Service Manual
1-3
General Information
1
Sublimation dye printing
Dye sublimation printing is an extension of thermal wax transfer printing.
Many of Tektronix’ current and previous printers are based on thermal-wax
transfer technology. During the dye sublimation printing process, transfer roll
dye, in contact with a sheet of special paper, is vaporized (sublimed) into the
surface of the paper by an electronically controlled thermal head. The thermal
head features individually controllable heating elements at 300 elements per
inch that span the width of the printing paper and the transfer roll. The
temperature of each element can be controlled so that a specific amount of dye is
vaporized into the paper. This allows the printer to produce a remarkably wide
range of colors and shades with detailed precision.
The printer, using the subtractive color method, transfers sequential layers of
yellow, cyan, magenta, and black dye into the paper to create its full gamut of
color.
The printing paper is an ultra-smooth material. Since the transferred dye
penetrates and bonds into the surface of the paper, the prints are durable and do
not scratch, rub off, or retransfer to other materials.
Regarding printer service
There are only a few field replaceable units (FRUs) for the printer. Based on the
problem, servicing the printer generally involves:
■
adjusting the printer
■
replacing the image processor board or its SIMMs
■
replacing the power supply or engine control board
■
replacing certain printer rollers
■
replacing the print engine
With this in mind, before you travel to a customer site, you should contact the
customer, and to the extent possible, try and troubleshoot the printer to the point
that you are reasonable sure whether or not you must replace the print engine.
To troubleshoot the printer “over the phone” you can work with the customer
and follow the step-by-step troubleshooting procedure described at the
beginning of Section 6
Troubleshooting
. This way you can determine whether or
not you must bring a replacement print engine to the customer site.