Microcom 438 User Manual

Microcom Printers

Text mode
Original mode

MODEL 438

DIRECT THERMAL PRINTER

OPERATOR’S MANUAL

PART NUMBER 880052-0100

Revised: August 19, 2014 CPC

Copyright © 2014 by Microcom Corporation, Lewis Center, Ohio – All rights reserved.

This manual is related to the following products:

424 224

Table of contents

Document Outline

Product Enhancements
Liability Disclaimer
FCC Compliance Statement
1.1 General Specifications
1.2 Printing Specifications
1.3 Media Specifications
2.1 Fonts
2.2 Graphics
2.3 Bar codes
2.4 Special Features
2.5 Options
3.1 Unpacking and Inspection
3.2 Connecting the Printer
- 3.2.1 Printer Power
- 3.2.2 RS232 Serial Communication Interface
  - 3.2.2.1 RS-232 Serial Cables
- 3.2.3 USB Communication Interface
- 3.2.4 Optional Ethernet Communication Interface
- 3.2.5 Optional Cutter Interface
3.3 Loading Media
3.4 Print Button and Status Indicator Light
- 3.4.1 Print Button
- 3.4.2 Status Indicator Light
3.5 Printer Modes
- 3.5.1 Idle Mode: GREEN
- 3.5.2 Halted Mode: RED
- 3.5.3 Paused Mode: Solid or Flashing AMBER
- 3.5.4 Diagnostic Mode
  - 3.5.4.1 Entering Diagnostic Mode
  - 3.5.4.2 Statistics Label
4.1 Control Characters
4.2 LDS Design Exercises
- 4.2.1 PC Connection (Serial)
- 4.2.2 Format Creation
4.3 Label Design: An Overview
4.4 Label Header
- 4.4.1 HFM (Number of Fields in Layout)
- 4.4.2 LSX (Print Head Size X)
- 4.4.3 LSY (Label Size Y)
- 4.4.4 WEB (Web Size)
- 4.4.5 GAP (GAP Size)
- 4.4.6 DPS (Print Speed)
- 4.4.7 LCB (Label Control Byte)
- 4.4.8 AGD (Activate Gap Detector)
- 4.4.9 SPG (Steps Past Gap)
- 4.4.10 OFX (Offset X Direction)
- 4.4.11 OFY (Offset Y Direction)
4.5 Sample Header
4.6 Label Format Fields
- 4.6.1 TSN (Text String Number)
- 4.6.2 XB (X Beginning Coordinate)
- 4.6.3 YB (Y Beginning Coordinate)
- 4.6.4 CC (Character Count)
- 4.6.5 TCI (Text Conversion Identifier)
- 4.6.6 CGN (Character Generator Number)
- 4.6.7 FO (Field Orientation)
- 4.6.8 FJ (Field Justification)
- 4.6.9 CMX (Character Multiplier X Direction)
- 4.6.10 CMY (Character Multiplier Y Direction)
- 4.6.11 CS (Character Spacing)
- 4.6.12 TSP (Text Starting Position)
- 4.6.13 ,,, (Reserved Spaces)
- 4.6.14 AN (Attribute Number)
4.7 Line Draw
4.8 Reverse Video
- 4.8.1 Reverse Video
- 4.8.2 True Reverse Video
5.1 Special Printer Control Codes
- 5.1.1 Enquiry Responses
5.2 Printer Configuration Commands
- 5.2.1 Software Switches
- 5.2.2 Communication Port Configuration
- 5.2.3 Print Head Size Commands
5.3 General Purpose I/O
5.4 Specialized Print Modes
- 5.4.1 Synchronous Print Mode
- 5.4.2 USB Image Print Mode
- 5.4.3 Contrast Adjustment Commands
  - 5.4.3.1 Adjust Contrast Window (Volatile - ^D35)
  - 5.4.3.2 Adjust Contrast Base (Non-volatile - ^D36)
- 5.4.4 Slice Buffer Size and Set Starting Slice Number Commands
- 5.4.5 Printer Restart / Reboot Commands
- 5.4.6 Registration Commands
- 5.4.7 Auto-size Commands
- 5.4.8 AutoHeader Commands
5.5 AutoLoad Media Commands
- 5.5.1 AutoLoad + Form Feed
- 5.5.2 AutoLoad + Top-Of-Form
5.6 Printing Commands
- 5.6.1 Basic Printing Commands
5.7 Label Header Parameter Override Commands
- 5.7.1 Serial Number Commands
5.8 Text String Commands
5.9 Cutter Configuration Commands
- 5.9.1 Cutter Type
- 5.9.2 Kiosk Cutter Commands
  - 5.9.2.1 Kiosk Cutter Mode
  - 5.9.2.2 Kiosk Cutter Advance Distance Command
- 5.9.3 Volatile Cutter Operation
- 5.9.4 Cutter Hold-off
5.10 Dispensing Commands
- 5.10.1 Tag/Tear Operation
- 5.10.2 Peel-and-Dispense Operation
- 5.10.3 Load Advance/Retract Distance and Load Advance Delay
5.11 View Printer Configuration and Statistics
5.12 Memory Commands
5.13 Printer Code Update
5.14 Miscellaneous Commands
Memory
6.1 FLASH Data Types
6.2 RAM Data Types
6.3 Using the BMP2MIC.exe GRAPHIC Conversion Utility
- 6.3.1 BMP2MIC.exe GRAPHIC Conversion Utility Procedure
6.4 Graphic Download Methods
- 6.4.1 Uncompressed Graphic Downloads
- 6.4.2 Compressed Binary GRAPHIC Downloads
6.5 Advanced GRAPHIC Format Conversion for Programmers
- 6.5.1 Save Compressed Graphics to RAM (D107)
- 6.5.2 Save Compressed Graphics to FLASH (D133)
- 6.5.3 Binary Compression Algorithm
- 6.5.4 Uncompressed FONT to RAM (^D104)
6.6 Graphic Image Data Format
6.7 Downloadable Graphics Commands
7.1 FLASH Data Types
7.2 RAM Data Types
7.3 Using the Font Conversion Utilities
- 7.3.1 SFP2MIC.exe Program
- 7.3.2 FONTCV16.exe Program
7.4 Font Download Methods
- 7.4.1 Compressed Binary Commands
  - 7.4.1.1 Save Compressed FONT to RAM (D127).
  - 7.4.1.2 Save Compressed FONT to FLASH (D135)
- 7.4.2 Uncompressed FONT to RAM (^D104)
- 7.4.3 Save FONTS to FLASH (^D135)
7.5 Font Structure
7.6 Downloadable Font Command Summary
8.1 Types of Bar Codes
- 8.1.1 Universal Product Code – Version A (UPC-A), TCI 12
- 8.1.2 Universal Product Code – Version E (UPC-E), TCI 13
- 8.1.3 Universal Product Code (UPC-E, send 6 digits), TCI 14
- 8.1.4 Interleaved 2 of 5 (I2 of 5), TCI 15
- 8.1.5 Code 3 of 9 (Code39), TCI 16
- 8.1.6 European Article Numbering System 13 (EAN-13), TCI 20
- 8.1.7 European Article Numbering System 8 (EAN-8), TCI 21
- 8.1.8 Modified Plessey (MSI 1), TCI 24
- 8.1.9 Modified Plessey (MSI 2), TCI 25
- 8.1.10 Modified Plessey (MSI 3), TCI 26
- 8.1.11 GS1 Databar, TCI 35
  - 8.1.11.1 GS1 Databar Omni-Directional
  - 8.1.11.2 GS1 Databar Truncated
  - 8.1.11.3 GS1 Databar Stacked
  - 8.1.11.4 GS1 Databar Stacked Omni-directional
  - 8.1.11.5 GS1 Databar Limited
  - 8.1.11.6 GS1 Databar Expanded
  - 8.1.11.7 How to Print an GS1 Databar Barcode
- 8.1.12 Postnet (ZIP+4), TCI 36
- 8.1.13 Postnet (ZIP+6), TCI 37
- 8.1.14 MaxiCode, TCI 38
- 8.1.15 Code 128 (Automatic Compression), TCI 40
- 8.1.16 Code 128 (Manual Compression), TCI 41
- 8.1.17 Codabar (Rationalized), TCI 42
- 8.1.18 Code 93, TCI 43
- 8.1.19 PDF-417, TCI 46
- 8.1.20 Datamatrix, TCI 47
- 8.1.21 Intelligent Mail Barcode, TCI 48
- 8.1.22 Planet Code, TCI 49
- 8.1.23 UCC/EAN 128, TCI 50
- 8.1.24 UCC/EAN Text Information, TCI 51
8.2 Bar Code Rotation
8.3 Bar Code Human Readable Text
9.1 What is Code Page Switching?
9.2 Character Sets
9.3 Code Pages
- 9.3.1 Code Pages
- 9.3.2 Danish Code Page
- 9.3.3 860 Code Page
- 9.3.4 Spanish Code Page
- 9.3.5 850 Code Page
- 9.3.6 German Code Page
- 9.3.7 865 Code Page
- 9.3.8 Swiss Code Page
- 9.3.9 852 Code Page
- 9.3.10 French Code Page
- 9.3.11 863 Code Page
- 9.3.12 Swedish Code Page
- 9.3.13 437 Code Page
- 9.3.14 Italian Code Page
- 9.3.15 British Code Page
- 9.3.16 USA Code Page
10.1 Maintenance Schedule
10.2 Thermal Printer Card
10.3 Internal Cleaning
10.4 Print head Maintenance
10.5 Cleaning the Drive Roller
10.6 Exterior Cleaning
11.1 Troubleshooting Tips
1: General Index
2: List of Figures
3: List of Tables
Appendix A: Limited Warranty
Appendix B: RMA Procedure
Appendix C: ^D Command Summary
Glossary
Appendix D: User Notes