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PF-2 PrintFactory 

 

Users Manual 

 
 

 
 
 
 
Microboards Technology LLC 

 

 

 

 

 

                       Version 1.1 

www.microboards.com 
 
 
 
 

Summary of Contents for PF-2 PrintFactory

Page 1: ...PF 2 PrintFactory Users Manual Microboards Technology LLC Version 1 1 www microboards com ...

Page 2: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 2 ...

Page 3: ...e Printer Driver 8 USB Port and Parallel Port 8 Windows 2000 install procedures 8 Windows XP install procedures 11 Multiple Printers 14 Installing SureThing CD Labeler Software 15 Chapter 4 Using the Printer 19 Test and Alignment 19 Print Test Disc 19 Align Disc 20 Loading Discs 23 Printing Discs 24 Printing on Verbatim Vinyl CD R discs 28 Chapter 5 Printer Properties 30 Setup Tab 30 Printing Reco...

Page 4: ...t printer engine to give users the highest output possible both in image resolution and print speed Since PF 2 PrintFactory is an autoloading printer no calibration of robotics or manual feeding of discs is required PF 2 PrintFactory connects by USB or Parallel interface to the computer and comes with label design software Flexibility and Speed for Any Application While the PF 2 PrintFactory was d...

Page 5: ... seconds for the printer to turn on after you press the Power button The green light next to the Power button flashes when the printer is processing NOTE The AC power switch located on the back of the printer must be turned on first in order to supply power to the Front Panel What s Included When unpacking your PF 2 PrintFactory system the following items should be included PF 2 PrintFactory print...

Page 6: ...ts or non Microboards ink cartridges are not recommended for use in the PF 2 PrintFactory system Use of these types of cartridges will cause the printer to fail Use of these types of cartridges will void the warranty Changing these settings is done in the Printer Preferences described in Chapter 5 Ink cartridge troubleshooting If the PF 2 PrintFactory system stops printing and the red LED indicato...

Page 7: ...humb screws The output bin should now be securely in place Next slide in the 100 disc output spindle into place number 3 The unit is now ready for operation Connecting to a Computer You have two options when connecting to a computer USB and Parallel You will need to decide which method is available on your computer Follow the instructions listed below 3 1 2 Parallel Port Confirm that your PC is tu...

Page 8: ...find the new hardware at boot up and step you through the installation process 1 Once you have the printer connected to your PC as described on the previous page in the Connecting to a Computer USB Port or Parallel Port turn on the power to the printer and then to your computer 2 When the system boots up the computer will state that it has found new hardware Windows 2000 install procedures 3 Click...

Page 9: ...hnology PF 2 PrintFactory 9 4 Place the PF 2 PrintFactory driver CD into your CD DVDROM drive 5 Select the Search for a suitable driver for my device option and click Next 6 Check the CD ROM drives box and click Next ...

Page 10: ...y PF 2 PrintFactory 10 7 The install file will be found on the CDROM drive Click Next 8 The Digital Signature screen will appear Click Yes at the bottom of the screen 9 The driver files will now be copied to the hard drive ...

Page 11: ...ntFactory 11 10 Once installation is complete click on Finish Windows XP install procedures 1 Place the PF 2 PrintFactory driver CD into your CD DVDROM drive 2 Select the Install from a list or specific location option and click Next ...

Page 12: ... PF 2 PrintFactory 12 3 Check the Search removable media box and click Next 4 The Digital Signature screen will appear Click Continue Anyway at the bottom of the screen 5 The driver files will now be copied to the hard drive ...

Page 13: ...ctory 13 6 Once installation is complete click on Finish 7 The printer is now installed and ready for use To confirm installation you can Click on Start and select Settings and then Printers 8 You should see the new printer now installed ...

Page 14: ...e the printer is installed you will see the additional printer labeled MB PrintFactory Series Copy 1 Before using the newly installed printer you must first go into the printer preferences and set the offset values for that printer in Windows To do this right click on the MB PrintFactory Series Copy 1 and select Printer Preferences Go to the utility tab Change the TOP or LEFT value from zero to so...

Page 15: ...y to use application designed to work with the Microboards PF 2 PrintFactory printer To install the software 1 Place the PF 2 PrintFactory driver CD into your CD DVD ROM reader drive 2 Installation should begin automatically 3 If your system does not automatically start the setup program click on the Start button and select RUN Click the browse button and go to your CD DVDROM drive Select the sure...

Page 16: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 16 4 Please read the Software License and Warranty screen and click on I Accept 5 At the Welcome screen click Next ...

Page 17: ... directory click Next at the Select Destination Directory screen If you wish to use a different directory select it now and then click Next 7 At the Add to Desktop Start Menu screen uncheck the boxes for Add to Desktop and or Add to Start Menu if you do not want this option Click Next ...

Page 18: ...chnology PF 2 PrintFactory 18 8 Click Start at the Ready to Install screen 9 The software will now be installed 10 Click Finish to complete the installation At this screen you also have the option to register online ...

Page 19: ...ntFactory is to confirm the printer is communicating correctly with the computer and the information printed on the discs will be aligned properly Test and Alignment Print Test Disc To confirm the computer is communicating with the printer print a Test Disc This can be done with one of the inkjet printable CD s included with your printer or an inkjet compatible disc you may already have To print t...

Page 20: ...on between the printer and PC Align Disc There are factory default numbers for the TOP and LEFT values for your printer These can be found on a label under the printer cover You may need to adjust the values depending on the images you are printing To run the alignment utility please follow these steps In Utilities Tab select Print Align Disc ...

Page 21: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 21 ...

Page 22: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 22 Place an Alignment CD into the printer Press Print The disc will be printed Confirm the numbers that cross the circle ...

Page 23: ...he CD Loading Discs The next step is to load your PF 2 PrintFactory with discs The system will accept CD or DVD 12 cm inkjet printable discs If the disc does not have an inkjet printable surface the ink will not adhere to the surface of the disc The PF 2 PrintFactory will only accept 12 cm discs Business card or 8 cm discs are not supported by this system Figure 1 Figure 2 Load the first 5 or 6 di...

Page 24: ... to work with CD and DVD discs The following is an example of designing and printing a label with SureThing Open SureThing software Select the template you wish to use There are three choices 1 12 CM disc with an inkjet printable hub 2 12 CM disc without an inkjet printable hub 36mm 3 12 CM disc by Verbatim called Vinyl CD See page 27 for important information when using the Vinyl CD template Clic...

Page 25: ...ogy PF 2 PrintFactory 25 At the SmartDesign screen you can select one of three default layouts If you wish to start with a blank layout uncheck the User SmartDesigns box After making your selection click Next Click Finish ...

Page 26: ...ding text graphics backgrounds etc For complete details on the options and operation of SureThing software please refer to the Help topics Once your label is designed click on File and select Print The Print screen appears Select number of copies you wish to print and press OK ...

Page 27: ...n the Printer Preferences There are two ways to open the Printer Preferences 1 One is from the Print screen in SureThing CD Labeler Press the Options button and the Printer Properties will appear NOTE Changes made this way will apply to this print job only The changes are NOT permanent 2 The other way is to go to click on Start go to Settings and select Printers Right click on the Microboards prin...

Page 28: ...rbatim Vinyl CD R discs you must first change the inner and outer diameters of the printable area in the Utility Menu Please follow these steps 1 Double click on Printers in the control panel 2 Right click on the Microboards PrintFactory printer and select Printing Preferences 3 Click on the Utility tab ...

Page 29: ...he Print on hub checkbox 4 5 6 6 Click on the Apply box 7 Click OK 8 The printer is now ready for use with the Verbatim Vinyl CD R discs 9 When you want to go back to printing on standard CD R discs you will need to change the inner and outer diameters back to the default values The default outer diameter is 118 and the default inner diameter is 36 Again if you are in the 1mm resolution the number...

Page 30: ...when printing in Text and Graphics mode the HP C8842A Versatile Black Ink cartridge is highly recommended If you do not have this black ink cartridge installed we recommend using Photo Mode Printing Recommendations Text and Graphics mode is used for printing mainly text information and small graphics Here are some examples for images in Fast Normal and Best Modes ...

Page 31: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 31 Text and Graphics Fast Text and Graphics Normal ...

Page 32: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 32 Text and Graphics Best Photo Mode will be used when printing on the entire disc Here is an example Photo Normal Best and 4800x1200 Modes ...

Page 33: ...you set the number of copies This is used only when printing directly to the printer port Normally you will use the label design software to select the number of copies Advanced Features allows you to adjust the amount of ink placed on the disc and adjust the dry time of the disc ...

Page 34: ...le only The High Quality setting will print the disc using the Color ink cartridge The Black Only selection will use the Black ink cartridge only Saturation Brightness and Color Tone allow you to fine tune your print image Factory Settings will set the above values back to the factory defaults Utility Tab ...

Page 35: ...Microboards Technology PF 2 PrintFactory 35 Print test CD ...

Page 36: ...le is located on the horizontal and vertical lines If either of the numbers are not zero adjust the top or left amounts by those shown on the vertical or horizontal guides respectively and click Apply NOTE If alignment is required in the future after using the printer for some time make sure and click on the Factory Defaults button to reset the alignment numbers before running the Align Disc proce...

Page 37: ...y PF 2 PrintFactory 37 Clean Cartridge If your image looks like this example it may be necessary to clean the ink cartridges Click on the Clean button The printer will clean the cartridges and print out the following image ...

Page 38: ...y be a defective ink cartridge Try another cartridge and print again Ink Level This button will give an estimate of how much ink is left in the color and black cartridges Please note that the printer assumes that when a cartridge is replaced it is replaced with a new full cartridge If a used cartridge is used as a replacement the ink levels may not be correct ...

Page 39: ...the Out of Paper indicator is blinking confirm there are discs in the input bin If the input bin is empty add more discs and press the out of paper button If there are discs in the input bin the disc may not have dropped correctly on the belt Press the out of paper button on the interface and the system will attempt to load another disc If that does not fix the problem proceed to Disc Loading Erro...

Page 40: ...0 full color coverage Photo Normal Mode About 20 seconds for 100 full color coverage Text Graphics Best Mode About 12 seconds for 20 coverage Text Graphics Normal Mode Ink Types 3 Color Microboards PRF19ML 3 Color Microboards PRF38ML Black monochrome HP C8842a Fast Dry Black recommended HP C6615d Photo Mode Only HP 51645a Photo Mode Only Media Types Printable surface 120mm CD R or DVD R Label Edit...

Page 41: ... HP PhotoREt III Memory 8MB Connectivity USB or Parallel Supported Operating Systems Windows 2000 Windows XP System requirements Pentium 233 MHz 128 MB RAM 40 MB hard disk space Chapter 8 Contact Information For technical questions or support issues please contact Microboards Technology technical support at PH 952 556 1639 FAX 952 556 1628 by email at support microboards com or on the web at http ...

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