User’s Manual. _____--.--- EPSON” .
EPSON® LQ-2550 User’s Manual
FCC COMPLIANCE STATEMENT FOR AMERICAN USERS This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and if not installed and used properly, that is, in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, may cause interference to radio and television reception.
Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Where to Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1 Setting Up the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Software and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the LQ-2550 with Application Programs . . . . . . . . Computer-Printer Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enhancing Your Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graphics .............................. User-Defined Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1 4-2 4-5 4-7 4-12 4-23 Maintenance and Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Introduction The LQ-2550 is the latest in the Epson@ line of advanced 24-pin impact dot matrix printers, combining high performance and reliability with a wide range of features. Features In addition to the high-quality printing and ease of operation you have come to expect from Epson printers, the LQ-2550 offers the following: An improved control panel design that allows direct selection of all of the printer’s main features, such as character font and pitch as well as normal or condensed printing.
Two additional Letter Quality fonts are available with the optional Multi-Font Module: ORATOR and ORATOR-S Draft mode with fast printing of up to 333 characters per second in 10 cpi (characters per inch), and 400 characters per second in 12 cpi. Color printing in seven colors with a color ribbon (included). With suitable graphics software, you can mix colors within a line or even print screen dumps in color.
LQ Printer Software (DCB-LQ2) This package features a driver and high-resolution fonts for use with Microsoft@ Windows Presentation Manager version 2.0 and Windows/386 Presentation Manager. It lets you use your Epson LQ printer to print pages created under the Microsoft Windows operating environment. Optional Interface Boards A number of optional interface boards can be used to supplement the LQ-2550’s built-in parallel and serial interfaces.
Conventions used in this guide WARNlNG: must be followed carefully to avoid damage to your printer and computer. Cautions: should be followed carefully to ensure that your printer operates correctly. Notes: contain important information and useful tips on the operation of your printer. Where to Get Help Customer support and service for Epson products are provided by a network of authorized Epson Dealers and Customer Care Centers throughout the United States.
Chapter 1 Setting Up the Printer Unpacking the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 Removing the protective materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 Choosing a Place for the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6 Assembling the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7 Installing the platen knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unpacking the Printer As you unpack the printer, check that you have all parts shown below and that none have been damaged during transportation. Cabfe cover Color ribbon Paper guide cartridge Ribbon cartridge Cross-head screw driver Power cable Platen knob 5Y Optional connector lock nuts Removing the protective materials The printer is protected during shipping by two screws, a print head protector, and white foam packing material.
1. Open the printer cover and raise it to an upright position; then lift it up and off. 2. Open the paper guide cover as shown in the illustration. Then raise the cover slightly and lift the cover away from the printer at a slight upward angle.
3. Remove the print head protector and white foam packing material. 4.
5. Using the enclosed cross-head screwdriver, remove the two red transport screws as shown below. 6. Align the pins of the paper guide cover with the slots on the printer and attach the cover. Next, attach the printer cover.
Choosing a Place for the Printer There are several important things to consider when selecting a location for your printer. The illustration below shows a good printer location. Be sure to keep the following tips in mind: l Place the printer on a flat, stable surface. l Place the printer close enough to the computer for its cable to reach. l 1-6 Leave adequate room around the printer to allow easy printer operation and maintenance.
Use a grounded outlet - one that has three holes to match the power plug on the printer. Don’t use an adapter plug. Avoid locations that are subject to direct sunlight, excessive heat, moisture, or dust. Avoid using electrical outlets that are controlled by wall switches or automatic timers. Accidental disruption of power can wipe out information in your computer’s and printer’s memory. Avoid using outlets on the same circuit with large motors or other appliances that might disturb the power supply.
1. Insert the platen knob into the hole on the printer’s side and rotate it until it slips onto the shaft. 2. Press firmly on the knob until it fits against the printer case. Caution: Using the platen knob to adjust the position of the paper interferes with the automatic paper loading system and may cause a paper jam. If you need to adjust the position of the paper after it is loaded, use the micro-adjustment feature described in the section on setting the loading position in Chapter 3.
Installing the ribbon cartridge Your printer’s ribbon cartridges are designed for easy installation and removal. The color ribbon cartridge, standard black ribbon cartridge, and optional film ribbon cartridge are all installed in the same way. (A color ribbon cartridge and standard black ribbon cartridge are included with your printer.) Install any of these ribbon cartridges as follows: 1. Open the printer cover and raise it to an upright position; then lift it up and off. 2.
3. Slide the print head to the middle of the printer. 4. Turn the ribbon-tightening knob on the ribbon cartridge in the direction of the arrow.
5. Hold the ribbon cartridge while gently squeezing the two ridged plastic tabs together; then lower it until it snaps into place. The side hooks in the printer should fit into the slots on each side of the ribbon cartridge. 6. Turn the ribbon tightening knob again to make sure the ribbon moves freely.
7. Slide the print head from side to side to make sure that it moves smoothly. (Do not try to slide the print head by grasping the ribbon cartridge.) Attaching the paper guide When you use single sheets, the paper guide functions to feed the paper smoothly and efficiently into the printer. Attach the paper guide using the following procedure.
1. Insert the paper guide pegs into slots on the printer. 2. Lean the paper guide back until it slips into place.
3. Align the pins of the paper guide cover with the slots on the printer and attach the cover. 4. Close the paper guide cover.
5. Attach the printer cover. Testing the Printer At this point, you can use the built-in self test function to see that the printer is working correctly even though it is not yet connected to a computer. Be sure to perform this test to make sure that your printer was not damaged during shipping and to ensure that the ribbon is correctly installed. Before running the self test, you need to connect your printer to a power supply and load a sheet of paper.
To plug in your printer, simply connect the power cable to the AC inlet on the printer’s rear panel. Then plug the power cable into a properly grounded electrical outlet. Running the self test The self test can be run in draft mode or Letter Quality mode, depending on which button you hold down as you turn on the printer. With the color ribbon cartridge installed, the self test prints in seven colors (black, magenta, cyan, violet, yellow, red, and green).
1. While holding down the LINE FEED button (draft mode) or the FORM FEED button (Letter Quality mode), turn on the printer. The printer beeps three times and the POWER and PAPER OUT lights come on. o PAPER OUT 2. Press the PAPER SELECT button until the FRICTION light comes on.
3. Move the left edge guide until it rests against the guide mark. 4. Adjust the right edge guide to match the width of your paper. Next, slide a sheet down between the edge guides until it meets resistance. Run the self test using paper wider than A4 size (8.27 inches).
5. Press the LOAD/EJECT button once to automatically load the paper. 6. Press the ON LINE button to start the self test.
Note: To clear a paper jam, it is recommended that you set the printer off line and use the FORM FEED or LINE FEED button. If it is necessary to use the platen knob to clear the jam, be sure to turn the printer off first. 7. A list of your printer’s settings is printed first, followed by a series of characters. The self test continues until the paper runs out or you press the ON LINE button. If the self test results are satisfactory and you wish to stop the test, press the ON LINE button. 8.
Part of a typical self test in Letter Quality mode with a black ribbon installed is shown in the following sample printout. Self test in Letter Quality mode Current setting FONT Roman PITCH lOCPI CONDENSED Off FORM LNG Tractor 66LINE C S F bin1 132LINE ,CSF b i n 2 132LINE 1 " SKIP Off AUTO TEAR OFF Off LEFT MARGIN 0 RIGHT MARGIN 136 CC TABLE Italic COUNTRY USA py Bi-d k-- -a/O1234567 ,k/O12345678 -.
Connecting the Printer to Your Computer Your LQ-2550 has two separate interface connections: a parallel interface and an RS-232C compatible serial interface. If you are not sure which one is required by your computer, check your computer manual for this information. If you have a suitable shielded cable, you should be able to connect to most computers immediately. The parallel interface Connect the parallel interface cable as described below.
2. Squeeze the wire clips together until they lock in place on both sides of the connector. (If you do not lock these clips into place, printed results may be incorrect.) 3. If your cable has a ground wire, attach it to the ground connector beneath the interface connector.
4. Plug the other end of the cable into the computer. (If there is a ground wire at the computer end of the cable, attach it to the ground connector of the computer.) 5. Attach the cable cover. Note: The cable cover should always be attached when you use the printer. The serial interface Connect the serial interface cable as described in the following steps. Before connecting the serial interface cable, be sure that: l The printer is turned off. l The computer is turned off.
1. Plug the connector of the cable securely into the printer. WARNING: Do not plug more than one interface cable into the printer at one time. This may damage the printer. 2. Using a screwdriver, secure the connector by tightening the screw on each side of the connector. Note: If the screws that come with the cable do not fit into the connector lock nuts on the interface, you need to replace these lock nuts with the optional lock nuts provided with the printer.
3. If your cable has a ground wire, attach it to the ground connector beneath the interface connector. 4. Plug the other end of the cable into the computer. (If there is a ground wire at the computer end of the cable, attach it to the ground connector of the computer.
5. Attach the cable cover. Note: The cable cover should always be attached when you use the printer. Setting Up Your Application Software Now that you have set up and tested the LQ-2550, you should make sure that it works with the application programs you want to use. Most application programs let you specify the type of printer you are using so that the program can take full advantage of the printer’s features.
Choosing from a menu Because the family of Epson printers shares many commands, you can use an application program even if it does not list the LQ-2550 on its printer selection menu.
Chapter 2 Paper Handling Using Single Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Loading a sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Reloading during printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 Using Continuous Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 Positioning your continuous paper supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Single Sheets Your printer can accommodate single sheets from 7.2 to 14.3 inches wide. Loading a sheet Before loading a single sheet, be sure that: l The printer cover is attached. l The paper guide is attached, and the paper guide cover is attached and closed. 1. Be sure that the printer is off line. If it is not, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. cl 0 POWER 0 READY o PAPER OUT n ON LINE a ON LINE 2. Press the PAPER SELECT button until the FRICTION light comes on.
3. Slide the left edge guide until it rests against the guide mark. Next, adjust the right edge guide to match the width of your paper. 4. Slide a sheet of paper down between the edge guides until it meets resistance. At this time, the PAPER OUT light goes off.
5. Press the LOAD/EJECT button once to automatically load the paper. Note: If the platen turns without loading the paper, completely remove the paper and re-insert it more firmly; then press the LOAD/EJECT button again. 6. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line. 1. 77 WARNING: Never advance the paper using the platen knob except in the case of a paper jam or other paper feed problem.
Reloading during printing When you print a document more than one page long using single sheet paper, the printer stops printing when it reaches the bottom of the paper. When this happens, either the ON LINE light goes off automatically or it may remain on, depending on your application software. If the ON LINE light remains on, the first thing you should do is press the ON LINE button to take the printer off line.
Be sure to align your paper supply with the paper loaded in the tractor so that the paper feeds smoothly into the printer. Loading continuous paper Before loading continuous paper, be sure that: l The printer is turned on. l The printer cover is attached. l The paper guide is removed. l l 2-6 The paper guide cover is attached and fully open from the rear, as shown in the illustration. The cable cover is attached.
1. Be sure that the printer is off line. If it is not, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. Then press the PAPER SELECT button until the TRACTOR light comes on. 2. Release the sprocket lock levers and slide the left sprocket unit all the way to the left and lock it in place. Next, slide the right sprocket unit to roughly match the width of your paper but do not lock it.
3. Slide the paper support to a point midway between the sprocket units. 4. Open the sprocket covers.
5. Fit the first four holes in the continuous paper over the pins of the sprocket units. 6. Close the sprocket covers.
7. Slide the right sprocket unit to a position where the paper is straight and has no wrinkles, and then lock it into place. Note: Make sure the first sheet of paper has a clean, straight edge so that the paper can feed smoothly into the printer. 8. Reattach the paper guide. Then slide the edge guides together so that they meet at about the middle of the paper’s width.
9. Pull the paper guide in the direction of the arrow in the illustration. 10. Push down the paper guide. Note: The paper guide prevents outgoing continuous paper from being pulled back into the printer.
11. Close the paper guide cover. 12. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to feed the paper to the loading position. Note: If you press the LOAD/EJECT button when continuous paper is already loaded, the paper is reversed to the standby position.
13. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line. The printer remembers this loading position and advances each page to the same position. Never adjust the loading position using the platen knob. If you need to adjust the loading position, use the microadjustment feature. See the section on setting the loading position in Chapter 3. Note: Before you begin printing, be sure to check the page length and skip over perforation settings, and readjust the settings if necessary.
2. Press the FORM FEED button to feed the paper forward. Then tear it off at the perforation. Note: If the perforation of the paper is not fed past the edge of the paper guide the first time, press the FORM FEED button again. Do not use the platen knob to feed the paper. Reversing the paper to the standby position After you have tom off the last page of printed paper, if you wish to reverse-feed the paper remaining in the printer to the standby position, follow the steps below.
Before reversing the paper, be sure that: l The printer is turned on. l The TRACTOR light on the control panel is on. 1. Check to see that the printer is off line. If it is not, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. 2. Press the LOAD/EJECT button once. This feeds the loaded paper backward to its standby position. If the paper does not reach this position, the printer briefly displays Cannot Back Out.
Switching between Continuous and Single Sheets Even with continuous paper loaded in the printer, you can easily switch to single sheet printing without removing the continuous paper from the tractor. Switching to single sheets When you are finished printing on continuous paper, you can reversefeed the paper to a standby position so you can switch to printing with single sheet paper. Before you start, be sure that: l The printer is off line. l The paper guide cover is open as shown in the illustration.
1. Press the PAPER SELECT button until the FRICTION light comes on. The continuous paper is fed backward automatically to a standby position. 2. Raise the paper guide until it locks into place.
3. Close the paper guide cover. 4. Slide the left edge guide until it rests against the guide mark. Next, adjust the right edge guide to match the width of your paper.
5. Slide a sheet of paper down between the edge guides until it meets resistance. 6. Press the LOAD/EJECT button once to automatically load the paper. 7. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line. Switching back to continuous paper It is also easy to switch back to printing with continuous paper.
Before switching back, be sure that: l The printer is off line. l The paper guide cover is open as shown in the illustration. 1. Press the PAPER SELECT button until the TRACTOR light comes on. If a single sheet is loaded, it is ejected automatically and the continuous paper is fed to the loading position.
2. Slide the edge guides together so that they meet at about the middle of the paper’s width. 3. Lower the paper guide onto the back of the printer.
4. Close the paper guide cover. 5. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line. Printing on Special Paper In addition to using single sheets and continuous paper, your printer can also print on a wide variety of paper types, including multi-part forms, labels, and envelopes. Your printer can sense the paper thickness and width automatically. You need not adjust the paper thickness manually.
Multi-part paper is loaded the same way as continuous paper. For details, see the section on loading continuous paper in this chapter. Before loading the multi-part forms, press the PAPER SELECT button until the TRACTOR light comes on. WARNING: Do not load or print on multi-part forms if the FRICTION light or CSF light is on. Labels If you need to print labels, choose the type of label that is mounted on a continuous backing sheet with sprocket holes for use with the tractor.
To eject the labels from the printer, follow these steps: 1. Raise the paper guide cover as shown in the illustration. 2. Remove the paper guide.
3. Tear off the sheet of labels at the perforation behind the push tractor. 4. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. Then press the FORM FEED button to eject the labels. (Remember not to use the LOAD/EJECT button to eject labels.
Envelopes You can print on a variety of envelopes - including air mail, plain, or bond envelopes - using the single sheet loading feature described in this chapter. Chapter 7 describes using envelopes with the cut sheet feeder. When loading an envelope, you may have to press down on it slightly. Then press the LOAD/EJECT button to load the envelope. If it is necessary to eject the printed envelope, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line. Then press the LOAD/EJECT button.
WARNING: When you print on envelopes, be sure that your application program settings keep the printing entirely within the printable area shown below. 8.5 mm (0.33”) or more 3mm (0.22”) 22 mm (0.87”) or more or more Note: If the printed results are faint, use the PLATEN GAP ADJUST button to adjust the distance between the print head and the platen.
Chapter 3 Using the Printer Operating the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The lights.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other control panel features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Operating the Control Panel The LQ-2550 control panel is made up of three elements: the buttons, indicator lights, and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The buttons let you control all of the main printer settings and paper handling functions, and the indicator lights and display let you monitor the current status of the printer. The display 0 POWER 0 READY 0 PAPER OUT o ON LINE If any of the following states occur, the display shows the corresponding message. The printer is out of paper.
The lights 0 0 13 o POWER READY PAPER OUT ON LINE a ON LINE FORM FEED LINE FEE0 LOAOIEJECT POWER (green): On when the printer is turned on and power is supplied. READY (green): On when the printer is ready to accept input data. This light flickers while data is received. PAPER OUT (red): On when the printer is out of paper. ON LINE (green): On when the printer can receive and print data from the computer. If this light flickers, the print head is overheating.
PLATEN GAP ADJUST : (orange) On when platen gap adjust mode is selected. SelecType (orange): On when SelecType mode is selected. 4 A V b (yellow): These arrows prompt the user when SelecType mode, tear-off mode, micro-feed mode, or platen gap adjust mode is selected. The buttons O N L I N E F O R M F E E D L I N E FEED LOAOIEJECT ON LINE: This button controls the printer’s on line/ off line status.
LINE FEED: When the printer is off line, this button feeds the paper one line, or held down, feeds the paper continuously. In SelecType mode, this button changes the SelecType settings. LOAD/EJECT: When the printer is off line, this button loads or ejects the paper. In SelecType mode, this button changes the SelecType settings. FONT: Hold down this button until the display shows the desired font.
CONDENSED: Press this button to select either condensed or normal printing. The selected mode is displayed. In condensed mode, all characters are printed at approximately 60% of their normal width. This mode cannot be combined with 15 CPI (set by the PITCH button). MICRO FEED: Turns on and off the micro-adjustment feature.
SelecType: Selects or deselects the SelecType mode. When this mode is selected, the ON LINE (4), FORM FEED(A), LINE FEED (V),and LOAD/EJECT ( .) buttons can be used as SelecType panel buttons. The display lets you monitor the SelecType settings. See the section on SelecType in this chapter for details. w TEAR OFF TEAROFF: Press this button to feed the perforation of continuous paper to the tear-off edge of the printer.
Other control panel features Self test: By holding down the FORM FEED button (for draft mode) or LINE FEED button (for Letter Quality mode) while you turn on the printer, you can start the printer’s self test. The self test printout lets you check the current settings and operating status of the printer. See the section on testing the printer in Chapter 1 for more information.
The four preset macros cover these general applications: Letter Quality printing/word processing, draft printing/word processing, spreadsheets, and graphics. You can also create your own macros with any of the LQ’s settings. MACRO #l Preset macro #l is set for Letter Quality printing/word processing in the Roman font. It can be used for word processing or any application where you want a polished result.
MACRO #4 1 There are no switches to reset or commands to send. In fact, the LQ-2550 has no DIP switches. You simply load the macro you want, then print. All these functions can be controlled through SelecType. Using SelecType To enter SelecType mode, simply press the SelecType button. 0 II SelecType Before you use SelecType, make sure that the LQ-2550 is not printing. The printer must complete its print job before you enter SelecType.
Note: Your application may override your Selectype settings. Some application programs are designed to control the same settings you choose with SelecType by sending certain software commands before printing. Because these commands cancel SelecType settings, you should use the program instead of SelecType to select the affected setting. You can exit SelecType at any time by pressing this button once more. Note that you must exit SelecType before printing a document.
Following the arrow icons When you are in the SelecType main menu, an : icon precedes the names of each of the main menu modes. This icon indicates that you can change modes by pressing either the ^ or V button. The F icon to the right of the mode name indicates that you can activate the mode by pressing the b button. In general, the same applies when you are in a SelecType submenu.
2. Press the A or V button to shift through the five modes as follows. - A a - SLOADNFICRU b :CHfiNGEMfKRO .I SCHCINGEDEFAULTS b :PRINTOUTSETTINGS b :CLEFIRFtLLMCROS b v a The instructions to follow show you how to select settings for the various options available for each main menu mode.
FONT PITCH CONDENSED FORM LNG Tractor CSF bin1 CSF bin2 1" SKIP AUTO TEAR OFF LEFT MARGIN RIGHT MARGIN CG TABLE COUNTRY PRINT DIR.
If you have loaded a macro, the display briefly shows: MfKRO#nLOfiDED Next, the display changes to: :LO~IDMFICRO b You are now back at the SelecType main menu. 5. To switch to one of the other main menu modes, press the A or V button. If you wish to exit SelecType mode, press the SelecType button. CHANGE MACRO The CHANGE PlACRO mode lets you change the settings of whichever macro is currently loaded. It also gives you the option of saving the settings as any of the four rn-acres.
RICiHTMARGIN* 1 to 136 columns *The column spacing is based on a pitch of 10 CPI. CG TABLE I t a l i c , G r a p h i c , Download COUNTRY IJM, France, Germany, IJK, Denmarkl, Sweden, Italy, Spainl, Japan, Norway, Denmark2, Spain2, Latin America, Korea, Legal PRINT DIR.
To change and save a macro, perform the steps described below. 1. Select the CHhNGE MACRD mode from the SelecType main menu. (See the instructions for selecting a main menu mode earlier in this chapter.) The display shows: SCHCINGEMKRO b 2. Activate this mode by pressing the b button directly beneath the display.
6. Press the 4 button again to exit the font selection process. These two screens are alternately displayed: SCIUEMf3CRO . #n: & 4fiBORT SfV.JEb 7. Press the A or V button to select the number of the macro to be saved. You can choose a number from 1 to 4. 8. Press the b button to save the macro. (If you do not wish to save your changes to a macro, press the 4 button to abort. When you abort, the settings you select remain in effect only until you turn off your printer.
PARITY * None, Even, Odd, Ignore FlUTOLINEFEED On, Off DCl/DC3 Disable, Enable DEFfYJLT MCR# #l, #21 #3, #4 *Displayed only when the serial interface setting is selected The LQ-2550 comes with preset default values, which can be printed out using the PRINT GLJT SETTINGS mode. These default values are shown below. D e f a u l t , set.
f3UTO LINE FEED: This setting should remain at its default value (0 f f ) in most cases. Most applications send automatic line feeds at the end of every line. If all of the lines are printing on top of each other, then set FIIJTO LINE FEED to On. DC 1 /DC3: This setting should also be left at its default value (Disable) in most cases. See these codes in Chapter 8 for more information. DEFWJLT MfKRO: This setting controls which macro is loaded when you turn on the printer.
3. Press the F button to indicate that you wish to change the setting. The display changes to: 4INTERFRCE Parallel: 4. Press the A or V button to switch the display to Se r i a 1. The display changes to: ) 4 INTERFIXE Serial:1 5. Press the 4 button. The display changes to: :INTERFf%E Serial, Note: If you are changing only one option, skip to step 14 at this point. The other steps show you how to change two other options, following the same method given for the INTERFACE option. 6.
11. Press the b button. The display changes to: None: 4PFIRITY 12. Press the A or V button to select the parity. In this example, Even parity is selected. The display changes to: Even: 4PFIRITY 13. Press the 4 button. The display changes to: ISPF~RITY Even,\ 14. Press the 4 button again to exit this option. The display alternates between these two menus: 1 IwEDEF~~uLTS 4flBORT SfiUEb 15. Press the b button to save the defaults. (If you do not wish to save the setting, press the 4 button.
PRINT OUT SETTINGS The PRINT ClllT SETTINGS mode gives you an immediate printout of the current printer settings, the four macro settings, and the default settings. This mode is an invaluable tool that lets you check the macro settings and defaults to decide if there is anything you want to change. It also lets you verify changes you make to these settings with SelecType. To use this mode, make sure the printer is loaded with paper and is finished printing. Then follow the steps below. 1.
A sample printout made in the PRINT DUT SETTINGS mode is shown below. This printout shows the preset macros and default settings. CUrI FONT PITCH CONDENSED FORM LNG Tractor CSF bin1 CSF bin2 1" SKIP AUTO TEAR OFF LEFT MARGIN RIGHT MARGIN CG TABLE COUNTRY PRINT DIR. COLOR FONT PITCH CONDENSED FORM LNG Tractor CSF bin1 CSF bin2 1" SKIP AUTO TEAR OFF LEFT MARGIN RIGHT MARGIN CG TABLE COUNTRY PRINT DIR.
Caution: This mode erases any custom-designed macros and default settings that you have set and replaces them with the original settings. To use the CLEAR flLL PlflCROS mode, follow the steps below. 1. Select the CLEflR flLL MCROS mode from the SelecType main menu. The display changes to: :CLEFIRFILLMf3CROS b 2. Activate this mode by pressing the b button. The display changes to: 4FlBORT CLEfiR. Press the b button to clear all macros and return them to their preset values.
4. To switch to another main menu mode, press the A or V button. If you wish to exit SelecType mode, press the SelecType button. 5. Turn the printer off and back on again to allow the settings to take effect. Page Length The SelecType function also enables you to set the page length of paper used with the tractor feed system or the cut sheet feeder. The page length can be set in 1/6th of an inch units within a range of 24 lines to 132 lines.
Next, the display changes to: :LOFIDMFlCRU b SCHANGEMACRU b 2. Press the V button. The display changes to: 3. Press the b button. The display changes to: :FONT Roman, 4. Press the A or V button to locate the FORM LENGTH option. The display shows: SFORbl LNG Tractor, 5. Press the b button. The display changes to: STractor 66LINEb 6. To change form length for tractor feed, press the b button. (To change form length for the cut sheet feeder, first press the V button.
9. Press the 4 button again. The display changes to: SFORfl LNG Tractor, Press the 4 button once more. 10. These two screens are alternately displayed: SFlUEMACRO . #nt 4 4FlBORT SF1UEb 11. Press the A or V button to select the number of the macro to be saved (1-4). 12. Press the b button to save the macro. (If you do not wish to save your changes to a macro, press the 4 button.) If you saved the macro, the display briefly shows: MCR@#nSFIUED The display then changes to: I: CHf+NGEMi9CRO .
If you adjust your loading position to the proper point, you can get half of the margin at the bottom of one page and half at the top of the next page as shown in the following illustration.
Setting the Loading Position The loading position is the position of the paper when it has been automatically loaded by the printer. The loading position is important because it determines where the printing begins on each page. If the printing is too high or too low on the page, change the loading position using the micro-adjustment feature described below. Separate loading positions can be set for single sheets, continuous paper, and sheets loaded by the cut sheet feeder. 1.
3. Press the FORM FEED (A) button to feed the paper forward or the LINE FEED (V ) button to feed the paper backward. Note: The printer beeps when the paper reaches a position that is approximately l/3 of an inch from the top edge of the paper. You can use this position as a reference point when you adjust the printer’s loading position. 4. Once you have adjusted your paper, press the MICRO FEED button again to turn off this feature.
continuous paper to the tear-off edge of the printer. After tearing off the paper, press the TEAR OFF button again to feed the paper backward to the loading position. WARNING: Do not use the short tear-off feature when you print labels. Be sure that the SelecType AUTO TECIR OFF setting is off. Otherwise, labels may come off the backing and jam the printer. The short tear-off feature operated by the TEAR OFF button is described below. 1.
First, make sure that the TEAR OFF light is on, and then press the MICRO FEED button. The display shows TEf!R OFF f3DJUST. Next, adjust the tear-off position in 1080th of an inch increments by pressing the FORM FEED button (A) to feed the paper forward or the LINE FEED button (V) to feed it backward. After setting the position, press the MICRO FEED button again. TEAR OFF I c Caution: The short tear-off feature can only be used with the built-in tractor feeding system.
The settings you select using the control panel do not remain valid once the printer is turned off. Also, commands from your application program temporarily override these control panel settings. Fonts Your printer has eight built-in fonts and, with the optional MultiFont Module, two additional fonts are available. To select a font, hold down the FONT button until the display shows the desired font. The following samples show the character set available for each font. ROMAN !“#$%&‘( I*+,-.
SANS SERIF We’ve just seen your excellent ad for miniature zebras in a recent back issue of Trader’s T i m e s . COURIER We've just seen your excellent ad for in a recent back issue of Trader's Times. miniature zebras PRESTIGE !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJK LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^-‘abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv n.....L\.. We've just seen your excellent ad for in a recent back issue of Trader's Times. miniature zebras SCRIPT W e ’ v e jti* been YOU exc&eti a d hoa . .
OCR-B We've just seen your excellent ad for a recent back issue of Trader's Times. miniature zebras in OCR-A We've just seen your excellent ad for a recent back issue of Trader's Times. miniature zebras in ORATOR !"#a&'()*+,- . /Ql234$6789: ; <=>?AABCDEFGHIJK LMNO~Q~ST~‘&(~~ @,,,&I EF~~~#$~MNOPQRS~&!~ ~&YZEUE FUEAAAACEEEIIIA ii! IEROOOUUYOU$EW~AIO UNNSQ&rl~$iO WE'VE JUST SEEN MINIATURE ZEBRAS IN TRADER'S TIMES. YOUR EXCELLENT AD A RECENT BACK ISSUE FOR OF ORATOR-S ! “#§%&‘( >*+,- .
Draft mode uses fewer dots per character for high-speed printing, which makes it ideal for rough drafts. The other fonts are printed in Letter Quality (LQ) mode. Letter Quality fonts take a little longer to print, but produce fully formed characters for presentation-quality documents. Pitch For most of the eight built-in fonts, you can choose a fixed character pitch of 10, 12, or 15 characters per inch (CPI), or proportional spacing.
The following printout compares the fixed pitch settings. This is 10 pitch printing. This is 12 pitch printing. This is 15 pitch printing. For the fixed pitch settings (10, 12, and 15 CPI), each character is given an equal amount of space. For proportional spacing, character width varies from one character to the next. For example, a narrow letter like i receives less space than a wide letter like W. Proportional pitch produces text that is easier to read.
To select condensed mode, press the CONDENSED button so that the green light comes on. To turn off condensed mode, press the button again. cnlr DENSE0 Condensed 10 cpi gives you more Condensed 12 cpi gives you even more! characters on a line, Choosing an International Character Set The capability to select an international character set provides you with a range of characters and symbols used in other languages.
Choosing a Character Table The SelecType Cci TflBLE setting lets you select the Epson Extended Graphics character table, the italics character table, or the download character table. (CC stands for Character Generator.) The Epson Extended Graphics character table contains graphics characters (for printing lines, comers, and shaded areas), international characters, Greek characters, and mathematical symbols.
Sample printouts of the italic characters and the Epson Extended Graphics characters are shown below. Italics !"%$%&'()*i,-./0123456789:;(=,?01ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]*~'abcdefghijklmno pqrstuvwxyz{~}" Epson Extended Graphics The character tables are presented in Appendix B. To select the italic character table, Epson Extended Graphics character table, or download character table using SelecType, set the C G TB B L E option by following the steps in the CHANGE MACRO section earlier in this chapter.
Chapter 4 Using Software and Graphics Using the LQ-2550 with Application Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using printer selection menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A quick test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using word processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using spreadsheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using the LQ-2550 with Application Programs Now that you’ve set up and tested the printer, you need to start using it with your application programs. Most application programs let you specify the type of printer you’re using so that the program can take full advantage of the printer’s features. Many programs provide an installation or setup procedure that presents a list of printers to choose from. If your application program has a printer selection menu, use the instructions below.
Using word processors Word processors usually let you use a fixed set of printer features by placing markers around the text to be altered. When the document is printed, the markers are recognized and translated into suitable commands for your printer. On your screen some programs show the markers; others display the text as it will appear-for example, in bold or italics. This method is normally restricted to features that can be found on almost all printers, such as bold and underlining.
Unlike word processors, spreadsheet programs usually don’t let you change printer commands within a spreadsheet. Instead, one style or mode of printing is used for the whole spreadsheet. With the LQ-2550, there are two main ways of sending commands to control the printing of a spreadsheet. The first method is to choose condensed from the SelecType control panel. For the second method, look in the manual for your spreadsheet to find out how to send printer commands.
When buying graphics software, always make sure the program has an option to print on an LQ printer. Any program with an option for an LQ printer should give excellent results, using different dot densities to produce a realistic scale of grays. If you plan to use color, be sure that the program supports color for an LQ printer. Most graphics programs have a printer selection procedure, in which case you should check the lists on page 4-2 to find the proper selection.
Escape sequences Although there are more than 30 control codes available to control the operation of your printer, many more codes are required to run today’s sophisticated printers. Therefore, ASCII codes are grouped in sequences to represent certain functions. These code sequences use the ASCII codes with decimal values of 32 through 255, normally reserved for characters and punctuation, to control printer functions.
Using the Command Summary The commands listed in the Command Summary in Chapter 8 consist of various combinations of ASCII codes. You can use either the ASCII characters or their decimal or hexadecimal equivalents. For example, the command to turn on subscript is ESC S1 in ASCII characters. The decimal format for this command is 27 83 01, and the hexadecimal format is 1B 53 01.
For software control of these features, see the instructions for your applications program or look up specific commands in the Command Summary in Chapter 8. The command for color is on page 8-27. Character size To add greater variety to your documents, the LQ-2550 has three character sizes and proportional spacing. All four can be selected with a software command, or by SelecType or panel setting (see Chapter 3).
Double-wide and double-high The double-wide mode doubles the width of any size character, while the double-high mode doubles the height of any size character. These modes are useful for emphasizing headings in reports and making displays, but they are usually not suitable for large amounts of text. These modes can also be combined to obtain even more impressive printing results. T h i s i s d o u b l e - w i d e .
head moves across the paper, with the second dot printed slightly to the right of the first. This process produces darker, more fully formed characters. In double-strike mode, the print head goes over each line twice, making the text bolder. For even greater boldness, emphasized and double-strike can be combined. The following samples show the different effects you can achieve. This is ROMAN printing. This is ROMAN emphasized. This is ROMAN double-strike. This is ROMAN with both.
Outline and shadow The outline and shadow features are useful for adding variation and emphasis to text that you wish to stand out, such as headings. The following ‘samples show the shadow and outline features individually, and a combination of outline with shadow. Overscore, strike-through, and underlining The overscore, strike-through, and underlining modes are useful for highlighting text. This feature can be used to score spaces, subscripts, and superscripts without a break.
Feature Dec. Hex. 10 cpi 0 00 12 cpi 1 01 proportional 2 02 condensed 4 04 emphasized 8 08 double-strike 16 10 double-wide 32 20 italics 64 40 underline 128 80 For example, to print a title, you may want to use double-wide 12 cpi characters and print them in double-strike mode.
Graphics The dot graphics mode allows your printer to produce pictures, graphs, charts, or almost any other graphics. Because many commercial software programs use graphics, you may be able to print pictures or graphs like the following one simply by giving your software a few instructions. Income Breakdown Salaries an Production Development The quickest and easiest way to print graphics is to use a commercial graphics program.
Because the dots overlap each other both horizontally and vertically in the Letter Quality mode, it is difficult to see individual dots. Instead, the letters and symbols seem to be made of unbroken lines. In order for the dots to overlap vertically, the pins are in more than one column, but the intelligence of the printer handles the timing of pin firings so that the effect is of 24 pins arranged in a single vertical column.
Twenty-four-pin graphics The graphics mode that takes full advantage of the printer’s print head is 24-pin graphics. This mode has five densities, but for simplicity this explanation begins with triple-density. Triple-density prints up to 180 dots per inch horizontally. As the print head moves across the paper, it must receive instructions every l/180th of an inch about which of its 24 pins to fire. At each position it can fire any number of pins from none to 24.
With this numbering system, every combination of the eight pins adds up to a decimal number between 0 and 255, and no numbers are duplicated. Since there are 24 pins in each column, you must make a calculation for each of the three sections in each column. As you can see, this method of planning and printing dot graphics requires considerable calculation. Because triple-density uses 180 columns per inch, printing a single line of triple-density graphics only one inch long requires 540 numbers.
Option Single-density Double-density High-speed double-density* Quadruple-density* CRT I Pins m Horizdtiz;;sity 8 8 8 8 0 1 2 3 4 60 120 120 240 80 a pi * Adjacent dots cannot be printed in this mode. Column reservation numbers The graphics command requires more than one number to specify how many columns to reserve, since one line may use thousands of columns but the printer does not use numbers larger than 255 in decimal.
A simple graphics program This first program is just a simple example to show you how the graphics command, column reservation numbers, and data can be used in a BASIC program. Type and run the following program. Be especially careful to include both semicolons. The program produces the printout you see below it.
The actual pattern that the printer prints on the paper is made up of dots that overlap each other both vertically and horizontally. The reason the planning grid uses an x for each dot is that using an accurate representation of the dots makes calculating the data numbers difficult because they cover each other. Therefore, remember that each x represents the center of a dot, and the dots actually overlap.
120 64 32 16 6 4 2 1 Cl 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 3 31 15 31 31 31 31 3, 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 26 26 30 26 15 31 3 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 126 64 32 16 6 4 2 1 0 0 0 15 3 31 126 240 255 31 1 0 127 255 255 255 255 255 255 240 126 255 127 0 192 254 127 7 0 0 255 255 255 255 255 255 252 224 240 255 15 0 126 64 32 16 6 4 2 1 63 192 240 252 15 7 7 199 247 127 255 255 255 255 255 254 240 224 0 0 0 127 255 255 255 255 255 252 240 192 0 0 0 224 240 126 7 7 135 231 255 63 Following is the BASIC progr
l@ WIDTH "LPT1:",255 20 LPRINT CHR$(27)"*"CHR$(39)MR$(~2)C~$(@); 30 FOR X=1 TO 126 40READN 50 LPRINT CHR$(N); 60 NEXT X 70 LPRINT 80 DATA 0,0,63,0,0,127,0,0,255,0,3,255~0~15>255,0~31~255 90 DATA 0,127,255,0,255,255,1,255,255,3,255,255,7,255,255~15~ 255,255 100 DATA 31,255,254,31,255,252,31,255,248,31,255,240,31,255, 224,31,255,192 110 DATA 31,255,0,31,252,0,31,240,0,31,224,0,31,12~~0~31~240~0 120 DATA 31,255,192,28,255,224,28,127,240,28,15,248,30,0,2521 31,0,126 130 DATA 15,128,15,7,192,7,3,2~~,7,1,25~,7,~~
Individual graphics option commands There are four individual graphics option commands that are very much the same as the ESC * command, but each one works for only one graphics option. All these commands are for B-pin graphics options. Note that the commands contain one less variable than the ESC * command because they don’t need to select a graphics option.
If you change one of the 8-pin graphics options to a 24-pin graphics option without changing the program that supplies the graphics data, you will print garbage (if the program prints at all). Remember, the 24-pin graphics options require three times as much graphics data as the 8-pin graphics options. User-Defined Characters With this printer, it is possible to define and print characters of your own design.
Design grids To design a character you use a grid that is 24 dots high-one dot for each pin on your printer’s print head. The width of the character matrix depends on the character set you are using. For draft characters, the grid is nine dots wide. For Letter Quality it is 29 dots wide, and for proportional characters it is 37 dots wide, with the dots for both Letter Quality and proportional spaced more closely together than those for draft. The illustrations below show the two design grids.
The second grid can be used for either Letter Quality or proportional characters. For Letter Quality you do not use all the columns. There is one restriction in designing characters. Dots in the same row do not print in adjacent columns. That is, there must be an empty dot position to the left and to the right of each dot that prints. This is true in draft, Letter Quality, and proportional mode.
Now you translate the dot pattern you’ve created on paper to a numeric format so you can send the information to your printer. Every dot has an assigned value. Each vertical column (which has a maximum of 24 dots) is first divided into three groups of eight dots. Each group of eight dots is represented by one byte. Since one byte consists of eight bits, one bit represents one dot. Data numbers The bits within each byte have values of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128.
Now you’ve seen how to design a character by placing dots on a grid and translating the dots to decimal equivalents. The last step in defining a character is to send this information to the printer. Sending information to your printer The printer loads characters in the print style (Letter Quality, draft, or proportional) that the printer is currently using. It also records whether italic, superscript, or subscript is turned on.
the character. By varying the width of the character itself and the spaces around it, you can create proportional-width characters that print at draft speed. The table below shows the maximum values for these bytes. The last part of the character definition is the actual data that defines the dot patterns for each character. Since it takes three bytes to specify the dots in one vertical column of dots, your printer expects dl x 3 bytes of data to follow dz.
The actual character definition starts in line 20. The two at signs (@) in line 30 represent nl and FG!, the range of characters being defined (in this case, a range of one). Line 40 contains do, dl, and d2. The information about the actual character design (which is contained in the data statements at the end of the program) is sent to the printer in the loop between lines 50 and 70.
You may switch between character sets at any time-even in the middle of a line. To try it, place semicolons at the end of lines 80 and 100 in the program above. Copying ROM characters to RAM After running the program above, if you select the user-defined character set and try to print other characters, the only one that will print is the arrow. Since no other characters are in the printer’s user-defined RAM area, nothing else prints.
horizontally than draft style dot columns-the horizontal dot spacing is 1/360th of an inch as opposed to 1/120th of an inch for draft characters. Proportional mode characters Selecting the proportional character mode yields user-defined characters of the highest resolution. Characters can be designed using all 37 columns of the Letter Quality/Proportional grid. Remember that in both Letter Quality and proportional modes, as in draft mode, you cannot place dots in adjacent columns.
Since these characters are smaller, when you define them you need only two bytes of data for each vertical row of dots. Design grids for these characters are shown in the following figure. Draft pica Letter Quality and Proportional Mixing print styles Each of the three user-defined character modes (draft, Letter Quality, and proportional) can be used in combination with most of your printer’s various print styles. For instance, you can use emphasized with your user-defined characters.
Keep in mind that user-defined characters are stored in RAM, which is not permanent. Whenever the printer power is turned off or the printer is initialized with the INIT signal, the user-defined characters are lost. (Some computers do this each time BASIC is loaded.) ESC @, however, does not destroy user-defined characters.
Chapter 5 Maintenance and Transportation Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2 Replacing the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3 Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cleaning the Printer To keep your printer operating at its best, you should clean it thoroughly several times a year. Follow these steps to clean the printer: 1. Turn off the printer. 2. Remove the paper guide and any installed options. 3. Use a soft brush to carefully clear away all dust and dirt. 4. If the outer case or printer cover is dirty or dusty, clean it with a soft, clean cloth dampened with mild detergent dissolved in water.
WARNING: l l l l Never use alcohols or thinners to clean the printer; these chemicals can damage the components as well as the case. Be careful not to get water on the printer mechanism or electronic components. Do not use a hard or abrasive brush. Do not spray the inside of the printer with lubricants; unsuitable oils can damage the mechanism. Contact your Epson dealer if you think lubrication is needed. Replacing the Ribbon When your printing becomes too faint, you need to replace the ribbon.
2. Holding the print head, not the ribbon cartridge, move the print head to the middle of the printer. 3. To release the ribbon cartridge, gently press the tab at the top of the holder; then lift the cartridge straight up and out of the printer.
4. Turn the ribbon-tightening knob on the ribbon cartridge in the direction of the arrow. 5. Hold the ribbon cartridge while gently squeezing the two ridged plastic tabs together; then lower it until it snaps into place. The side hooks in the printer should fit into the slots on each side of the ribbon cartridge.
6. Turn the ribbon tightening knob again to make sure the ribbon 7. Holding the print head, slide the print head from side to side to make sure that it moves smoothly. (Do not try to slide the print head by grasping the ribbon cartridge.
Transporting the Printer If you need to transport your printer some distance, carefully repack the printer using the original box and packing materials, as described below. 1. Turn off the printer. 2. Remove any installed options. 3. Remove the printer cover, paper guide, paper guide cover, and cable cover. 4. Unplug the power cable from the electrical outlet; then disconnect the cable between the printer and the computer. 5. Remove the ribbon cartridge and platen knob.
6. Using a cross-head screwdriver, reattach the two red transport screws. WARNING: Never hold the printer by the font compartment cover. This cover could come off and cause you to drop the printer. 7. Pull the paper bail open and insert the print head protector between the paper bail and platen as shown below. Then insert the white foam packing material.
8. Reattach the paper guide cover and printer cover.
Chapter 6 Troubleshooting Problems and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The printer does not print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The printer stops printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The printout is spaced incorrectly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The printout is faint or uneven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Troubleshooting This chapter discusses problems you may encounter and their likely solutions. At the back of the chapter is a section on the data dump mode. This mode helps more experienced users determine the causes of communication problems between the printer and the computer. Problems and Solutions This section lists possible problems and their likely solutions. The printer does not print l l l l l Be sure the printer is turned on and the POWER light is on.
If the display shows HEAfi HIIIT , the print head is overheating. Wait a few minutes; the printer resumes printing automatically when the head cools. If the printer stops and the beeper sounds and the display shows EF?XN? 10, turn the printer off and check for paper jams. Then turn the printer back on and try to print again. If the printer beeps again and does not print, take it to a qualified service person.
l If printing on envelopes is faint, use the PLATEN GAP ADJUST button. See Chapter 3 for details. The printout is not what you expect The wrong international character set may be selected. See Chapter 3. The wrong character table (italics or Epson Extended Graphics) may be selected. See Chapter 3 and Appendix B. The printer may not be securely connected to the computer. Check both ends of the cable between the printer and the computer.
l l l The paper guide may not be installed properly. See Chapter 2. The paper supply may be too far from the printer or not aligned with the tractor. See Chapter 2 for instructions. Be sure that the cable cover is properly installed. See Chapter 2. Cut sheet feeder does not load paper correctly l Be sure PAPER SELECT is set to CSF. l The cut sheet feeder may not be installed properly. l The paper supply may not be loaded properly. Only 150 sheets may be loaded; remove any extra.
Data Dump Mode The printer has a feature to find the cause of communication problems between the printer and application programs. In data dump mode a printout of the codes reaching the printer is produced. 1. To enter the data dump mode, hold down the FORM FEED and LINE FEED buttons at the same time while you turn on the printer. 2. Next, run either an application program or one you have written in any programming language.
Chapter 7 Using Printer Options The Cut Sheet Feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2 Loading paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6 Testing the printer in the cut sheet feeder mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-9 Loading envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Cut Sheet Feeder The optional cut sheet feeder (#7343) gives you easier and more efficient handling of single sheet paper. You can use the cut sheet feeder without removing continuous paper. Up to 150 sheets of standard bond paper can be stacked in each cut sheet feeder bin at one time, and a new sheet is loaded automatically whenever required. Installation First, assemble the cut sheet feeder by following the instructions provided in its accompanying manual.
1. Remove the printer cover and paper guide cover. 2. Remove the paper eject guide by tilting it forward, then lifting it up and off.
3. Pull the paper bail toward you. 4. Hold the assembled cut sheet feeder in both hands and fit its notches over the red pins in the printer.
5. Reattach the printer cover. 6. Turn on the printer. 7. Be sure that the printer is off line. If it is not, press the ON LINE button to set the printer off line.
8. Press the PAPER SELECT button until the CSF light comes on and CSF bin 1 is briefly displayed. Press the PAPER SELECT button again if you wish to select CSF bin 2. If continuous paper is loaded, the paper is reverse-fed. Loading paper No matter which cut sheet feeder (CSF) bin you select, the paper is loaded in the same way. The procedure for loading CSF bin 1 (the front bin) is described in the following example.
2. Slide the left paper guide all the way to the left. Next, slide the right paper guide to roughly match the width of your paper. 3. Take a stack of paper and fan it. Next, tap the paper on a flat surface to even up the stack.
4. Insert the paper along the left paper guide. Then, adjust the position of the right paper guide so that it closely matches your paper’s width. Be sure that the position of the guide allows the paper to move up and down freely. 5. Push the paper levers back until the paper is clamped against the guide rollers. The levers will not close completely if too much paper is used. If this happens, remove some paper from the stack and try again.
6. You can choose to have the printer eject the sheets with the printed side facing downward or upward. To have the printer eject the sheets with the printed side facing downward, pull the front lever on the right side of the cut sheet feeder forward. To eject the sheets with the printed side facing upward, push this lever back. If you eject the sheets with the printed side facing downward, the paper is collated as it prints.
The procedure for running the self test is the same as when the cut sheet feeder mode is off. Before running the self test in the cut sheet feeder mode, be sure that: l The desired bin is selected by PAPER SELECT button. l The printer is turned off. l A stack of paper is inserted. 1. While holding down the LINE FEED button (draft mode) or FORM FEED button (LQ mode), turn on the printer. The following figure shows part of the printout for the first sheet of the draft mode self test.
2. The self test continues until the paper runs out or until you press the ON LINE button. To stop the test, press the ON LINE button. 3. To end the self test, if paper is loaded, press the LOAD/EJECT button to eject it. Then, turn off the printer. Loading envelopes Envelopes are loaded in much the same way as regular paper. To load envelopes, be sure that: l The printer is off line. l The CSF light is on. l CSF bin 1 is selected by PAPER SELECT button.
Caution: When printing envelopes, be sure to load them into bin 1, never into bin 2. 1. Take a stack of envelopes and fan it; then tap the stack on a flat surface to even it up. Insert the envelopes into the front bin. 2. Push down on the two front levers until they lock into position.
3. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to load an envelope. Then press the ON LINE button to start printing. Using the cut sheet feeder After stacking paper in the cut sheet feeder, be sure that the ON LINE light is lit. When the printer is on line, a new sheet of paper loads automatically whenever a printable character or line feeding command is sent to the printer. Subsequent sheets are automatically loaded as needed.
Control panel operation To operate the cut sheet feeder from the control panel when the printer is in cut sheet feeder mode, be sure that the printer is off line. LINE FEED: Press to feed the paper one line, or hold it down to feed the paper continuously. FORM FEED: When there is no paper in the printer, press to load the paper manually. (However, note that paper loads automatically when you print.) When there is paper in the printer, press to eject the sheet without loading the next sheet.
Setting up your software When you switch to cut sheet feeder fed paper from another paper feed system, you usually need to change the settings of your software program. Because of the physical requirements of feeding a single sheet of paper, sheet feeders always create an unprintable top and bottom margin on each sheet. To work properly, your software program needs to know how many printable lines are available on the page.
The following is a typical example of a software setup required for proper operation of your cut sheet feeder. Not all software is set up the same, so you may find that a bit of experimentation is required before you find the best equivalent settings to use.
Switching between the cut sheet feeder and continuous paper The LQ-2550 allows you to easily switch between the cut sheet feeder and the tractor feeding system without having to remove either the feeder or the continuous paper supply. To switch between these two paper feeding systems, be sure that: l Continuous paper is loaded in the standby position. l The cut sheet feeder is installed. l The printer is off line.
2. Remove the two paper supports at the front of the cut sheet feeder so that continuous paper is ejected smoothly. 3. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line. a 0 0 0 o POWER READY PAPER OUT ON LINE a ON LINE Caution: Never attempt to print on labels when the cut sheet feeder is installed. Loading single sheets Your cut sheet feeder also has a single sheet loading feature.
2. Align the single sheet with the marking on the left paper guide on the front of CSF bin 1. Then slide the sheet into the printer path until you feel resistance. 3. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to load the sheet. (If your document is more than one page long, the next sheet is automatically loaded from the cut sheet feeder’s paper supply.
Removing the cut sheet feeder Before removing the cut sheet feeder, be sure that: l The printer is turned off. l Any paper stacked in the cut sheet feeder is removed. 1. Tilt the back section of the cut sheet feeder forward to release its notches from the printer’s red pins and remove the cut sheet feeder.
2. Replace the paper eject guide by fitting its notches onto the red pins inside the printer at each side, then tilting the paper eject guide back slightly. 3. Store the removed cut sheet feeder in its original box and packing materials. The Pull Tractor The optional pull tractor (#7314) provides optimum continuous paper handling. It is best used for continuous pre-printed forms, multi-part forms, labels, and to obtain the highest quality graphics.
l The cut sheet feeder, if installed, is removed. 1. Remove the printer cover and paper guide cover. 2. Pull the paper bail toward you.
3. Remove the paper eject guide by tilting it forward, then lifting it up and off. 4. Hold the pull tractor with the gears to the right. Fit the rear notches on the tractor over the rear mounting rods on the printer, as shown in the following illustration.
5. Tilt the tractor unit toward you until the front latches click in place over the red front mounting rods of the printer. 6. Attach the printer cover. Loading paper Before loading continuous paper with the pull tractor, be sure that: l The pull tractor is installed. l The printer cover is installed. l The paper guide cover is removed. l The paper guide is removed.
Caution: The short tear-off function cannot be used with the pull tractor. Before you start printing with the pull tractor, be sure that the HIT0 TEfiR DFF option in SelecType is off. 1. Turn on the printer. Then press the PAPER SELECT button until the TRACTOR light comes on. 2. Load continuous paper in the push tractor as described in steps 2-7 in the section on loading continuous paper in Chapter 2, with one exception.
3. After the paper is loaded in the push tractor, see that the printer is off line. Press the LOAD/EJECT button to load the paper. Then press the FORM FEED button to advance the paper one page so that you can fit the paper onto the pull tractor. 4. Open the sprocket covers, and release the sprocket lock levers.
5. Adjust the sprocket units to match the width of the paper and adjust the paper supports so they are evenly placed between the sprocket units. 6. Fit the holes of the paper over the tractor pins of the sprocket units, adjusting the position of the sprocket units as necessary.
7. If the paper does not fit exactly onto the tractor pins, press in on the pull tractor feed knob and turn it in the desired direction. 8. Close the sprocket covers.
9. See that the paper is not crooked or wrinkled and lock the sprocket units in place. 10. Attach the paper guide and lower it so that it is resting on top of the printer. Center both edge guides.
11. Align the pins of the pull tractor cover with the slots on the printer and attach the cover. 12. Press the ON LINE button to set the printer on line.
Caution: Before you begin printing, be sure to check the page length and skip over perforation settings, and readjust the settings if necessary. Setting procedures are described in Chapter 3. Removing the pull tractor Before removing the pull tractor, be sure that: l The printer is turned off. l The pull tractor cover and printer cover are removed. l Any paper loaded in the unit is removed. l The paper guide is removed.
1. Press the tabs on the pull tractor. Then tilt the tractor back and lift it off the printer. 2. Replace the paper eject guide by fitting its notches onto the pins inside of the printer at each side, then tilting the guide back slightly. 3. Store the pull tractor in its original packing materials and box.
Interface Boards There are a number of optional interfaces that can be used to supplement the capabilities of your printer’s built-in serial and parallel interfaces. Choosing an interface The following information should give you a general idea of the features provided by these optional interface boards. Optional interfaces can be divided into the following categories: l l Serial interfaces.
All Epson interfaces have the EPSON name printed on them. If the board has an identification code printed on it, it is a four-digit number beginning with 8, and should correspond to one of the numbers listed in the table above. Installing the interface board The optional interface boards available for your printer are easy to install. The only tool needed is a cross-head screwdriver. Before installing an optional interface board, be sure that: l Continuous feed paper is removed.
Removing the upper case 1. Unplug the power cable from the electrical outlet. Then unplug the cable from the rear of the printer. WARNING: High voltages are present inside the printer when the power is on. Do not attempt to remove the upper case unless the printer is turned off and the power cord is unplugged. Also, try not to touch contacts on the circuit board of the printer because many of the components can be destroyed by the static electricity in your body. 2. Remove the font compartment cover.
3. Using a cross-head screwdriver, remove the three retaining screws located deep inside of the slots at the front of the printer. 4. Raise the upper case slightly. Do this with caution, because the upper and lower cases are connected by a cable.
5. Remove the connector labelled CN21 as shown in the following illustration. Then remove the upper case completely. Caution: Be very careful when you remove or attach the upper case to avoid damaging the printer. 6. Remove the separator.
7. Remove the shield plate above the parallel interface by pressing in on the plastic clips located at the back of the plate. (The following illustrations show a rear view of the printer.) 8. Remove one of the screws labelled CG (chassis ground) from the main board. The illustration shows you the location of the CG screw that you should remove.
Installing the board There are two basic types of interface board designs, which slightly change the way they are installed in the printer. (The frame ground wire is attached for one type and not attached for the other.) This difference does not affect the operation of the interface in any way. Check to see which type of interface board you have and then follow the instructions for that type of board. FG wire not attached 1.
2. Carefully insert the pins on the optional interface board into the mating connector on the main board; then secure the board with three of the screws provided. 3. Attach the plug end of the FG wire onto the FG pin located on top of the interface board. 4. Reattach the upper case as described in the section immediately following the next section.
FG wire attached 1. Carefully place the interface board next to the printer as shown below. Use the CG screw to connect the round end of the FG (frame ground) wire to the main board. 2. Holding the interface board level, rotate it clockwise into position and attach it to the main board. Make sure the connector pins are properly inserted into the mating connector.
3. Secure the board with three of the screws provided. 4. Reattach the upper case as described in the following section. Attaching the upper case 1. Fit the hinges of the upper case into the openings in the lower case; then partially lower the upper case.
Caution: Take care not to pinch the FG wire between the upper and lower case. 2. Carefully reinsert the cable into the connector labelled CN21 on the main board. 3. Close the upper case.
4. Secure the case with the three screws. 5. Reattach the font compartment cover. 6. Now that you have completed the installation of the optional interface board, replace any parts or options you removed earlier. (Note that the separator and the shield plate are not reattached.
WARNING: Before you use the optional interface board, be sure to disconnect the printer cable from the printer’s built-in parallel or serial interface. Two interface cables must not be installed at the same time. 7. Before you use the interface board, be sure to use SelecType to set the INTERFACE option to Parallel. (For details, see the CHANGE DEFAULTS section in Chapter 3.) This is necessary even if the optional interface is serial, because the board uses the parallel connections.
2. Plug the Multi-Font Module carefully into either Slot A or B. The arrow on the module should point toward the printer. 3. Reattach the font compartment cover.
Selecting a font You can select a font in three different ways: by using software commands, by pressing the panel buttons, or by SelecType settings. To select a font via the panel button, simply press the FONT button until the desired font is displayed. The following samples show the character set available for these additional fonts. q FONT ;.. ..:/ :,,__:_,: j.I, i;..,, .: :./ ORATOR ! "#$%& ' ( > *+, - I.. ,. .
Chapter 8 Command Summary Commands in Numerical Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5 Commands Arranged by Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-8 Printer Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-8 MSB Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11 Data Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This chapter lists and describes all the commands available on your printer. The Command Summary is divided by topics, but there is a list of the commands in numerical order beginning on page 8-5. If you know which command you are looking for, see this list to find the page number where it is described. The Quick Reference card at the end of the book also contains a list of the commands divided by topic, with page references that direct you to full explanations of the commands.
All three formats are equivalent, so you can pick the one best suited to your purpose. Variables are represented by italicized letters such as n, nl, and m. The variables are explained in the comments section. Examples The simplest type of command consists of sending a single character to the printer. For instance, to print in condensed mode, you send the code 15. ASCII code: SI 15 Decimal: Hexadecimal: OF More complex commands consist of two or more character codes.
Control key chart Some application programs can use control key codes for decimal values 0 through 27. The table below gives you the proper values. The Control Key column indicates that you press the control key at the same time you press the key for the letter or symbol in that column. For example, you press the control key and A at the same time to send the value 1. Note: Some application programs that use this system cannot use Control-@, and many programs use the control keys for other purposes. Dec.
Commands in Numerical Order The following list shows control codes and ESC sequences (with their decimal and hexadecimal values), and the page number where the complete command description can be found. ASCII Dec.
ASCII ESC / ESC 0 ESC 2 ESC 3 ESC 4 ESC 5 ESC 6 ESC 7 ESC : ESC < ESC = ESC > ESC ? ESC @ ESC A ESC B ESC C ESC C 0 ESC D ESC E ESC F ESC G ESC H ESC J ESC K ESC L ESC M ESC N ESC 0 ESC I=’ ESC Q ESC R ESC SO ESC Sl ESC T 8-6 Page Dec. Hex Description 47 2F Select vertical tab channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-18 48 30 Select l/8-inch line spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-15 50 32 Select 1/6 inch line spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-15 51 33 Select n/180-inch line spacing . . . . . . . . . . .
ASCII ESC U ESC W ESC Y ESC Z ESC \ ESC a ESC b ESC g ESC k ESC 1 ESC p ESC q ESC r ESC t ESC w ESC x Page Dec. Hex Description 85 55 Unidirectional mode on/off . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-10 87 57 Turn double-wide mode on/off . . . . . . . . . . 8-25 89 59 High-speed double-density graphics . . . . . 8-35 90 5A Quadruple-density graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-35 92 5C Set relative print position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-20 97 61 Select justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Commands Arranged by Topic The following section lists and describes all the commands by topic. See the Quick Reference Card at the end of this manual for the list of the commands by topic. Printer Operation Initialization ESC @ Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Initialize Printer @ 64 40 Comments: Resets the printer mode and clears the current print line preceding the command. See Initialization in Appendix A.
DC3 Format: ASCII code: DC3 Decimal: 19 Hexadecimal: 13 Deselect Printer Comments: Puts the printer into the deselected state until the select printer code (DCl) is received. The printer cannot be reselected with the ON LINE button. DEL Format: ASCII code: DEL Decimal : 127 Hexadecimal: 7F Delete Character Comments: Removes the last text character on the print line but does not affect control codes.
ESC U Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Turn Unidirectional Mode On/Off U 85 55 n n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 1: Mode is turned on. 0: Mode is turned off. Printing is normally bidirectional. This command selects unidirectional printing for more accurate positioning during printing. ESC EM Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Cut Sheet Feeder Control EM n 25 19 n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 1: Selects bin 1.
MSB control MSB is the Most Significant Bit. MSB control (ESC =, ESC > , and ESC #) does not work for graphics. ESC = (equal) Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Set MSB to 0 = 61 3D Comments: Sets the MSB of all incoming data to 0. Some computers always send data with the MSB set to 1, which means that italics or character graphics will always be printed. ESC = can overcome this problem.
Beeper BEL Format: BEL ASCII code: Decimal: 7 Hexadecimal: 07 Beewr Comments: Sounds the printer’s beeper. Data Control CR Format: ASCII code: CR Decimal : 13 Hexadecimal: OD Carriage Return Comments: Prints the data in the buffer and returns the print position to the left margin. A line feed may be added if ALIT.0 FEED XT line on the parallel interface is held LOW.
Vertical Motion Form feeding Form Feed FF Format: ASCII code: FF Decimal: 12 Hexadecimal: 0C Comments: Prints the data in the print buffer and advances the paper to the next top of form according to the current page length. The default page length is 66 lines, but the page length can be changed with ESC C. In cut sheet feeder mode, an FF ejects a sheet but does not load one.
ESC N Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Set Skip Over Perforation N 78 4E n n n Comments: The variable n is the number of lines skipped between the last line printed on one page and the first line on the next page. For example, with the standard settings for line spacing (l/6-inch), and page length (66 lines), ESC N 6 prints 60 lines and then skips 6. This setting is cancelled by ESC C or ESC C 0. The value of n must be from 1-127. Overrides the SelecType skip over perforation setting.
Select l/&inch Line Spacing ESC 0 (zero) Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B 0 48 30 Comments: Sets the line spacing to l/8 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. The 0 is the character zero and not decimal code 0. ESC 2 Format: ASCII code: ESC 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select 1/6-inch Line Spacing 2 50 32 Comments: Sets the line spacing to l/6 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. The 2 is the character two and not decimal code 2. This is the default at power on.
ESC + Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select n/360-inch Line Spacing + 43 2B n n n Comments: Sets the line spacing to n/360 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. This value of n must be from 0-255. ESC A Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select n/60-inch Line Spacing A 65 41 n n n Comments: Sets the line spacing to n/60 of an inch for subsequent line feed commands. The value of n must be from 0-85.
Vertical tabbing Tab Vertically VT Format: ASCII code: VT 11 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 0B Comments: Advances the paper to the next tab setting in the channel selected by ESC /. If no channel has been selected, channel 0 is used. If no vertical tabs have been set, the paper advances one line. ESC B Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal : Hexadecimal: 1B Set Vertical Tabs B 66 42 nl nl nl n2 . . n2 . . n2 . . . . . 0 0 00 Comments: Sets up to 16 vertical tabs in the current line spacing.
ESC / Format: ASCII code: ESC 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select Vertical Tab Channel / 47 2F c c c Comments: This command is used to select the vertical tab channel, with the value of c from 0-7. All subsequent VT commands use the channel selected by this command. Horizontal Motion Margins ESC l Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Set Left Margin 1 108 6C n n n Comments: Sets the left margin to n columns in the current character size.
Print head movement Backspace BS Format : ASCII code: BS 8 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 08 Comments: Moves the print position one space to the left. Backspacing can be performed up to, but not beyond, the left margin setting. Do not use BS with ESC a.
ESC \ Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Set Relative Print Position 1 92 5C nl nl n7 n2 n2 n2 Comments: Determines the position (relative to the current position) at which printing of following data will start. To find nl and YL?, first calculate the displacement required in dots. If the displacement is to the left, subtract it from 65536. Send the resulting number using this formula: total number of dots = nl + (256 X n2).
Set Horizontal Tabs ESC D Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B D 68 44 nl nl nl n2 . n2 . n2 . . . . . . . 0 0 00 Comments: This command allows setting of up to 32 horizontal tabs, which are entered as nl, n2, n3, etc. (from l-255) with the 0 code terminating the command. The tab settings must be entered in ascending order; ESC D 0 clears all tabs. The settings on power up or after an ESC @ command are every 8 characters. Tabs are set in the current cpi.
ESC k Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select Typestyle Family k 107 6B n n n Comments: This command affects only the Letter Quality typestyle, not draft. If n = 0, the Roman typestyle in the printer is used. To select one of the four other typestyles, use the family number of the font shown below. For example, to choose the Prestige font, use 3 for n.
Print Size and Character Width ESC P Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal : 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select 10 cpi I’ 80 50 Comments: Selects 10 characters per inch. This command is normally used to cancel 12 cpi or 15 cpi. ESC M Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal : 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select 12 cpi M 77 4D Comments: Selects 12 characters per inch. ESC g Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecmial: 1B Select 15 cpi 103 67 Comments: Selects 15 characters per inch, and cancels 10 cpi or 12 cpi.
ESC p Format: ASCII code: ESC 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Turn Proportional Mode On/Off 112 70 n n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 1: Mode is turned on. 0: Mode is turned off. The width of proportional characters varies from character to character. Therefore, a narrow letter like i receives less space than a wide letter like W. The proportional widths are given in the character tables, which appear in Appendix B. Proportional is not available in draft mode.
Cancel Condensed Mode DC2 Format: DC2 ASCII code: 18 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 12 Comments: Cancels condensed printing set by SI, ESC SI, or SelecType. so Select Double-Wide Mode (one line) Format: ASCII code: SO 14 Decimal : Hexadecimal: 0E Comments: Double-wide mode doubles the width of all characters. This mode is cancelled by a carriage return or DC4. ESC SO duplicates this command.
Cancel Double-Wide Mode (one line) DC4 Format: ASCII code: DC4 Decimal: 20 Hexadecimal: 14 Comments: Cancels one-line double-wide printing selected by SO or ESC SO, but not double-wide printing selected by ESC W or ESC !. ESC w Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Turn Double-High Mode On/Off 119 77 n n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 1: Mode is turned ON. 0: Mode is turned OFF. Double-high mode doubles the height of all characters.
Print Enhancement ESC r Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select Printing Color 114 72 n n n Comments: The variable n selects the printing color according to the table below. n Color 0 Black 1 Magenta 2 Cyan 3 Violet 4 Yellow 5 Red 6 Green ESC E Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select Emphasized Mode E 69 45 Comments: Makes text bolder by printing each dot twice, with the second dot slightly to the right of the first.
Select Double-Strike Mode ESC G Format: ESC ASCII code: Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B G 71 47 Comments: Makes text bolder by printing each line twice, with the second printing slightly below the first. ESC H Cancel Double-Strike Mode Format: ASCII code: ESC H Decimal: 27 72 Hexadecimal: 1B 48 Comments: Turns off the double-strike mode selected by ESC G.
ESC Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Turn Underlining Mode On/Off n n n 45 2D Comments: n = 1: Mode is turned on. n = 0: Mode is turned off. This mode underlines spaces (but not tabs).
Word Processing ESC a Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select Justification 97 61 n n n Comments: The following values can be used for n: 0: Selects left justification. 1: Selects centering. 2: Selects right justification. 3: Selects full justification. The default setting is n = 0. Full justification (n = 3) is performed when the buffer becomes full; HT, BS, and spacing commands should not be used with justification. For n = 3 there must be no carriage returns within a paragraph.
Character Tables ESC t Format: ESC ASCII code: 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Select Character Table t n 116 74 n n Comments: Selects the character table used by codes 128-255. Selecting Epson Extended Graphics does not disable italic printing. Italic printing can still be selected by ESC 4. The following values can be used for n: 0: Selects italic character table. 1: Selects Epson Extended Graphics character table. 2: Re-maps any downloaded characters from the positions 0-127 to the positions 128-255.
Cancel Italic Mode ESC 5 Format: ASCII code: ESC 5 Decimal: 27 53 Hexadecimal: 1B 35 Comments: Cancels the mode selected by ESC 4.
Copy ROM into RAM ESC : Format: ASCII code: Decimal: Hexadecimal: ESC : 0 27 58 0 1B 3A 00 n 0 n 0 n 00 Comments: This code copies the characters in the ROM into RAM so that specific characters can be redefined. Orator and Orator-S are only available with the Multi-Font Module. The variable n represents the font family as follows.
ESC 7 Format: ASCII code: ESC 27 Decimal: Hexadecimal: 1B Enable Upper Control Codes 7 55 37 Comments: When the Epson Extended Graphics character table is selected, this code causes codes 128 through 159 to be treated as control codes. This is the default. Graphics See Chapter 4 for sample graphics programs. See the table under ESC * for graphics modes. ESC K Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal : 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select Single-Density Graphics Mode K 75 4B nl nl nl n2 n2 n.
Select High-Speed ESC Y Format: ESC Y nl ASCII code: Decimal: 27 89 nl Hexadecimal: 1B 59 nl Double-Density Graphics Mode n2 n2 n2 Comments: Turns on 8-pin, high-speed, double-density graphics mode. The total number of columns = n3 + (n2 X 256). ESC Z Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal : 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Select Quadruple-Density Graphics Mode Z 90 5A nl nl nl n.2 L! n2 Comments: Turns on 8-pin, quadruple-density graphics mode. The total number of columns = n7 + (n2 X 256).
Option Pins m Single-density Double-densitv High-speed dduble-density* Q-&uple-density* 0 CRT II Single-density Double-density CRT II Triple-density Hex-density* Adjacent dots cannot be printed in this mode. i ESC ? Format: ASCII code: ESC Decimal: 27 Hexadecimal: 1B Horiz. density] : 3 24 ;t i23 38 39 40 :: 120 90 180 360 Reassign Graphics Mode ? 63 3F s s s m m m Comments: Changes one graphics mode to another.
Appendix A Technical Specifications Printer Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2 Double-Bin Cut Sheet Feeder Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6 Interface Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9 Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13 Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Printer Specifications Printing Print method: 24pin impact dot matrix Print speed: See table below. Quality Draft LQ CPI Characters/second/line 10 12 10 12 333 400 111 133 Printing direction: Bidirectional logic-seeking for text and graphics. Unidirectional available through SelecType or software command. Line spacing: l/6”, l/8”, or programmable in increments of 1/60th, l/180th or 1/360th of an inch Paper feed speed: 83 ms/line at l/6” line spacing Printable columns: See table below.
Character fonts: 1 Font 1 Available Sizes (characters per inch) Epson Draft Epson Roman Eoson Sans Serif 1 Ewon Courier Epson Prestige Epson Script EDson OCR-A Epson OCR-B Epson ORATOR Epson ORATOR-S 10,12,15 10,12,15, Proportional 10.12.15. ProDoftional I 10,12,15, Proportional IO,1 2,15, Proportional 10,12,15, Proportional 10.12.
Paper thickness: Single sheets 0.0026 to 0.004 inches (0.065 to 0.1 mm) Continuous 0.0023 to 0.018 inches (0.06 to 0.46 mm) Envelope 0.0063 to 0.0197 inches (0.16 to 0.52 mm) Label 0.0075 inches (maximum 0.19 mm) Printable area: Single sheet m Continuous paper 4.5 mm (0.33 “) or more -3 mm (0.12”) or more 9 mm (0.35”) or more : I I 13.5 mm (0.53”) or more 101 to 381 mm (4.0 to 15.0”) 13 mm (0.51”) or more 406 mm (16.0”) paper width 26 mm (1.
Ribbon: Black ribbon cartridge #7762: Life expectancy (in Letter Quality characters, at 48 dots/character): 3 million Color ribbon cartridge #7763: Life expectancy (in Letter Quality characters, at 48 dots/character) Black: Cyan: Magenta: Yellow 1.0 million 0.7 million 0.7 million 0.5 million Film ribbon cartridge #7764: Life expectancy (at 10 cpi, with bidirectional printing, using 136 columns): 0.
Temperature: Operation: 40°F to 95°F (ST to 35°C) Storage: -22°F to 140°F (-30°C to 60°C) Humidity: Operation: 10% to 80% (without condensation) Storage: 5% to 85% (without condensation) Shock: Operation: Up to 1 G within 1 ms Storage: Up to 2 G within 1 ms Vibration: Operation: Up to 0.25 G at up to 55 Hz Storage: Up to 0.50 G at up to 55 Hz Double-Bin Cut Sheet Feeder (Optional) Dimensions and weight: 26.7”(W) X 22.9”(D) x 16.5”(H) (mounted on the printer) approx. 13.2 lbs.
Stacker capacity: Face down Face up Single sheets: Up to 60 sheets of 22 lb. paper Up to 75 sheets of 17 lb. paper Envelopes: Up to 10 (plain and bond type) Up to 12 (air mail) Single sheets: Up to 150 sheets of 22 lb. paper Up to 185 sheets of 17 lb.
Paper Single sheet bin 1 and bin 2 7.17” to 14.3” (182mm to 364mm) envelope bin 1 6.50” to 9.49” (166mm to 241mm) Length 8.27” to 14.3” (210mm to 364mm) 3.62” to 4.09” (92mm to 104mm) Thickness 0.0028” to 0.0039” (0.07mm to O.lmm) 0.0063” to 0.0205” (0.16mm to 0.52mm) Weight: 17 to 22 lb. paper 12 to 24 lb. paper Width Printable area: 8.5 mm (0.33”) or more 3 mm (0.12”) )r more or more T It 3 mm or more I, 22 mm 1 (0.87”) or more (0.12”! 13.5 mm /0.
Storage condition: Temperature: Humidity: +64”F (+lB”C) to 72°F (+22”c) 40% to 60% Interface Specifications Your printer is equipped with both a parallel and a serial interface. For specifications for optional interfaces, see the manuals provided with the optional interfaces. Parallel interface The following tables describe the parallel interface. Pin assignments for the parallel interface Connector pin assignments and a description of their respective interface signals are shown in the following table.
CHASSIS GND 32 l 0 - 33 34 35 - 36 - ERROR GND NC SLCT IN s LOW, the printer controller is reset to its power-up state and the print buffer is cleared. This level is usually HIGH; its pulse width must be more than 50 microseconds at the receiving terminal. OUT zis level becomes LOW when the printer 1) in paper-out state 2) off line 3) in error state. - Same as for Pins 19 - 30. - Not used. OUT Pulled up to 5V through 3.3K ohm resistance.
l l All interface conditions are based on TTL level. Both the rise and the fall times of each signal must be less than 0.2 microseconds. Data transfer must be carried out by observing the ACKNLG or BUSY signal. Data transfer to this printer can be carried out only after receipt of the ACKNLG signal or when the level of the BUSY signal is LOW.
Interface timing The figure below shows the timing for the parallel interface. BUSY ACKNLG f-4 I DA TA STROBE Serial interface The LQ built-in serial interface is an RS-232C asynchronous interface with the following characteristics: Data format 1 start bit Data word length: 8 bit Odd, even, or no parity 1 stop bit Baud rate 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600,192OO bits per second.
Handshaking Handshaking by DTR signal or X-on/X-off. The DTR signal changes to mark - meaning the printer is not ready to receive data - when the number of bytes free in the input buffer goes down to 256. The signal changes to space - meaning that the printer is now ready - when the number of bytes in the input buffer rises to 528. Error handling A * character is printed if a parity error is detected. All other errors are ignored.
These three kinds of initialization have slightly different effects. In particular, ESC @ resets the typestyle to the current SelecType setting; the other two methods reset the typestyle according to the default settings selected by the SelecType settings. Also, ESC @ does not initialize the printer mechanism, clear the input data buffer, or clear the user-defined character set. Default Settings The following table shows the default conditions that become valid when the printer is initialized.
Appendix B Proportional Width Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2 Character Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-6 Converting hexadecimal numbers to decimal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Proportional Width Table This table lists the widths of your printer’s proportional characters. The values given are in 360ths of an inch. For example, a value of 36 is 36/360ths of an inch. You may need to enter these widths into a special table for your processing program so it can calculate the number of proportional characters that will fit on a line. The characters with no code indicated are international characters or graphics.
1 Code 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 48 4c 4D 4E 4F 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5c 5D 5E 5F 60 61 Appendix B 1 CHR @ A B c D E F G H I J K L M N 0 2; R S T U v W X Y z : h1 T a Width Code CHR Width 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 24116 30120 36124 36124 42128 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 36124 42128 36124 42128 36124 36124 30120 24116 30120 24116 30120 30120 18112 30120 64 65 66 67 68 69 6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7A 78 7c 7D 7E d
Width 30120 30120 18112 18112 18112 36124 36124 36124 42128 42128 30120 30120 30120 36124 36124 36124 36124 42128 30120 30120 36124 42128 30120 30120 18112 30120 36124 36124 36124 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 B-4 Code Width BO Bl 82 83 84 85 B6 87 88 B9 BA BB Bc BD BE BF co Cl c2 c3 c4 c5 C6 c7 C8 c9 CA CB cc CD CE CF DO Dl D2 30120 30120 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 Appendix B
Code Width Code D3 D4 D5 D6 07 DB D9 DA DB DC DD DE DF EO El E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 EA EB EC ED EE EF FO Fl F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30/20 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30120 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 F8 F9 FA FB FC FD FE Appendix B CHR 0 . ; n 2 l 0 # 0 0 . .
Character Tables These character tables are selected by SelecType or the ESC t software command. For the Epson Extended Graphics character table, the ESC 6 or ESC 7 software command lets you select whether to print hex codes 80 to 9F as characters (ESC 6) or control codes (ESC 7). Italic Character Table :ODE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F B-6 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 @ P 6 7 c p I.
Epson Extended Graphics Character Table ZODE 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F Appendix B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6 9 A O@P' p c B B ;I 1 A Q a q ii ap i ZBRbr&iE6 P3CScs~66 B C L D Y E F a z t B-7
Converting hexadecimal numbers to decimal numbers If you prefer to use decimal numbers instead of hexadecimal numbers, you can convert them with the chart below. Just read down in the column for the first digit of the hex number and across in the row for the second digit. Where the two intersect is the decimal number that corresponds to your hex number. For example, to find the decimal equivalent of hex 5A, look where column 5 intersects with row A, There you will find decimal 90.
Glossary Note that these definitions apply specifically to printers. If a word is italicized, see that topic for more information. application program A program that helps you carry out a particular task, such as word processing or financial planning. ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standardized coding system for assigning numerical codes to letters and symbols.
carriage return The control code that returns the print position to the left margin. When issued together with a line feed, the print position moves to the left margin of the next line. In bidirectional printing, the print head may not actually move to the left margin. characters per inch (cpi) A measure of the size of text characters, often referred to as pitch. 10 cpi (also called pica) is often the standard or default setting.
dot graphics A graphic design formed by patterns of dots. dot matrix A method of printing in which each letter or symbol is formed by a pattern (matrix) of individual dots. double-high printing Printing in which each character is twice as high as normal. double-strike printing A way of producing bolder characters. Each character is printed twice; the second time, the dots are printed slightly below the original dots.
form In printer terminology, a form is normally the equivalent of a page. form feed A control code and a control panel button that advances the paper to the top of the next form. hexadecimal (hex) See number systems. initialize To establish the initial default status of the printer by turning the printer on, sending ESC @, or sending an INIT signal. interface The connection between the computer and the printer.
number systems Three number systems are commonly used with printers: decimal is base 10 and uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. (This is the most familiar system.) hexadecimal (hex) is base 16 and uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F. This is frequently used by programmers. Any decimal number between 0 and 255 can be expressed by a two-digit hex number. binary is base 2 and uses only the digits 0 and 1.
push tractor The built-in device that feeds continuous paper through the printer. Random Access Memory. The portion of the printer’s memory used as a buffer and for storing user-defined characters. All data stored in RAM is lost when the printer is turned off. reset To return a printer to its defaults, by either a command, an INIT signal, or by turning the printer off and on. self test A method of checking the operation of the printer.
Index Command descriptions are not indexed here. For page references for specific commands, see Chapter 8 or the Quick Reference card. A Application software. See Software ASCII codes, 4-5, 8-l--36, Quick Reference Assembling the printer, l-7--15 Auto line feed, selecting with SelecType, 3-18-22 Auto tear off. See short tear-off B Baud rate, setting with SelecType, 3-18-22 Buttons.
Control panel, 3-2--8 buttons, 3-4--7 data dump, 3-8 display, 3-2 lights, 3-3--4 SelecType. See SelecType self test, 3-8. See also Self test Conventions, 4 Country. See character set Courier. See Typestyles, fonts Cut sheet feeder, 7-2-21 installing, 7-2-6 loading paper, 7-6-9, 7-11--13, 7-18-19 removing, 7-20--21 testing, 7-9--11 using, 7-13--16 D Data dump mode, 6-6 Default macro, selecting with SelecType, 3-18--22 Default settings, A-14. See also SelecType Display.
L Labels, 2-23-25 Letter Quality. See Typestyles, fonts Lights. See Control panel, lights LOAD MACRO mode, 3-13-15 Loading position, setting, 3-30-31 M Macros, See SelecType. Maintaining printer, 5-1--6 Margins, settings, 3-15-18 Master Select, 4-11-12 Menu, choosing printer from, 1-28, 4-2 Micro-adjstment, 3-6, 3-30--31 Micro feed mode. See Micro-adjustment Multi-Font Module, 3-37, 7-45 Multi-part forms, 2-22-23 O OCR-A. See Typestyles, fonts OCR-B. See Typestyles, fonts Optional interfaces.
connecting to a power supply, S 1-15--16 Sans Serif. See Typestyles, fonts Script. See Typestyles, fonts Selectype arrow icons, 3-12 CLEAR ALL MACROS, options. See Options setting up, 1-1--28 testing, 1-15--21 transporting, 5-7--9 troubleshooting, 6-1--6 unpacking, 1-2--5 Printer commands.
4-5--7, 8-1--36 setting up, 1-27--28 spread sheets, 4-3-4 using with the LQ-2550, 4-2--5 word processors, 4-3 Specifications, cut sheet feeder, A-6--9 default settings, A-14 initialization, A-13--14 interface, A-9--13 paper, A-3--4, A-6--8 printer, A-2--6 Subscripts, 4-10 Superscripts, 4-10 T Tables, B-l--8 character, B-6--7 hex-to-decimal conversion, B-8 proportional width, B-2--5 Tear off. See short tear-off Testing the printer, 1-15--21 in cut sheet feeder mode, 7-9--11 Tractor.
® EPSON LQ-2550 Quick Reference
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Note: To exit the SelecType mode, press the ,se’ecT~p~ button. r - l See Table 1 able I + : :, :.;f ,;.i I4 /:;. :, a q =i= ao to 4 * ... :...:. /,..-y :.::. ..,/ ..,i . . . .-. v ,,,Fi-/i.i/,,://z, //..
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[ * ;:::F;, ;, yj “” : ... ?--T-r .r &.;;::::::,I :/; /‘j ,..::..: ::::t::. i i ,j/ .::,,,:._: Table 2 Default Settings and Options INTERFACE Parallel, Serial BAUD RATE’ 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4600, 9600, 19200 BPS PARITY None, Even, Odd, ignore l AUTO LINE FEED On, Off DCIIDCB Disable, Enable DEFAULT MACRO #1, #2, #3, #4 *These settings are displayed only when the serial interface setting is selected.
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Commands Arranged by Topic This section lists all the LQ-2550 commands. The numbers in the columns on the right are the page numbers in Chapter 8 where a complete description of the command can be found.
wizontal Motion SC I 108 6C Set Left Margin 8-18 sccl 81 51 Set Rrght Margin 8-18 S 8 08 Backspace 8-19 set 36 24 Set Absolute Print Posrtron 8-19 SC 1 92 5C Set Relative Pnnt Position 8-20 T 9 09 Tab Horizontally 8-20 SC D 68 44 Set Honzontal Tabs 8-21 erall Printing StvlelPrint Size ode Dee Hex Function Page sex 120 78 Select Letter Quality or Draft 8-21 SC k 107 6B Select Typestyle Family 8-22 SC ! 33 21 Master Select 8-22 SC P 1 80 1 50 1 Select
Character Sets Select Character Table 8-31 34 Select Italic Mode 8-31 35 Cancel Italic Mode 8-32 52 Select an International Character Set 8-32 ESC t 116 74 ESC 4 52 ESC 5 53 ESC R 82 User-Defined Characters/Graphics ESC ? 1 63 1 3F Reassign Graphics Mode ( 8-36
edge guides paper guide cover built-in push tractor paper support / power switch / paper eject guide / AC inlet gr:und connector / parallel interface print head //
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EPSON AMERICA, INC.
