Custom Audio Electronics F 190 User manual

F 190
F 190
Panel printer
User’s manual
www.custom.it

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All rights reserved. The reproduction of this manual, either totally or partially, in any
form whatsoever, whether it be on paper or through computer processes, is strictly
prohibited. Custom Engineering s.r.l. and the resource teams employed in the making
of this manual will not be held responsible for any problems arising as a result of
improper use of this manual, as they guarantee that the information contained in it has
been subjected to careful inspection.
Any suggestions regarding errors in its contents or possible improvements will,
nonetheless, be greatly appreciated. The products are continuously checked and
improved. For this reason Custom Engineering s.r.l. reserves the right to modify the
information contained in this manual without prior notice.
COD. DOME-F190 Revision 1.20
Copyright 1998 Custom Engineering s.r.l. – Italy
Custom Engineering
Str. Berettine 2 - 43010 Fontevivo (PARMA) - Italy
Tel. : [phone]-Fax : [phone]
http: www.custom.it Email : [email protected]

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GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING SAFETY
•Read and keep the following instructions.
•Observe all warnings and follow all instructions attached to the printer.
•Before cleaning the printer, disconnect the feed cable.
•Clean the printer with a damp cloth. Do not use liquid or spray products.
•Do not operate the printer near to water.
•Do not place the printer on unsteady surfaces. It could fall and get seriously
damaged.
•Use the type of electricity supply marked on the printer label. In the event of
uncertainty, contact the seller.
•Position the printer in such a way as to ensure that the cables connected to it will
not be damaged.
•Ensure that the maximum absorbed current of the printer does not exceed the
maximum acceptable current for the type of feed cable used.
•Do not put objects of any kind inside the printer as they could cause a short circuit
or damage parts which could affect its performance.
•Do not spill liquids on the printer.
•Do not carry out technical operations on the printer with the exception of the
scheduled maintenance operations specifically indicated in the user’s manual.
•Disconnect the printer from the electricity supply and have it repaired by a
specialized technician should any of the following conditions occur:
A. The feed connector has been damaged.
B. Liquid has penetrated to the inside of the printer;
C. The printer has been exposed to rain or water;
D. The printer is not operating normally despite the instructions in the user’s
manual having been followed.
E. The printer has been dropped and its case damaged.
F. The performance of the printer is poor.
G. The printer does not work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. DESCRIPTION
1.1 Generalfeatures
1.2 Product description
1.3 Technicalspecifications
2. INSTALLATION AND USE
2.1 Connections
2.2 Configuration
2.3 Self-test
2.4 Precautions
2.5 Maintenance
3. INTERFACES
3.1 TTL serial
3.2 TTLparallel
3.3 RealTimeClock(option)
4. PRINTER FUNCTIONS
4.1 Printing modes
4.2 Graphics
4.3 Controlcharacters
4.4 Character sets
APPENDIX CONTENTS
A. POWER SUPPLIES
A.1 PSM05 power supply
A.2 ALI9/40powersupply
INDEX

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1.1 GENERAL FEATURES
TheF190(fig.1)isanextremelysimpleandfunctionalpanelprinter.
Itistheidealsolutionforapplicationswhichrequiretheimmediateprintingofdataonaticket,whetherthey
be of an industrial, professional or laboratory nature. It is suitable for POS, weighing systems, receipts
(notfor tax purposes), as well as for security, controlling and diagnostics purposes.
Ithas an8-needle,rapid impactprintingmechanism anduses57.5mm widepaperrolls. The F190printer
is so light-weight and compact that it can be easily fitted on any kind of machinery. It can be personally
programmed and is thus able to meet all possible requirements. It has a 150 byte print buffer and, is
equippedwitha2-KbyteEEPROM. Ithas TTLserialandparallelinterfacesasstandard. Itcan,inaddition,
be equipped with a Real Time Clock.
(Figure1)
DESCRIPTION

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1.2 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
TheF190printer has an ABS casing withatop covering the paper roll andprinthead.
Thekeyboard,locatedonthefrontofthe printer,consistsofthePRINTandFEED keysand twoPowerand
StatusLEDs.
(Figure2)
- PRINTkey. When this keyispressed,ifthe printer isinparallelpin2 of J7comesoutoflogic state “0”,
whilein serialittransmits controlcharacter“$0D”; thisonlyhappens ifithas beenenabledby DATA4to
logic“0”. The contents of the memorized blocks areonlytransmittedifthefunction has been enabled.
- FEEDkey. This enables the manualpaperfeed. Ifpressed briefly,whentheRTCKoptionis installed,
the time and date are printed. The POWER LED indicates that digital power is being supplied to the
printer.
TheSTATUSLED, when lit, signals thatthepaperisfinishedor that the cover is open.
DESCRIPTION

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1.3 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Table1 lists the mainfeaturesofthe two printer models: F190 24 and 40 columns.
Table 1
Columns 24 40
Characters (L x H)
Normal 1.7x 2.6 1.1 x 2.6
Doubleheight 1.7x 5.2 1.1 x 5.2
Doublewidth 3.4x 2.6 2.2 x 2.6
Expanded 3.4x 5.2 2.2 x 5.2
Graphic dot 0.33 x 0.38 0.19 x 0.38
Dots per line 144 240
Print speed
Lines / sec 2.5 1.5
Characters/sec 60 60
Feed (lines / sec) 6 3.6
Line buffer 24byte 40byte
Print buffer 150byte
Print method dotmatriximpact
Character matrix 6 x 10 dots
Print direction Normalor reverse
Character set Normaland extended
Paper roll size 57.5.0.5mm x Ø50 mm max
Standard interfaces TTLserial and parallel
Power supply Double or single 5 Vdc. ± 10%
Absorption
Mediumwhenonstandby 38 mA
Mediumwhen printing 880 mA
Impulsewhenprinting 3,5 A (600 µSec)
Environmental conditions
Operatingtemperature 0°C - +50°C
Operatinghumidity 35% - 85%
Storagetemperature /humidity -20°C - +70°C / 10%-90%
Options Realtimeclock, Power supply
DESCRIPTION

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2.1 CONNECTIONS
Power supply
Withregardtopower supply,the F190printerhas astandardAMPMODU14-pinmale (J2)typeconnector.
Thepower supply connector pins are marked as follows:
1GND
2GND
3+VT: 5Vdc ± 15% (printerneedlepowersupply)
4+VDC: 5 Vdc ± 7% (logic card power supply)
Connectingwiththepower supply connector (J2) can be avoided by using the flat 20 or 26-pin connector
(J1)ofthe logic or by replacing thelatter, by specialrequestat the order stage, with asimilar26-pin one,
thus connecting the power supply and the printer signals with a single cable. In this case, however, the
maximum length of the flat cable must not exceed 30 cm for the 20-pin version and 70 cm for the 26-pin
version. The reason for this is that current running along inside narrow wires can lead to power failures
whichcould interferewiththecorrect functioningoftheprinter.
For the pin pattern required for supplying power through the logic flat cable, please refer to the following
paragraph.
Logic
In theJ2 20-pin connector,the signals are arranged as follows:
1+VT 2+VT
3+VDC 4+VDC
5GND 6GND
7TD 8D6
9D5 10 D4
11 D3 12 D2
13 D1 14 D0
15 D7* 16 RESET
17 S-EN 18 READY/RTS
19 FEED 20 STB/RD
INSTALLATION and USE

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TheJ126-pinconnectorcan beused ifthe flatcable doesnot exceed700 mmin lengthand hasadiameter
ofatleast 0.12 mm2. The corresponding signals are:
1 GND 2GND
3GND 4TP
5+VT 6+VT
7+VT 8+VT
9+VCC 10 +VCC
11 GND 12 GND
13 TD 14 D6
15 D5 16 D4
17 D3 18 D2
19 D1 20 D0
21 D7 * 22 RESET
23 S-EN 24 READY/RTS
25 FEED 26 STB/RD
*TheD7signalisnottaken into consideration in cases of 7-bit programming of the parallel port. In order
toconfiguretheF190withtheextendedcharacterset,8-bitprogrammingoftheparallelinterfaceisrequired.
Thesignals indicatedhavethefollowing functions:
GND: signalground and powersupply;
+VT: powersupplytothe printer needles;
+VDC: powersupplytothelogiccard;
S-EN (input): serial/parallel interface selection. If shortcircuited to ground (0), it enables serial
communication; iffree (1) it enables parallel communication;
D0, ..., D7 (inputs): databus. Inparallelconfiguration, thesecorrespondto the printerinputdata bus(the
high level indicates the binary digit 1). In serial communication, these are utilized to determine speed of
communicationand transmissionprotocol; normallythe databusisat logiclevel1: in ordertoobtainlogic
level0,ithastobeshortcircuitedtoground(GND).
Theserialbaudratecanbeselectedfromthe following table:
INSTALLATION and USE

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D0 D1 D2 BAUD
0 0 1 300
1 0 1 600
1 1 1 1200
0 1 1 2400
0 0 0 4800
1 0 0 9600
All the other combinations select a speed of 1200 bauds.
D3 = 1: flag-type transmission protocol. When the print buffer is full, the printer sends a low level on the
RTSsignal,whichinterrupts transmission; when the buffer is able toreceivefurtherdata,the level of the
RTSsignalisthenchangedto1.
D3 = 0: XON/OFF type transmission protocol. When theprintbufferisfull,theprintersendsanXON$13
(DC3)whichinterrupts transmission; whenthebufferisabletoreceivefurther data,thecommandXON$11
(DC1)istransmitted.
D4 = 1: when the PRINT key is pressed, nothing happens.
D4 = 0: when the PRINT key is pressed, the signal $0D (CR) is transmitted to the TD pin, if the serial
interfacehas been configured.
D5, D6, D7: the selection of thesebitsresults in the serial being configured withthetransmission format
listedinthetablebelow:
D7 D6 D5 Format
1118bits without parity and 1 stop bit
0118even parity bits and 1 stop bit
0108odd parity bits and 1 stop bit
1107bits without parity and 1 stop bit
1017even parity bits and 1 stop bit
1007odd parity bits and 1 stop bit.
Rememberthat, in order to configure theprinterinserialmode,it is necessary to shortcircuit thesignalS-
ENto ground on connector J1.
RESET (input): cardcontrollerreset,activeata low level. Resetting initializes the printer’sparameters
andhas thefollowingeffects:
erasureof the line bufferandprinterbuffer;
selectionoftheprintformataccordingtotheprogramming
readingofthe S-EN pin of J1 for serialorparallel configuration;
printingof the self-test if the FEED key is pressed;
functionalitycheck of the optioncardsinstalled,ifany.
INSTALLATION and USE

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READY/RTS (output): inparallelconfigurationthehighlevelindicatesthattheprinterisreadytoreceive
data. The low level indicates that it is busy (bus Y). In serial communication, if the CTS/RTS protocol is
enabled the high logic state (1) indicates that the printer is ready to receive data; the low logic state (0)
indicatesthat the print buffer is full and cannot receive data.
FEED (inputandoutput): paper feed key,active at low level. This signal is in parallel with thecontactsof
FEEDkeyon the front panel of the printer.
STB/RD (input): inparallel configuration alowlevel tells theprinterthatthere is validdataonthe data bus
(D0,...,D7). Inserialconfigurationthiscorrespondstothedata reception pin.
TP (inputand output): PRINT key,activeatlow level. This signal is in parallelwiththecontactsofthe
PRINTkey onthefront panelofthe printer.
2.2 CONFIGURATION
WiththeF190printer default parameters may be configured.
Theparameters affected by configuration are:
- enablingofRealTimeClocksetting;
- printingmodes;
- no.of bits in parallel communication;
- enablingofsecondsdisplay;
- CRLF mode;
- enablingofprintingofblock 1;
- charactersets;
Thesettingsmadearesaved onthe2-Kbyte EEPROM(nonvolatile memory),containing3 blocks-one of
300bytesand two of 700 bytes - is available,inwhich information of any kind canbestored. Fordetails
onmemory block management using control characters, please refer to paragraph 4.3.
Theprinter can either be configured throughthePCorby using the front keys ontheprinter.
Configuration through PC
ThiscanbedonebyusinganIBMorIBM-compatiblecomputerwitha serial output, or else by using a
programmewhich can be supplied on request. This programme, with its pull-down menus is user-
friendlyandpromptstheoperatorateachstageoftheinputprocedure.
INSTALLATION and USE

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Configuration using PRINT and FEED keys
Configurationthrough thekeyboard is normallyenabled. Inorder to disableit,shortcircuit theJP2jumper
onthe printed circuit.
If,whentheprinteris switchedon,both keysareheld downsimultaneously,theprinterenters configuration
mode and prints the first modifiable parameter. Each time the PRINT key is pressed subsequent to this,
the variation of the parameter is shown and the its current value is printed. After entering the desired
parameter, press the FEED keytogoon to the next parameter,and so on. Once alltheparametershave
beenentered,theprinterprints a message to indicate that setting procedure hasbeencompleted.
2.3 SELF-TEST
Toenablethe self-test,hold downtheFEEDkeywhile switchingon theprinter. The self-testconsists ofthe
printing of the printer’s currently set data, a memory check and the printing of the entire set of ASCII
characters.
2.4 PRECAUTIONS
- Donot printwhenthere is no paper and/or ribbon: thisleadsto rapid deterioration of the needles.
- Donotputobjectsinside the printer.
- Donot pull the printercarriagemanuallywhen the printer isON.
- Beforeconnecting theprinterto the mains,checkthat thepowersupplyor systemON/OFFswitchis in
theOFFposition.
- Avoidblows to any part of the printer, both during andafterinstallation.
INSTALLTION and USE

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2.5 MAINTENANCE
Changing the paper roll
Tochangethepaperroll,proceedasfollows:
1) openthe printercoverand pressdownon theswingingsupport oftheprint mechanismmarkedwith the
instructionPUSH;
2) insertthe end oftherollin the slitoftheprint mechanism and positionthepaperroll so thatitrunsin the
rightrotationdirection,asshowninfigure3;
3) press the FEED key so that a few centimetres of paper come out of the printer and, pressing down
againontheswinging supportoftheprintmechanism markedwith theinstructionPUSH,bringit backtoits
originalposition.
4) tearoffthe paper andre-closetheprintercover.
(Figure3)
INSTALLTION and USE

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Selectionofthestandardinterface,TTL serial and parallel, is given by the status of the S-EN pinofJ1.
3.1 TTL SERIAL
Inthe serial protocol, thesignalswhichcharacterizecommunication are TD, RDandRTSifthe RTS/CTS
protocolhas been selected; alternatively,iftheXON/OFF protocol has been selected, the signalsareTD
andRD.
INTERFACES
XON/OFF protocol
dato = data
attesa = standby
Transmission
format
RTS/CTS protocol
dato = data
attesa = standby

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3.2 TTL PARALLEL
Inparallel communication theuseablesignalsare:
1) 7 or 8 bit data bus;
2) STROBEsignalindicating data validity;
3) READYsignalindicating that the printer is readytoreceivedata.
INTERFACES
Transmission format
valid data
Flow diagram

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3.3 REAL TIME CLOCK (option)
The Real Time Clock is available as an option. Printing and adjustment of the clock are managed by a
seriesof control characters:
$12 Printsclock
$13 Sets clock
$14 RTCK transmissioninserial
ESC T Entersthe time in the print buffer
ESC D Entersthe date in the print buffer
ESC U Entersthe date (American-style) intheprintbuffer
How to adjust the clock using the keyboard
The time and date can be adjusted by using the PRINT and FEED keys on the front panel of the printer.
Settingprocedureisas follows:
• holddown theFEEDkeyand simultaneously pressthePRINT key. Theprinterwillprint the timeand
date with an arrow indicating a digit to be changed;
• eachtime the PRINT key ispressed,thedigitbythe arrow will increase andtheupdatedversionwill
beprinted;
• to selectthenextdigitwhich requires adjusting press the FEED key again. Oncompletionofeach
operation,the printer willprinttheupdated time anddate,highlightingby means ofanarrowthe digit
currentlybeing selected;
• toterminate setting, press PRINT and FEED at the same time, or run through all the parameters.
Lapsed time meter
Thisis managed by three control characters (only if the RTCK is available):
ESC O Transmitsin serial total operatinghours.
ESC o Insertstotal operating hours inthelinebuffer,thusenablingthis to be printedinanystring.
ESC M Zero-setstotal operating hours.
Formoreinformation on the control characters which manage the clock, see paragraph 4.3.
Bymeans of this function (option available with the 5.3 software release) implemented in the Real Time
Clock,thetotaloperatinghoursoftheprintercanbememorized.
INTERFACES

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4.1 PRINTING MODES
TheF190printer has two printing modes whichcanbe selected by means of controlcharacters: normal
andreverse.
(Figure4)
Normalmode Reverse mode
The basic character matrix is 6 x 10 dots. Characters may be printed in various formats. The following
tableshowsthesizeofthecharactersfortherespectiveformats,dependingonwhethertheprinter is the
24or40columnmodel.
Character size (L x H mm)
Print format 24 column 40 column
Normal 1.7x 2.6 1.1 x 2.6
Double height 1.7x 5.2 1.1 x 5.2
Double width 3.4x 2.6 2.2 x 2.6
Expanded 3.4x 5.2 2.2 x 5.2
For further details on the selectionofprintingmodes, please refer to the paragraph covering control
characters (paragraph4.3).
PRINTER FUNCTIONS
F190
Panel printer
Panel printer
F190
PAPER OUTFEED DIRECTION

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4.2 GRAPHICS
Thesize of the graphic dot and the number of dots per linevarydependingonthenumberofcolumns:
Size of graphic dot
Print format 24 column 40 column
Graphic dot (L x H mm) 0.33x 0.38 0.19x 0.38
Dots per line 144 240
To obtain a graphic printout, enter the command $11 at the beginning of each line.
Thegraphic configuration byte format is as follows:
X R P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1
D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0
where:
Xisnotutilized;
Rmust be set at 1;
P1, ..., P6 are the data of the graphic dots (1 prints, 0 does not print)
TheP6bitofthestringofdotstransmittedisprintedontheleftandthe others (P5, P4, P3, P2, P1) follow
fromleft to right,asshown:
1st byte 2nd byte 3rd byte
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1
To print a line of dots transmit:
$11,N x $7F(whereNisthe number of characters per line), $OD.
To printanempty line, transmit:
$11, $40, $OD.
PRINTER FUNCTIONS

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4.3. CONTROL CHARACTERS
Table 4 lists all the commands for function management of the F190 printer. These commands can be
transmitted to the printer with either the serial or parallel interface; if, however, the parallel interface is
used,theuserwillnot be able to receive the data required, since this interfaceisunidirectional.
The commands canbetransmittedto the printer atanymoment,but they willonlybecarried out when the
characterspreviouslytransmittedhave been printed or the commands previously transmitted havebeen
carried out. There are no commands with priority status; all the commands are carried out when the
circularbuffer is free to do so. They can beone-,two-orthree-bytecommands. The table describes each
controlcharacter in detail.
(Table4) TABLE OF COMMANDS
ASCII Com. HEX Com. Description
$00 Printingin small characters
$01 Printingin double height
$02 Printingin double width
$03 Expandedprinting
$04 Restoressmall character printing
$0A Forwardfeeds one line
(n)$0B Forwardfeeds(n)lines
$0D Prints linebuffer
$0F Sets CRLF mode
$11 Graphicmode
$12 Prints time and date
$13 Sets time and date in serial
$14 Transmits time anddateinserial
$17(*) Prints1stprogrammablecharacter
$18(*) Prints2nd programmable character
$119(*) Prints3rd programmable character
$1A(*) Prints4th programmable character
$1C(*) Prints5th programmable character
$1D(*) Prints6th programmable character
$1E(*)(**) Prints 7th programmable character
$1F(*)(**) Prints 8th programmable character
ESC R $1B $52 Setsreversemodeprinting
ESC N $1B $4E Setsnormalmodeprinting
ESC @ $1B $40 Resetsprinter
ESC D $1B $44 Entersdateinprint buffer
ESC T $1B $54 Enterstimeinprintbuffer
ESC U $1B $55 Enters date (mm :dd :yy) in print buffer
ESC S $1B $53 Enablesprintingofseconds
ESC O $1B $4F Transmitsoperating hours in serial
ESC H $1B $48 Zero-setstotaloperatinghours
PRINTER FUNCTIONS

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ESC o $1B $6F Printstotal operating hours
ESC B $1B $42 Setscharacterfont1
ESC b $1B $62 Setscharacterfont2
(aa) ESC r (aa) $1B $72 Reads a piece of data at an address (aa)
(aadd) ESC w (aadd) $1B $77 Writes a piece of data (dd) at an address (a)
(dd) ESC G (dd) $1B $47 Writesvalue(dd)in option register
(dd) ESC M (dd) $1B $4D Writesvalue(dd)inprintingmode
ESC p $1B $70 Transmits option register in serial
ESC m $1B $6D Transmitsprinting mode in serial
ESC s $1B $73 Transmitsnextcharacter in serial
ESC W (n) $1B $57 (n) Startssaving block(n)
ESC V (n) $1B $56 (n) Printsblock(n)
ESC E (n) $1B $45 (n) Transmitsblockin serial(n)
ESC Z $1B $5A Blocksavingcompleted
ESC J (n) $1B $4A Loadsprogrammable character
Notes to table 4
(*) Onlysoftware release 5.3
(**)Forsoftware release 4.3 1st and 2nd programmable character respectively.
PRINTER FUNCTIONS
Printing in small characters
The command $00 is used for reverting to printing in small characters. If, for example,
doubleheightordoublewidthprintinghadbeensetandtheuserwishestoreturntoprinting
insmall characters,he/shetransmitsthe code $00. Thiscommandclears the printbuffer.
Forthis reasonthiscommand mustnotbe transmittedafteranASCII string,otherwisethe
stringwillbe erased. It is better,therefore, to transmitthecommandafter a (CR) $0D so
thatthestringisprintedfirstand,onclearingthebuffer,smallcharacterprintingisrestored.
Inmany user applications the character $00 is transmitted asa piece of calculationdata
oras anumericalvalue,automatically erasingthestringpreceding it. Asmallcharacteris
6dots wide and 10 dots tall. TheASCIIcharacterswhichcanbe printed, as may be seen
fromthe self-test, start from code$1Ethroughtocode$FF (software release 4.3) orfrom
code $17 to code $1F (software release 5.3).
ASCII:
-
Hex:
$00