XPM 200HR™
Thermal Printer Family
HENGSTLER
®
Part No. D 690 074
Mod. No. 4 300113 LEV
page 11 of 32
Figure 5
When paper (red line in figure 5) is inserted into the printer, the entrance sensor L1 detects
the paper edge and starts the platen motor. The platen rotates and grasps the paper as it is
manually fed. The paper advances until it reaches sensor L2, which signifies to the printer
the location of the paper leading edge. The printer then reverses the paper to the
programmable park position.
When data is sent to the printer and printing begins, the paper is advanced by the printer
platen as the individual heating elements of the thermal printhead heat as necessary to form
the printout. The paper continues to advance and enters the paper cutter area, where it
passes over the fixed cutting blade (lower blue element in figure 5) and out the front. Once
printing is completed, the paper is advanced and a command sent to the cutter to cut off the
paper. The “pizza cutter” blade (upper blue element in figure 5) cycles from one side to the
other, and sensors L3 or L4 detect when the cutter has reached one of the two home
positions. The paper can then be retracted to a park position to avoid wasting the paper
between the printhead and cutter, ready for the next printout.
When the printer runs out of paper, the printer entrance sensor L1 detects the fact and stops
printing immediately to avoid possible damage to the thermal printhead from printing with no
paper underneath it. How the printer reacts next depends upon the printer’s settings. One
common selection is for the partial printout to be invalidated (printed over to make it illegible)
as it is retracted out the back of the printer. Another is to simply eject the partial printout out
the rear of the printer.
If the XPM 200HR is equipped with a presenter, paper loading is as described above. When
a printout is generated, it exits the printer mechanism and activates a sensor at the entrance
to the presenter. The presenter motor pulls the paper in until it is pinched between a pair of
roller, then stops. As the printer continues to print, a paper loop is formed in an area of the
presenter between the presenter rollers and the print mechanism. (It is from this loop that the
term “loop presenter” is derived.) When printing is completed, the print mechanism severs
the paper from the paper supply. The presenter then advances the cut paper and presents it
to the user, holding on to the last few millimeters so the printout doesn’t fall. The user can
then take the printout.
The presenter also includes a retract feature. With this feature, the presenter printout can be
retracted back into the presenter, either by command, or if it is not taken after a certain period
of time, depending upon the settings. If a retract is commanded by the controller, a flap in the
presenter moves to redirect the paper downward, and the presenter feed rollers reverse. The
printout is routed downward and out of the bottom of the presenter to fall into a customer-
supplied “reject” bin.
All other user-adjustable functions and settings in the XPM 200HR™ are controlled by the
supplied software tools.
