Fastmark M5 Plus Series Direct Thermal Barcode Printer User’s Guide Document #120523 Rev-A
Contents 1. Introduction..............................................................................................1 2. Getting Started .........................................................................................1 2.1 Unpacking and Inspection ....................................................................1 2.2 Equipment Checklist ............................................................................1 2.3 Printer Parts ...............................................................
1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing the AMT Datasouth M5 DT PLUS Direct Thermal Bar Code Printer. Although the printer takes only a small amount of space, it delivers reliable, superior performance. This printer provides direct thermal printing at user selectable speeds of: 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 or 5.0 inches per second. It accepts roll feed, die-cut, and fan-fold labels for printing media. All common bar codes formats are available.
Optional Configurations Peel off module assembly. Guillotine cutter Full cut: Paper thickness: 0.06~ 0.19mm, 500,000 cuts Partial cut: Paper thickness: 0.06~0.12mm, 500,000 cuts Paper thickness: 0.19mm 200,000 cuts Main board integrated with internal Ethernet Internal Ethernet print server module Accessories KP-200 KU-007 plus External Ethernet print server External wireless (802.11b/g) print server External roll mount, media OD. 214 mm (8.
2.3 Printer Parts 2.3.1 Front View Clear Window Top Cover LED Indicator Feed Button Label Opening Top Cover Open Lever Backing Paper Opening Front Panel Fig.1 Top Front View 2.3.2 Rear View 1. USB Interface 2. Centronics Interface 3. RS-232C DB-9 Interface 4. Power Jack 5. Power Switch 6 6. 1 2 3 4 5 Fig.2 Rear View 3 Setup 3.1 Setting Up the Printer 1. Place the printer on a flat, secure surface. 2. Make sure the power switch is off.
3. Connect the printer to the computer with the Centronics or USB cable. 4 Plug the DC power cord into the power jack at the rear of the printer, and then plug the AC power cord into a properly grounded receptacle. Plug USB Power Switch Centronics RS-232C Power Jack Power Supply Power Cord Fig. 5 Attach a power supply to a printer 3.2 Loading Media Stock 1. Insert spindle into a media roll (If your media core is 1 inch, remove the 1.5 inch core adapter from the fixing tab). Media Roll 1.
2. Open the printer’s top cover by releasing the green levers located on each side of the printer and lifting the top cover. 3. Place a roll of media onto the internal Media Spindle. 4. Feed the media (printing side face up) under the Teflon bar and through the support guides. The media should come to rest outside the printer. Refer to Fig #7. 5. Adjust the black center-biased media guides in or out by turning the adjustment knob so they are slightly touching the edges of the media/backing.
3.3 Peel-Off Module Installation (Option) 1. 2. Open the top cover. Remove the 6 screws in the lower inner cover. Screws Screws 3. 4. Turn over the printer. Remove two screws located near the top cover hinge.
5. Remove the screw at memory card cover. Screw 6. Separate the top, inner, and the lower cover. Lower inner cover Lower cover 7. Thread the cable red connector through the inner cover opening located near the front of the printer. Insert the red cable connector into location JP17 (M5 DT) / JP19 (M5 DT PLUS) on the main board. Install the peel-off module onto the lower inner cover slot.
Peel-off module assembly Install (2-places) one side at a time. 8. 9. Gently push the peel-off panel to lock onto the lower inner cover. Reassemble parts in reverse procedures after installing the module.
3.4 Loading Labels for Peel-off Mode (Option) 1. Open the peel-off module by pulling it forward. Peel-off Roller Peel-off Panel Fig. 9 Open the peel-off panel 2. Thread the label, printing side facing up, through the support guides. 3. Thread the label through the liner opening, which is beneath the roller. 4. Adjust the black center-biased media guides by turning the adjustment knob to fit the edge of the label/backing. Adjustment Knob Peel-Off Panel Roller Liner Opening Fig.
6. Close the top cover. Fig. 11 Label loaded completely in peel-off mode 3.5 External Media Roll Mount Installation (Option) 1. Attach an external media roll mount on the bottom of the printer. 2. Install a roll of media on the external roll mount. Media External Media Roll Mount Fig.
3. Feed the media (printing side face up) into the external opening located at the rear of the printer and then through the media guides. External Media Feed Opening Rear Media Guide Fig. 13 External label roll mount installation (II) 4. Open the printer top cover by pulling the top cover open levers. 5. Continue feeding the media through the internal printer guides and place it on top of the platen. 6. Adjust the media guides by turning adjustment knob to fit the edge of the media/backing. 7.
3.6 Cutter Module Installation (Option) 1. Pull the top cover levers to open the top cover. 2. Remove the front panel from the lower cover. Pull straight up to remove. 3. Use a screwdriver to remove 6 screws on the lower inner cover. Screws Screws Fig. 14 Remove 6 screws from lower inner cover 4. Turn over the printer. 5. Remove two screws located near the top cover hinge.
6. Remove the screw from the memory card cover, and left the cover off. Memory Card Cover Screw 7. Plug in the Cutter Driver IC at U14(M5 DT) / U30(M5 DT PLUS) socket on the main board.
8. Hold the lower cover and lift up the lower inner cover. 9. Thread the cutter module cable through the bezel. 10. Connect the cutter module cable to the 4-pin socket on printer PCB. Bezel Socket Fig. 16 Cutter module harness arrangement 11. Reassemble the lower inner cover back onto the lower cover. 12. Install the cutter module into the slots of the printer. Slots each side of the printer Fig. 17 Cutter module installation 13. Reassemble the parts in the reverse order. 14. Close the top cover.
3.7 Loading Media in Cutter Mode 1. 2. 3. 4. Open the printer top cover. Insert the spindle into the media roll. Install a media roll onto the roll mount. Thread the media, printing side face up, through the guides, platen and cutter module outlet. Media Guide Adjustment Knob Cutter Media Opening Platen Cutter Fig. 18 Media installation in cutter mode 5. Adjust the black center-biased guides to fit edge of the media/backing. 6. Close the top cover . Fig.
3.8 Internal Ethernet Print Server Module Installation (Option) 1. Break through the plastic partially connected at the rear side of lower cover RJ45 interface opening. RJ45 interface opening Remove the screw 2. Remove the screw from the main board. Fasten the metal and plastic standoff.
3. Fasten the RJ45 connector daughter board on the plastic and metal standoff. The ground wire from the mechanism must be screwed on the daughter board with metal standoff. Ground wire Screws RJ45 connector daughter board 4. Connect the print server module interface cable (36PIN) and RJ45 interface cable to print server module.
5. Remove the 2 screws from the motor bracket and 1 screw in the lower inner cover to install the internal print server. Screw Screws 6. Install the print server module in printer lower inner cover with 3 screws.
7. Plug the RJ45 white connector to the RJ45 daughter board connector. 8. Plug the print server module interface cable to connector J1A and J1B on the PCB, the left side harness (with red wire at the left side) is for J1A, the right side harness location is for J1B. M5 DT Model M5 DT PLUS Model 9. Plug the 2 PIN connector on PCB JP26 (M5 DT ) / JP22 (M5 DT PLUS) connector for 5V DC power.
3.9 Diagnostic Tool The Diagnostic Utility is a tool that allows users to explore the printer's settings and status; change printer settings; download graphics, fonts, and firmware; create printer bitmap fonts; and to send additional commands to the printer. Using this convenient tool, you can explore the printer status and settings and troubleshoot the printer. Note: This utility works with printer firmware V6.00 and later versions. 3.9.1 Start the Diagnostic Tool 1.
3.9.2 Printer Function (Calibrate, Ethernet setup, RTC setup…) 1. Select the PC interface connected with bar code printer. 2. Click the “Function” button to setting. 3. The detail functions in the Printer Function Group are listed as below. Function Description Factory Default Initialize the printer and restore the settings to factory default. Dump Text To activate the printer dump mode. Configuration Page Print printer configuration. RTC Setup Synchronize printer Real Time Clock with PC.
3. Plug in the memory card on main board. M5 DT Model (Option) M5 DT PLUS Model (SD card) 4. Reinstall the memory card cover. * Recommended SD card specification. SD V 1.0, V 1.1 128MB SD V 2.0 (SDHC) 4GB class 6 256MB 512MB 1GB -Supported DOS FAT file system. -Folders stored on the SD card should be in the 8.3 filename format.
4. Power on Utilities There are six power-on utilities to set up and test printer hardware. These utilities are activated by pressing FEED button and by turning on the printer power simultaneously. The utilities are listed as below: 1. Gap/Black Mark sensor calibration 2. Gap/black mark sensor calibration, Self-test and Dump mode 3. Printer initialization 4. Black mark sensor calibration 5. Gap sensor calibration 6. Skip AUTO.BAS 4.
4.2 Gap/Black Mark Calibration, Self-test, Dump Mode While calibrate the gap/black mark sensor, printer will measure the label length, print the internal configuration (self-test) and then enter the dump mode. Please follow the steps as below. 1.Turn off the power switch. 2. Hold on the button then turn on the power switch. 3. Release the button when LED becomes amber and blinking. (Any amber will do during the 5 blinks). The LED color will be changed as following order.
Self-test Printer will print the printer configuration after gap/black mark sensor calibration. Self-test printout can be used to check if there is any dot damage on the heater element, printer configurations and available memory space.
Dump mode Printer will enter dump mode after printing printer configuration. In the dump mode, all characters will be printed in 2 columns as following. The left side characters are received from your system and right side data are the corresponding hexadecimal value of the characters. It allows users or engineers to verify and debug the program. Dump mode printout Note: Turn off and on the power switch to reset the printer for normal printing.
4.3 Printer Initialization Printer initialization is used to clear DRAM and restore printer settings to defaults. The only one exception is ribbon sensitivity, which will note be restored to default. Printer initialization is activated by the following procedures. 1. Turn off the power switch. 2. Hold on the button then turn on the power switch. 3. Release the button when LED turns green after 5 amber blinks. (Any green will do during the 5 blinks).
4.4 Black Mark Sensor Calibration Set black mark sensor as media sensor and calibrate the black mark sensor. Please follow the steps as below. 1. Turn off the power switch. 2. Hold on the button then turn on the power switch. 3. Release the button when LED turns green/amber after 5 green blinks. (Any green/amber will do during the 5 blinks). The LED color will be changed as following: Amber blinks) red (5 blinks) amber (5 blinks) green (5 blinks) red/amber (5 blinks) solid green green/amber (5 4.
5. Maintenance 5.1 Cleaning This session presents the clean tools and methods to maintain your printer. 1. Please use one of following material to clean the printer. Cotton swab (Head cleaner pen) Lint-free cloth Vacuum / Blower brush 100% ethanol 2. The cleaning process is described as following Printer Part Method Interval 1. Always turn off the printer Clean the print head when before cleaning the print head. changing a new label roll 2. Allow the print head to cool for a minimum of one minute. 3.
Bar ethanol to wipe it. Sensor Compressed air or vacuum Monthly Exterior Wipe it with water-dampened cloth As needed Interior Brush or vacuum As needed Note: Do not touch printer head by hand. If you touch it careless, please use ethanol to clean it. Use 100% Ethanol. DO NOT use medical alcohol, which may damage the printer head. Regularly clean the print head and supply sensors once change a new ribbon to keep printer performance and extend printer life.
6. Troubleshooting The following guide lists the most common problems that may be encountered when operating this bar code printer. If the printer still does not function after all suggested solutions have been invoked, please contact the Customer Service Department of your purchased reseller or distributor for assistance. 6.1 LED Status This section lists the common problems that according to the LED status and other problems you may encounter when operating the printer. Also, it provides solutions.
6.2 Print Quality Problem Possible Cause Check if interface cable is well Recovery Procedure Re-connect cable to interface. connected to the interface connector. The serial port cable pin configuration Please replace the cable with pin to is not pin to pin connected. Not Printing pin connected. The serial port setting is not consistent Please reset the serial port setting. between host and printer. The port specified in the Windows Select the correct printer port in the driver is not correct.
7. LED and Button Operation 7.1 LED LED Color Description Green/ Solid This illuminates that the power is on and the device is ready to use. Green/ Flash This illuminates that the system is downloading data from PC to memory and the printer is paused. Amber This illuminates that the system is clearing data from printer. Red / Solid This illuminates printer head open, cutter error. Red / Flash This illuminates a printing error, such as head open, paper empty, paper jam, or memory error etc. 7.
Gap/Black Mark 1.Turn off the power switch. Sensor Calibration 2. Hold on the button then turn on the power switch. 3 Release the button when LED becomes red and blinking. (Any red will do during the 5 blinks). It will calibrate the gap/black mark sensor sensitivity. The LED color will be changed as following order Amber red (5 blinks) amber (5 blinks) green (5 blinks) green/amber (5 blinks) red/amber (5 blinks) solid green It calibrates the sensor and measures the label length.
Printer Initialization 1. Turn off the power switch. 2. Hold on the button then turn on the power switch. 3. Release the button when LED turns green after 5 amber blinks. (Any green will do during the 5 blinks). The LED color will be changed as following: Amber blinks) blinks) red (5 blinks) amber (5 blinks) green (5 green/amber (5 blinks) red/amber (5 solid green Always do gap/black mark sensor calibration after printer initialization. Black Mark Sensor 1. Turn off the power switch. 2.
Skip AUTO.BAS 1. Turn off printer power. 2. Press the FEED button and then turn on power. 3. Release the FEED button when LED becomes solid green. The LED color will be changed as following: Amber red (5 blinks) amber (5 blinks) green (5 blinks) green/amber (5 blinks) red/amber (5 blinks) solid green 4. Printer will be interrupted to run the AUTO.BAS program.
Revise History Date Content Editor 9-14-08 Pre-production Release J.
Document #120523 Rev-A Corporate Headquarters Manufacturing/Service 803 Camarillo Springs Road, Suite-D Camarillo, CA 93012 TEL: 800.215.9192 FAX: 805.484.5282 Web site: www.AMTDatasouth.com 5033 Sirona Drive, Suite-800 Charlotte, NC 28273 TEL: 800.476.2120 FAX: 704.525.
