FARGO electronics PrimeraPro 76500 Operating Instructions Manual

Contents

FARGO electronics PrimeraPro 76500 Operating Instructions Manual Manual pdf 6 page image

1IntroductionThank you forchoosing theFARGOPrimeraPro ColorPrinter.PrimeraPro hasbeen designed toprovide you withstunning, highquality coloroutput on paper,transparency filmand even T-shirttransfer paper. Itoffers manyfeatures to makeprinting full-colorcharts, graphs,photos,illustrations, andmonochrome textvery fast, easyand exciting.PrimeraPro utilizes two different, yet closelyrelated printing technologies to achieve itsremarkable output—wax thermal transfer and dye-sublimation.Wax thermal transfer is a process which uses a waxbased ribbon roll that is partitioned by a number ofconsecutive 9" x 14" colored panels. The panels aregrouped in a repeating series of three separatecolors, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (C,M,Y), alongthe entire length of the ribbon. A fourth blackpanel (C,M,Y,K) is often added along with theother three colors to achieve prints with a moredense, or “true” black. PrimeraPro always printsthe yellow panel first, followed by the magentapanel, the cyan panel, and finally the black panel, ifyou are using a four-color ribbon.As the ribbon and paper pass simultaneouslybeneath the print head, the thousands of thermalelements within the print head melt the waxed-based ink, thus transferring thousands of tinycolored dots from the ribbon onto the paper. Thepaper makes a separate pass for each colored panelon the ribbon. By combining the different coloreddots in different combinations (this process iscalled “dithering”), PrimeraPro is able to print analmost infinite number of different colorcombinations.Dye-sublimation is similar to wax thermal transferin that it still involves a three color, three passprocess beneath the same thermal printhead. Thedifference, however, lies within the special dye-sublimation ribbon and paper and in the transferprocess itself. Unlike the wax thermal ribbon, eachcolored panel on the dye-sublimation ribbon iscomposed of a colored dye rather than a coloredwax based ink. When the dyes on the ribbon areheated beneath the thermal printhead, theyvaporize and diffuse into the surface of the specialdye receptive paper. By varying the heat intensity ofeach thermal element within the printhead, it ispossible for each transferred dot of color to vary inhue, thus blending one color into the next. Theresult? Continuous-tone, photo-realistic colorimages.A. How YourPrimeraPro ColorPrinter Works1