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The Pre-Fire Stripe
3.5.7
The purpose of the pre-fire stripe is to exercise the printheads during printing. This is
independent of the printed image data. The pre-fire stripe can be printed on the pre-fire
stripe catcher, on the media itself, or in both places. Where the stripe prints and whether
it prints at all, is set in the Operator\Print Parameters menu (See "Print Parameters" on
page 21). When the stripe is set to ON, during printing the heads are fired at the start of
each swath when the carriage travels from the capping side to the blotting side of the
gantry. This prevents the ink in the nozzles from drying out if some of the nozzles are
not being used for a number of swaths.
Important: The Pre-Fire Stripe should always be ON during normal operation
of the printer.
Pre-Fire Stripe Catcher
3.5.8
The purpose of the pre-fire stripe catcher is to allow the pre-fire stripe to be printed off
the vacuum table. The pre-fire stripe catcher is located between the capping station and
the vacuum table. The catcher can be used for media up to 47mm (1.85") thick. For
media between 47mm (1.85") and 50.8mm (2.0') the pre-fire stripe must be printed on
the media itself or on an adjoining piece of media of equivalent thickness. The height of
the catcher must be set manually by the operator such that the gap between the top of the
catcher and the carriage is equivalent to the gap between the media and the carriage
during printing. If the gap is too large ink mist around the printheads can build up on the
nozzle plates. This can degrade print quality. The perforated metal of the catcher allows
for jetted ink to be captured and to flow through the catcher to the ink tray below.
Important: Every time the operator changes the media thickness for printing, the
pre-fire stripe catcher must be re-adjusted manually.
Adjusting the Pre-Fire Stripe Catcher
3.5.9
The catcher must be adjusted when a media thickness change is required. This is
achieved by inserting a shim of equivalent media thickness or a piece of media itself into
a slot on the catcher assembly. This will set the appropriate height for the catcher.
Do not change the height of the catcher unless instructed to do so by the
Note:
control panel.
10/16/03
Maintaining Print Quality |
3-45
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Troubleshooting
