons

Indicator

Mag encod­er (optional)

Cleaning
station

Print
station

Flip
station

Transfer toggle

Rotate clockwise
to separate trans-

Laminating
station

Card transport
knob

For manual repo-

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 1

Introduction

Overview

Overview

The P640i Printer is a complete, fully automatic photo ID card fabricator. It comprises six
functional elements:

• Card hopper

• Magnetic (“mag”) encoder - optional feature

• Cleaning station

• Print station

•Flip station

• Laminator
Because the P640i Printer is fully automa tic, it requires no attention from the ope r ator other
than media loading and an occasional vacuuming.

Although you don’t need a detailed knowledge of the printer to use the printer effectively, an
overall understanding of what goes on can help you troubleshoot effectively.

How you load the cards, color ribbon and laminate is important - see Section 2. Careful

attention to media handling takes care of most problems!

Photo ID card printing

between the print head and the card being printed is the color ribbon, usually a series of
process-color dye panels (Y, M and C) for dye sub, plus a panel of black resin (K) for mass
transfer.

The process used in the P640i Printer is kn own as digital thermal
transfer, a means of printing clean, durable images directly onto the
PVC surface of photo ID cards.

There are two different thermal transfer technologies, both used in the
P640i Printer: dye sublimation (“dye sub”), which uses the three
process colors Yellow/Magenta/Cyan for photos and graphics, and
mass transfer for machine-readable black text and bar codes.

Both types of printing are done with a single print head comprising a
row of tiny heating elements, 300 to the inch, each driven
independently by the printer controller. Sandwiched by spring pressure

2 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

Printing basics

This is the usual pattern for a P640i Printer
ribbon. Y, M and C are the three “dye sub”
process colors. The K panel is for infrared­readable bar codes and other data, usually on
the back of the card. A second K panel
(YMCKK) is sometimes provided to allow
black resin printing on both sides of the card.

Introduction

Printing basics

C

Cyan

Dye

Magen-

ta Dye

Y

Yellow

Dye

M

K

Black
Resin

As the ID card is driven through the print
station, the color ribbon is metered out from
the supply roll at the same speed. Each color
reqires a separate “pass” of the card. The black
dots at the bottom edge of the print head depict
the heating elements - in practice, at 300 to the
inch, they are too small to be seen with the

Card

naked eye.

Color migrates from the dye ribbon onto the ID card,
the spread of the dye depending on the amount of heat
applied by the print head element. Each time it comes to
a dye panel boundary, the print head lifts to allow the
card to back up, then lowers again to print the next
color.

Print
head

Card

Print
head

Print
head

Color
ribbon

The K (black) panel is a resin that “mass transfers”
onto the surface of the card, instead of migrating into
it. With mass transfer the printer has lit tle control over
a pixel’s size or density - it’s either there or it isn’t. K
printing is used for bar codes because it is machine
readable, whereas YMC dyes ar e not.

Card

What makes the P640i a different kind of printer

The print station in the P640i has no pinch rollers that need cleaning to maintain accuracy

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 3

Introduction

Printing basics

In the P640i the card is transported on a belt-driven truck that maintains precise registration

Toothed blet

Platen

3. After a few minutes (3 to 5), the READY light will show steady green, indicat in g t hat th e

through the entire process of picking, cleaning, and
multi-pass printing. This means perfect color-to-color

Transport
motor

registration time after time - no slippage, no
deterioration in print quality over time.

What to expect when you turn

Card truck

Card transport
knob

the fan running , and a clicking sound inside the printer (the flip station resetting itself).
Finally;

printer is ready to print.

on the power

1. Nothing happens for two or three seconds, then;

2. The READY light flashes yellow (indicating that
the laminator is warming up), and you will hear

The receiving tray for printed ID cards hooks onto the right side pan el .

Power cord entry and ON-OFF switch are located on the rear
panel.

4 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

Test card

Introduction

Push buttons and Indicator lights

The P640i printer receives data through one
of three types of connector: Ethernet
(optional feature), USB (standard feature) or
Parallel (Centronics type, optional feature).

You may sometimes be asked to print a test
card. This is the pattern stored in the printer’s
memory (it has nothing to do with the
computer). If the printer is functioning
properly, it will be printed when the PRINT
button on the front panel is pressed following
power-up.

Push buttons and Indicator lights

PRINT button

Press the PRINT button to print the image
stored in the printer’s memory. When the
printer is powered up, the memory is loaded
with a checkerboard test pattern, above.

In regular on-line use, the PRINT button
reprints the last image downloaded from the
computer to the buffer memory.

If you press and hold the PRINT button for
more than two seconds, the printer will
continuously reprint the image in the buffer. Stop this action by pressing the button
momentarily while printing is in process.

Note that pressing the PRINT button will have no effect if any of the following applies: 1. An
error condition exists; 2. You have set up the print driver to print color on both sides of the
card, or; 3. The optional hardware lockout key, ID/Key, is missing (but this does not disable
the checkerboard printout available after power-up).

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 5

Introduction

Push buttons and Indicator lights

RIBBON button

Figure 1 • Standard YMCK color ribbon

LAMINATE button

If either (or both) of the laminate transfer rollers is not loaded with a laminate patch, then
pressing the LAMINATE button will correct the condition, provided the cassette(s) is not out
of laminate. If both rollers are already loaded, the LAMINATE button has no effect.

This button is used to synchronize the ribbon – in other words,
to position it correctly under the print head.

In typical applications, the ribbon type is YM CK, and th e back
of the card is printed first. In such cases, pressing the RIBBON
button will advance the color ribbon to bring the leading edge
of the next black panel under the print head.

If back side printing is not enabled, the printer will
synchronize on the next yellow panel when the RIBBON
button is pressed.

A typical use of the LAMINATE button is in reloading a transfer rolle r after removin g the first
hand-cut patch of laminate following installation of a fresh roll.

6 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

INDICATOR LIGHT SUMMARY

Depending on the condition they are reporti ng, the three indicator l ights, READY, MEDIA and
ALARM, can be in one of three states: Off, On (steady), or Flashing.

The READY indicator is bi-colored. Its two color channels, green and yellow, function
independently.

READY indicator

Green = Ready to print, or printer busy.

Yellow = Laminator not at operating temperature.

MEDIA indicator

Normally Off.

On = Any media outage.

Introduction

INDICATOR LIGHT SUMMARY

ALARM indicator

Normally Off.

READY MEDIA ALARM

GREEN YELLOW ORANGE RED

What the Indicator Lights Tell You

Printer Status

Ready to print

Printer busy

Laminator heating up, but not yet at operating temperature

Laminator heaters in sleep mode (when not in use, the heaters cool at 1oF per minute)

Printhead temperature error.

No cards in magazine, color ribbon out, cleaning tape out, laminator cassette(s) out.

Mag encoding write failure
Serious error conditions, including: MAIN COVER OPEN, Laminator too hot, card

transport stalled, card not seated properly, mag encoding verification error, head lift
failure, ribbon jam, card jam (any location), card missing (any location), no gap be­tween laminator patches.

= light on = light flashing

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 7

Introduction

INDICATOR LIGHT SUMMARY

A typical card production sequence

Several variations are possible, such as multi-pass color printing on the back surface (instead
of the black-only printing shown here).

1. Blank cards are loaded face down in the hop-

per, with the mag stripe (if any) toward the
front.

2. The carriage pushes the bottom card out of

the deck, carrying it under the mag encoder.

3. After passing under the encoder, the card sur-

face is cleaned by a tacky roller (which is
itself decontaminated periodically by adhe­sive tape in the cleaning cassette).

4. The carriage drives the card under the print

head, which transfers black characters and/or
bar code from the K panel onto the back sur­face of the card.

5. The carriage pushes the back-printed card

into the flip station, which elevates the card
then flips it through 180o.

6. The card, now face up, is returned to the car-

riage, which is then reversed into position for
a second cleaning operation.

7. After its face cleaning the card is driven

under the print head again, this time to p rint a
yellow (Y) dye image - the first of three color
passes.

8 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

8. The carriage reverses the card into position
for the second color pass, magenta (M), fol­lowed by another reverse-and-print cycle for
the third color pass, cyan (C).

9. Now fully printed, the card re-enters the flip
station, which this time acts only as an eleva­tor (no flipping) to bring the card up to the
laminator level.

10. An ejector arm propels the card into the lami­nator infeed rollers, which in turn drive the
card between the two white transfer rollers,
step 11.

Introduction

INDICATOR LIGHT SUMMARY

Upper
cassette

Cutter

11. Each transfer roller is “loaded” with a patch
of laminate, cut from the top and bottom cas­settes shortly after the previous card passed
through the laminator.

12. As the card passes between the transfer rollers the laminate patches are rolled into place. They are then permanently bonded to the card by a pair of heated rollers applying pressure to the top and bottom surfaces.

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 9

Loading cards

When loading cards, open ONLY the hopper
cover, left. (If you open the main cover, the
interlock switch disables the printer , resu lting
in a start-up delay after the cover is closed.)

2

Media Handling

1. Card orientation in the hopper: the back
side of the card faces up, and the mag
stripe of the card is to the front of the

printer.

Note • If there is no mag stripe, and if th ere is

pre-printed information on the card, your system
administrator will tell you which edge of the
card goes to the front.

2. Load the magazine a few cards at a time, holding the cards by the edges as shown. Don’t try to load an entire pack at one time, because that would mean handling the upper and lower surfaces - see STOP, above right.

Caution • Plastic cards attract dust and dirt.
Keep them clean! Handle them by the edges
and avoid touching the surfaces. Do not use
cards that are dirty or have been dropped on
the floor.

3. Place the weight on top of the card stack.

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 11

Media Handling

Loading the cleaning cassette

Hot Loading

You can load cards while the printer is powered up and
operating. If there are no cards left in the hopper, close the
hopper cover then wait until the printer hascompleted its
current print job and returned the truck to its home positon
under the hopper.

Loading the cleaning cassette

Before being printed, each surface of the card is cleaned by a soft tacky roller that is itself
cleaned periodically by adhesive tape in the cleaning cassette. Typically, the roller is cleaned
every 10 cards. The printer driver software allows the card count to be modified.

When the cleaning cassette is exhausted, a warning message appears on the monitor, and the
MEDIA light on the printer turns on.

Note • When the hopper cover is open, the truck

can not drive to its home position.

1. Open the main cover of the printer , then remove the spent cleaning cassette by pulling it toward you.

2. Remove the protective foil from the replacement cleaning cassette.

12 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

3. Install a fresh cleaning cassette by locat­ing the rectangular pin on the cleaning
mechanism in the receptacle on the cas­sette. Push the cassette gently home,
ensuring that the internal grooves on the
upper spool engage the teeth on the
takeup drive

.

Why 10 cards is the normal clean frequency

If the cleaning system is activated every 10 cards, the cleaning cassette contains suf ficient tape
for 3,000 cards. This matches the other components of the standard Zebra med ia pack (3,000
cards, 3,000 color ribbon images).

Media Handling

Loading the color ribbon

Takeup

drive

Note • In dusty environments, clean the roller more frequently. The driver

allows you to select any frequency from 1 card to 20 cards.

Loading the color ribbon

When the color ribbon is exhausted, a warning message appears on the monitor, and the
MEDIA light on the printer turns on.

Important • Opening of the main cover elevates the printhead

for easy ribbon loading..

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 13

Media Handling

Loading the color ribbon

Supply

arbor

Takeup

arbor

P640i color ribbon, left, and empty core, right. The flange end with
internal grooves goes to the back.

Important • Are both the new ribbon and takeup cores

fully home on the arbors, as far back as they will go? You
should hear a click.

Color

ribbon

Empty

core

1. Install an empty ribbon core on the right (takeup) arbor. Push the core back as far as it will go, making sure the internal grooves on the core engage the teeth on the takeup arbor.

2. Pull out more ribbon, then bring the free end of the ribbon u p to the right of the takeup core.

3. With the ribbon centered on t he takeup core, att ach its free end to core with Scotch tape or the adhesive label that came with the fresh roll. Take up slack by reversing the supply roll (don’ t try to rotate the takeup arbor).

Caution • Make sure the ribbon is between the
arms of the ribbon sensor left of the printhead.

14 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

4. Close the printer cover, then press the RIBBON button to initialize the color ribbon. If the MEDIA light fails to go out, check the ribbon sensor.

Caution • Color ribbon wrinkling and “fold-over”
can seriously affect print quality. Unless you are
sure the ribbon is installed properly, proceed to
Step 6

5. Re-open the printer cover to inspect the ribbon path for wrinkles and folds. Correct if nec­essary, then close the cover.

Laminating Station

Important • When loading or unloading

laminate cassettes, stay away fr om nearby
heated rollers.

When either of the laminate cassettes is empty , a warning message appear s on the monitor, and
the MEDIA light on the printer turns on.

Media Handling

Laminating Station

Overlay laminates come in three widths:

• F or the front (UPPER) of the card,
full width, plain or with special
graphics. Full width

• For the back (LOWER) of the card,
partial width if there is a writable
signature panel or mag stripe,
otherwise full width. Usually, there
are no graphics on lower laminate:
Partial width
(42 mm)
Partial width

Laminate Cassettes

The upper and lower cassettes are mirror
images, almost identical twins. This can be
confusing if you don’t follow the procedure
outlined in this guide. The cassettes are
differentiated by color-coded dots:Red =
UPPER Yellow = LOWER

= 2” (51 mm)

, signature panel = 1.66”

, mag stripe = 1.3” (33 mm)

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 15

Media Handling

Laminating Station

Main components of the laminating system

The laminating system comprises two separate independent
units, one for the front of the card, one for the back.

Laminate

cutter

Upper

Transfer

guide

Heater

compartment

Lower

cassette

Transfer toggle Must be set to
RUN (horizontal) for normal oper-

Transfer

roller

ation. Rotate the toggle to open
the rollers for jam clearance.

Removing the cassettes

1.Open the latch plate by flipping it to the full vertical posi­tion, until you feel some resistance. Turn the UPPER latch
counterclockwise, the LOWER clockwise.

Caution • If either of the latch plates is
opened, even unintentionally, the cassette
affected must be removed and the laminate
reeled in, see page 2-6.

16 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A

2. Grasp the cassette and pull it straight toward you, clear of the printer.

Caution • If you feel resistance when
removing the cassette, the laminate has likely
run out, leaving one end attached to the core
and the other end under the cutter. Keep
tugging on cassette, which will come free with
a short tail of laminate.

Caution • Remove the transfer guide to be
sure there are no scraps of laminate
remaining.

3. Open the cassette, like a clam shell, by separating its two halves. Grasp the two halves firmly with the fingers, then pull. Do NOT use tools to pry it apart.

Media Handling

Laminating Station

Loading the cassettes

1. Discard the spent core. Hold the open cassette with its cavities toward you, white idler wheel to the top.

Caution • You need partial width laminate for
the LOWER cassette if there is a mag stripe
or signature stripe on the card

2. Place a roll of laminate in the cassette so that it feeds from the bottom of the roll, UP and OUT to the front. Pull out an inch or two of laminate.

Caution • If the lower cassette is intended for
partial width laminate, it will have an edge
guide to keep the laminate on track. Make
sure it is in the correct position for the partial
width laminate you are using.

980541-001 Rev. A P640i Card Printer User Guide 17

Media Handling

Laminating Station

3. Close the cassette, then pull out a little more laminate. If it
suddenly stops, resisting further pulling, a spring detent on
the cassette, photo below, has snagged a notch on the end
of the core. This means that the core was installed the
wrong way round. If you follow the installation diagram
on the inside of the cassette this won’t happen!

4. With the white roller up and pointing to your left, rotate
the core counter clockwise to reel in the laminate. Stop
when the end of the laminate is even with the lips of the
cassette - no overhang, but make sure it is not clear of the
white roller (otherwise it won’t feed).

Installing the cassettes

Cassette

pocket

Cassette

latch

Caution • If the end of the laminate is crinkled
or uneven, cut it as square as you can with
scissors, then reel it in.

Important • Check for overhang any time th e

cassette latch is opened, or the cassette isremoved.

1. Make sure the laminate is even with the lips of the cas­sette.

2. Insert the cassette into its black molded pocket, then close
the cassette latch (clockwise for the UPER, counterclock­wise for the LOWER).

3. Close the main cover. If there was a laminate error before
you replaced the cassette, laminate will automatically fee d
from the just-loaded cassette, followed by a cutting action
to free a “patch” of laminate onto the transfer roller. If
laminate does not feed automatically, press the LAMI­NATE button.

18 P640i Card Printer User Guide 980541-001 Rev. A