Printhead Pressure Adjustment - Intermec EasyCoder PF2i Service Manual

Printhead Pressure Adjustment

Intermec EasyCoder PF2i, PF4i, and PF4i Compact Industrial—Service Manual
The pressure of the thermal printhead against the media is factory
adjusted. The following method could be used by a skilled service techni-
cian. Operators should only use the fi ne-adjustment screw accessible from
the media compartment.
• Slit a piece of plastic tube lengthwise and put it on the tear bar in order
to minimize the friction. The tube must not interfere with the printhead
ribbon break shaft.
• Fit a 300 g (0.66 lb) weight at the end of a full width strip of liner.
• Loosen the upper #T10 Torx screw (A). The designations "A", "B", and
"C" refer to the illustration on the previous page.
• Using a 5.5 mm spanner, loosen the nut on screw (B).
• Loosen the lower #T10 Torx screw (B) in the electronics compartment
until the nut almost comes off.
• Tighten the fi ne-adjustment screw (C) until it comes as far into the shoe
as possible and the spiral spring becomes compressed.
• Lower the printhead.
• Tighten screw B until it meets the end of the fi ne-adjustment screw (C).
• Raise the printhead and put the liner strip between the printhead and
platen roller so the weight hangs freely over the tear bar. Lower the
printhead.
• Loosen screw B until the strip starts to slip and tighten it again until the
strip stops to slip.
• Tighten screw B two (2) full turns and lock it with the nut. Now the
printhead has a pressure of approximately 4.2 kgs.
• EasyCoder PF2i:
Loosen screw C six full turns to decrease the pressure (each turn repre-
sents approximately 0.5 kp of pressure).
EasyCoder PF4i and PF4i Compact Industrial:
Loosen screw C four full turns to decrease the pressure (each turn repre-
sents approximately 0.5 kp of pressure).
Do not use a higher printhead pressure than necessary, because it may
increase the wear of the printhead and shorten its life.
• Tighten screw A until it has a play of ±0.1 mm (4 mils) to the lifting
link and lock it with blue Loctite. The tightness of this screw affects the
resistance in the printhead lift lever.
• Fine-adjust using screw C according to printout samples (preferably test
labels). Differences in media thickness, stiffness, width, etc. may require
slightly higher or lower pressure. Generally, thicker and/or stiffer media
requires more printhead pressure. However, a very high pressure setting
on screw C may require readjustment of screw A or there will be no
printhead pressure at all.
• If necessary, lubricate moving parts with MolyKote P6 30 L Plastislip or
a similar grease.
Chapter 7—Print Mechanism
101