Epson LQ-2180 User manual

®
24-Pin Dot Matrix Printer Quick Reference
Guide
Contents
Loading Continuous Paper Onto the Front
Push Tractor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Loading Continuous Paper Onto the Rear
Push Tractor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Removing the Printed Document From
the Push Tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Removing Continuous Paper With Labels . . . . 7
Replacing the Ribbon Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Clearing Paper Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
If Your Printer Stops Printing Unexpectedly . . . 16
EPSON is a registered trademark of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION. Other product names used herein
are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. EPSON disclaims
any and all rights in those marks.
Read your
User's Guide
first for
complete instructions, and then
use this guide any time you want
to quickly find information about
the topics on the right.

2
Loading Continuous Paper Onto the Front Push Tractor
Open the front paper guide by pulling
the tab at the center of it, and then
remove the guide by grasping both
sides and pulling it straight out of the
printer.
Open both sprocket covers, and fit the
first four holes of the paper, printable
side up, over the tractor pins. Then
close the sprocket covers.
Note:
Load continuous paper that has a clean, straight
edge to avoid paper jams.
1
tab
2
To remove any paper from the paper
path, press the Load/Eject button. The
printer feeds the paper into the standby
position, where you can remove the
paper from the printer.
If you load continuous paper of a
different size or thickness, you need to
adjust the position of the sprockets or
change the paper thickness lever setting.
See Chapter 2 of the User’s Guide for
instructions.
To load continuous paper onto the front push tractor, follow these steps:

3
Attach the front paper guide by
inserting it into the slots in the printer
as shown.
Close the front paper guide, and make
sure the paper release lever is set to the
front push tractor position.
Note:
Always close the printer cover before printing.
The printer does not print when the cover is open.
3 4
When you load continuous paper with
labels, make sure that the auto tear-off
mode is off before you start to print. If
you feed continuous labels backward,
the labels may come off the backing sheet
and jam the printer.
To turn off the auto tear-off mode, enter
the printer’s default-setting mode. See
Chapter 5 of the User’s Guide for
instructions.
Loading Continuous Paper Onto the Front Push Tractor

4
Loading Continuous Paper Onto the Rear Push Tractor
Open the paper guide cover and
remove the paper guide.
Open both sprocket covers, and fit the
first four holes of the paper, printable
side down, over the tractor pins. Then
close the sprocket covers.
Note:
Load continuous paper that has a clean, straight
edge to avoid paper jams.
1
paper guide
paper guide cover
2
To remove paper from the paper path,
press the Load/Eject button. The
printer feeds the paper to the standby
position, where you can remove the
paper from the printer.
If you load continuous paper which is a
different size or thickness, you need to
adjust the position of the sprocket units
or change the paper thickness lever
setting. See Chapter 2 of the User’s Guide
for instructions.
To load continuous paper onto the rear push tractor, follow the steps below.
cCaution:
Do not load continuous paper with labels onto the rear push tractor; the labels may come off the
backing sheet and jam the printer.

5
Attach the paper guide. Close the paper guide cover, and make
sure the paper release lever is set to the
rear push tractor position.
Note:
Always close the printer cover before printing.
The printer does not print when the cover is open.
3 4
Loading Continuous Paper Onto the Rear Push Tractor

6
Removing the Printed Document From the Push Tractor
Make sure the Tear Off/Bin lights are
flashing. (You may need to press the
Tear Off/Bin button.) When the Tear
Off/Bin lights are flashing, your paper
is in the tear-off position.
1
2
from the front push tractor
from the rear push tractor
When you resume printing, the printer
automatically feeds the paper backward
to the top-of-form position, and starts
printing.
To feed the continuous paper backward
from the tear-off position to the standby
position, press the Load/Eject button.
Open the paper guide cover, and tear off the printed document
using the printer’s tear-off edge.
To remove the printed document from the front or rear push tractor, follow the steps below. To
remove continuous paper from the pull tractor, see Chapter 2 of the User’s Guide.

7
Make sure that the printer finishes
printing. You may need to press the
Pause button to stop printing.
(When the printer is paused, the Pause
light is on.)
Tear off the fresh supply of continuous
labels at the perforation nearest the
paper entry slot.
Hold down the LF/FF button to eject the
remaining labels from the printer.
cCaution:
When printing on labels, never press the
Load/Eject or Tear Off/Bin button.
When fedbackward, labels can easilycome
off the backing sheet and cause a paper
jam.
1
23
Removing Continuous Paper With Labels
Removing the Printed Document From the Push Tractor Removing Continuous Paper With Labels
To avoid peeling labels off the backing sheet and jamming the printer, follow the steps below when
you remove continuous paper with labels from the front push tractor.

8
Replacing the Ribbon Cartridge
Press the Operate button to turn off
the printer. The printer is off when the
surface of the Operate button is even
with the button protectors as shown.
cCaution:
Moving the print head while the printer
is on may damage the printer.
Unplug the printer from the electrical
outlet.
Open the paper guide cover. Then lift
the printer cover by its back edge and
pull it straight up and off the printer.
1
2
3
To replace the ribbon cartridge, follow the steps below.
wWarning:
You will need to move the print head by hand to replace the ribbon cartridge. If you have just
used the printer, the print head may be hot; let it cool for a few minutes before touching it.

9
Make sure the print head is not hot; if
it is, let it cool for a few minutes before
touching it. Then slide the print head to
the ribbon installation position (the
indented portion of the paper tension
unit) by hand.
Grasp the used ribbon cartridge and
pull it up and out of the printer.
4 5
When you use the pull tractor, you can
replace the ribbon cartridge even though
the print head is not in the ribbon
installation position.
Replacing the Ribbon Cartridge