Evolis The Tattoo Rewrite User manual

User Guide
The Monochome Rewritable
Card Printer
The Tattoo Rewrite User Guide – Reference KU07E, Rev. A1
June 2006 © Evolis Card Printer
1

Copyright
Evolis Card Printer © June 2006. All rights reserved.
Copyright Notice
Users must comply with any copyright law applicable in their country. This manual must not be photocopied, translated,
reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part for any reason and means that might be, albeit electronic or mechanical,
without the express and written permission of Evolis Card Printer.
All information contained herein may be subject to modification without prior notice.
Evolis Card Printer accepts no liability for any errors herein, nor for any damage or accident caused by the disclosure or use
of this manual.
Trademarks
Evolis Tattoo and Tattoo Rewrite are registered trademarks of Evolis Card Printer. Microsoft is a registered trademark of
Microsoft. Corp in North America. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp
Icons
Different icons draw attention to key information throughout this manual, as depicted below:
Note
Indicates information that emphasizes or supplements important data from the main text.
Important
Advises you on key information needed to perform a task, or stresses specific information in the text.
Caution
Advises you that failure to comply with a specific rule could result in body injuries or hardware damages.
Warranty
Refer to the enclosed Warranty booklet for terms and conditions
Return Materials Authorization (RMA)
Please contact your Evolis Reseller for warranty claims. Packaging, delivery costs and insurance fees are born by the buyer
when the printer is shipped from the site of operation to the Evolis Reseller. The Evolis Reseller will bear the shipping and
insurance costs for sending back the printer from the repair location to the client site.
All Products must be shipped back to Evolis with a RMA ID number, which should be obtained beforehand by contacting
your Evolis Reseller or any authorized Evolis Repair Center (ERC)
Please note that when returning a product, The Evolis Reseller or authorized ERC might ask you for a proof of purchase.
You are liable of any damage incurred by improper packaging when returning your equipment. In such a case, Evolis Card
Printer might refuse to accept these products.
Further information about the RMA policy and the Evolis warranty terms is available in the Warranty booklet enclosed with
your Evolis printer.
Product disposal
About Product disposal • Do not dispose of this product through traditional non-sorted waste
processing. This product is recyclable and should be recycled in compliance with local laws and
regulations. Visit our website www.evolis.com for further details or send us an email at
[email protected].
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Contents
Introduction .................................................................. 4
Chapter I • Starting up ................................................ 5
Choosing a location .................................................... 5
Unpacking the printer .................................................... 5
Overview of the printer and features .................................. 6
Installing the interface cable and power supply ...................... 7
Stand by mode ............................................................ 8
Managing Cards ............................................................................ 9
Other installation steps..................................................................10
Chapter II • Printing ................................................. 11
Installing the printer’s driver............................................ 11
For Windows users................................................. 12
For Windows users with USB interface ......................... 12
Configuring printer’s settings ........................................................13
Printing ........................................................................................16
Chapter III • Maintenance ......................................... 19
Cleaning the inside part of the printer .............................. 19
Cleaning the print head ................................................ 22
Maintenance of the cleaning roller .................................. 23
Chapter IV • Support............................................... 24
Understanding the Printer Control Panel ............................ 24
Printing and understanding a test card............................... 27
Printing quality issues .................................................. 28
Dealing with card jamming ........................................... 30
Replacing a print head.................................................. 30
Customer Service ........................................................ 33
Chapitre V • Technical datasheet .............................. 34
Chapitre VI • Supplies .............................................. 35
Appendix A • Magnetic encoding ............................ 36
3

Introduction
Congratulations for choosing a Tattoo Rewrite printer!
The Tattoo Rewrite printer is the ultimate solution for printing your multi-purpose rewritable plastic cards:
visitor badges, business cards, loyalty cards, temporary cards, membership cards and many more.
This product comes with a wide range of custom-designed support services to help you efficiently and
professionally. They are available from Evolis and its partners.
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5
Chap.1
Starting up
Choosing a location
Place the Tattoo Rewrite printer on a dust-free flat surface that can bear the combined weight of the
printer and accessories (maxi. load of cards). Make sure the printer can be reached from all directions
during setup and operation.
Unpacking the printer
Unpack the printer through the following steps:
1. Remove the upper protection foam.
2. Lift the printer out of its box, remove the protection wrap and set it in the chosen location.
3Remove any adhesive material from the printer body.
Please keep all packing materials in the event the printer is moved or returned.
The Tattoo Rewrite printer comes with the following components:
■Power supply and a power cable
■USB and Centronics parallel cables
■Tattoo Rewrite Instructions leaflet
■User Guide (this guide)
■Tattoo CD (Drivers & Documentation)
■Cleaning kit
■Warranty booklet
■Certificate of compliance with the EC and FCC safety standards
Please contact your Evolis reseller if any of these components is missing from your package.

6
Overview of the printer and features
The following drawings display all components on your printer for you to be acquainted with them.
We will often refer to them in this guide.
Thermal print head Allows card printing in 300 dpi.
Control Panel Provides details on the printer operation.
Push button Shows if the printer is powered ON or OFF.
Cleaning roller Removes dust before cards are printed.
Cover Lever Enables the printer cover to be opened and closed.
Cover button Enables the printer cover to be opened and closed.
Card feeder Hosts all cards to be printed.
Power outlet Connects the printer and the power supply.
Centronics port (STD) Sends and receives data to and from the computer.
USB port (STD) Sends and receives data to and from the computer.
DB-9 connector (option) Sends and receives data to and from the computer,
or connects to a keyboard or to a smart card coupler.
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Control Panel of the printer
The printer has a control panel on its front side, which features four LEDs with self-explanatory sym-
bols describing the printer’s operating status.
These LEDs are as follow:
Refer to chapter 4 of this manual for further information on how to interpret messages from
the control panel.
Installing the interface cable and power
supply
For using your Tattoo Rewrite printer via the USB port, install the Windows driver first, then
connect to this port.
1. Connect the supplied interface cable as shown below
2. Connect the other end of the cable to the appropriate port on your computer
3. Plug the power cable to the power supply and then connect it to the printer
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Card
delay
Card is
missing
Push
Button
Magnetic enco-
ding error
Cleaning
alert
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4. Connect the cable power plug to a grounded power socket
5. The printer is powered on. The control panel LED turns on while the print head rises and lowers to indi-
cate that the printer is operating as expected from a mechanical standpoint. A dull LED signals that the
installation has most probably failed or that the printer is not operating as expected. Double-check the
setup.
You must pull the plug off from the socket to totally power off this printer, which means
that the plug must always be reachable.
This product must be plugged to a safe and grounded electrical outlet.
Stand by mode
The Tattoo Rewrite can be set to a stand-by mode on demand by simply pressing
the push button for three seconds. The push button green LED goes off.
Press the push button for a second to switch the prin-
ter on. The push button green LED comes on.
The printer automatically turns to stand-by when idle for ten minutes.
8

max.max.max.
Managing Cards
Operating guidelines
Rewritable cards do not require ribbons. The card itself contains a thermosensitive material that becomes
visible when heated and vanishes when submitted to a lower temperature. This printing process can be
reversed and the same card can thus be printed and erased up to 500 times.
The thermal printing process requires the card to cool off before it is reprinted. Otherwise, the previous print
might be partially erased. Cooling down is just a matter of a few seconds. Similarly, the expected contrast
shows up within seconds after the card is printed.
Warped cards can result in a slightly reduced printing area. This is more likely to happen with thick cards.
In this case, reprinting the card several times will generally solve the issue. However heavily bent cards might
prove impossible to print.
New cards should be kept in a safe and clean environment, for instance in the standard card feeder. Dusty
of dirty cards might cause uneven or incomplete printing, and the print head to wear out prematurely. It is
recommended to clean the printer on a regular basis. Refer to the « Maintenance » chapter for further
information.
The Tattoo Rewrite printer offers three ways for loading cards. These different modes can be selected
from the “Main” Tab of the printing driver interface:
■Feeder: cards are automatically ejected from the feeder
■Manual Feed: cards are manually inserted, one at a time in the printer’s front feeding mouth
■Automatic selection: cards are either automatically sourced from the feeder or manually loaded from
the tray, whichever cards are loaded first
Loading the card feeder
9
1. Remove the feeder as shown.
2. Push down the spring and load up to 100
cards with a thickness of 0,76mm (30mil).
3. Place the feeder back in its slot. Then press the
upper part on the feeder until it clicks.
Manufacturing tolerances might bring card thickness to be slightly above 0,76mm
(30mil), which means the feeder will not fully fit in its slot. In such case, withdraw a few
cards and set the feeder back.

Loading manually a card from the feeding mouth
The Tattoo Rewrite printer comes with a manual feeding mouth for inserting one card at a time.
Selecting the appropriate thickness of the card
The Tattoo Rewrite printer benefits from an automated system that gauges card thickness whithin a
rage from 0,25mm to 0,76mm (10 to 30mil).
Tips – How to select appropriate cards:
■Do not use other cards than those indicated in the Technical Data Sheet of this manual
■Do not use damaged, folded or embossed cards
■Make sure you store your blank cards in a clean and dust-proof area
■Avoid inserting foul or dusty cards in the printer
Setup - Next steps
You are now done with the hardware setup of your Tattoo Rewrite printer. Yet, carry on with reading
this guide, as two extra steps will to make your Tattoo Rewrite printer fully operational:
■Installing the printer’s driver
■Maintenance of the printer
10
1. Insert a card manually as shown in the feeding
mouth. The card will be automatically ejected
when printed.

11
Chap. 2
Printing
Installing the printing driver
You must install the driver for your Tattoo Rewrite printer before using it.
Reminder: The driver and the Tattoo Rewrite printer are compatible with Windows NT 4.0, 2000 and XP.
The CD includes a wizard that automatically installs the driver that is most relevant to your
personal settings.
•InserttheDRIVERS&DOCUMENTATIONCD-RominyourCDdrive
• Wait a few seconds until the CD homepage lets you select your language
•Clickoftheflagthatdepictsyourlanguage
•Anewmenupopsupandinvitesyoutoinstalltheprinterdriver.Followtheinstructionsbelowtoconfi-
gure your Evolis printer
You use Windows, your printer is connected to the mains, the Parallel cable or USB is not connected.
■Click on Driver Installation
■A setup screen appears suggesting that you save any previous installations
All boxes are checked by default and the setup shield will delete previous settings.
■Click on Install to launch the process
■When told to do so, choose the connection method to your Evolis printer: USB or Parallel
The installation program asks you to connect the printer.
Please stick to the following guidelines:
■Connect the USB or Parallel cable between the PC and the printer
■The system automatically detects your peripheral and starts the Add Printer wizard after a few
seconds
■Select the Tattoo Rewrite option in the dialog box that appears on your screen
■Click Next, then Finish
■Click OK in the window
■The setup is complete, click on End
■Click on Quit to close the setup program
Your Evolis printer is now ready to customize your cards.
If an error occurs during the installation, please refer to the Windows Users - Manual Installation
section.
Installing a driver with Windows NT, 2000 and XP might require appropriate authorization from
your systems administrator. If required, contact your admin to get full information on installation
methods and related access rights.

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Windows Users – Manual Installation
■Close any opened application before installing the driver
■Do not connect the USB or Parallel cable before the installation is completed
■Insert the DRIVERS & DOCUMENTATION CR-Rom in your CD drive
■In the Windows menu bar, choose Start, Settings and then Printers (or Start, Control panel,
Printers and faxes)
■Double-click on Add printers
■Select Local Printer
■Choose the LPTx port for printers (even if you connect the printer via USB)
■Click on Have Disk when the wizard displays a list of manufacturers and printers.
■Select the CD-Rom drive ID and click on Browse
■Open the Drivers folder in the CD-Rom
■Select the folder that is relevant to your Windows OS :
Windows 2000 and Windows Xp: 2000XP
Windows NT4: NT4.0
■Select Youn.inf (or Younbw.inf) then click on Open, then OK
■The Evolis printer appears on a grey background. Click on Next
■Choose to replace the existing driver, and then click on Next
■State whether you wish to use the Evolis printer as your default printer
■Click on Next
■Do not share and then click on Next
■Do not print out a test page and click on Next
■Click on Finish to install the driver.
To operate the printer on the Parallel port, link it to the PC. Setup is completed.
For an USB link, please follow these steps:
■Connect your USB cable between the printer and the PC
■Windows detects a new printer and launches the Add Printer wizard
■Click on Next
■The system looks for the Youngi.dll (Youbwgi.dll) file
■Open the Drivers folder in the CD-Rom.
■Select the folder that is relevant to your Windows OS :
Windows 2000 and Windows Xp : 2000XP
Windows NT4: NT4.0
■Select the Youn.inf (or Younbwgi.inf) then click on Open , then OK
■Click on Finish
A new Evolis driver (Copy1) is created for the USB printer. Setup is completed.

13
Configuring printer’s settings
Before you start using your Tattoo Rewrite printer, make sure to check/update all default settings of the
driver. Any installed option needs to be stated within the driver.
You printer comes with multiples features that can be configured via the printing manager interface.
You can access these printing options:
■From the Windows start menu in, choose Settings then Printers (or Control panel then
Printers and faxes)
•SelectEvolis Tattoo Rewrite
•InFile (windows menu), select Default Document
■From your Windows software:
•IntheFile menu of your application, select Print or Print Setup
Procedures can differ according to the software and Operating System that you use.
Make sure that the printer is selected as default printer before using it.
Setting the Tattoo Rewrite printer as default printer
Set your Tattoo Rewrite printer as default printer by following these steps:
■Click Start, Settings, then Printers (or Start, Control Panel then Printers and faxes)
■Click of the Evolis Tattoo Rewrite printer, then open the File menu
■Choose Set As Default Printer, then close the window
Properties of your Tattoo Rewrite printer
Several dialog boxes will help you:
■Set printing attributes such as layout and printing quality
■Manage the printing mode and the use of suitable cards
■Select the printing port
■Start the maintenance, cleaning and monitoring features of the printer
Using the online help
A help file supports you when defining each setting of the printing manager, depending on the prin-
ting modes and criteria. Please refer to this help to better understand these settings and before any
attempt to alter them.

« Main » dialog box.
This dialog box enables you to set the following features:
■Card Type: the Evolis part number of the rewritable card
■Treatment: printing effects (trace mode: black and white,
grey effect: grey scale)
■Source tray: helps you choose how you insert cards (via
the feeder, from the printer’s front feeding mouth in manual
or automatic mode)
■Orientation: for printing the card in landscape or portrait
mode
■Copies : number of required copies
« Settings » dialog box.
This dialog box enables you to set the following
features:
Contrast: stronger or lighter according to the print
temperature
Quality: from Draft to Higher depending on the
printing speed
Tem per at ure: stronger or weaker erasing depen-
ding on the temperature
Erasing area: when an area of the card needs to be
preserved. This menu has several options : select the
full card surface, no erasing, ISO smartcards, AFNOR
smartcards, cards with a magnetic strip, selected
areas and to download a picture.
The area to be erased appears in black while the area
to be preserved appears in white. Click on Apply to
confirm your choice.
“Selected area” menu
This menu lets you set an area to be erased (Black) or to be
preserved (White). Choose the number of pixels starting from
the upper left corner of the card.
The area to be erased appears in black while the area to be
preserved appears in white. Click on Apply to confirm your
choice.
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“Tools” dialog box
This dialog box provides first level help
for your Tattoo Rewrite.
If your Tattoo Rewrite printer comes with
a magnetic encoder option, click on the
Encoding Definition button to set your
configuration.
Refer to Appendix A for further informa-
tion on encoding.
We also suggest that you print and save
a Test Card when you first use your prin-
ter. This card displays all information that
is required when you call the customer
service.
The Erase Card button erases the next inserted card. The full area of the card is erased.
The Dialog with the Printer option is
available only if the driver has been
installed through the CD-Rom setup
wizard.
This Dialog box makes it possible to send
command scripts directly to the printer,
to encode/read magnetic strips.
“General” dialog box
This Windows dialog box allows to test print a page and make sure that the printer
and the computer are seamlessly communicating.
“Details” dialog box
This dialog box is a monitoring window for selecting the printing port and the appro-
priate driver. Advanced proficiency is required for altering these settings.
“Color Management” dialog box
This dialog box makes it possible to link printing to a defined color management profile.
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16
Printing
Multiple Windows applications (Word - Access - Excel, for instance) come with a printing feature. The follo-
wing example depicts card layout and configuration issues.
Microsoft® Word
Once the Tattoo Rewrite Printer is defined as a
default printer:
1. Start Word and go to File, then Page Setup
2. The Page Setup dialog box offers to choose
the Paper Size: select Youn Card
3. In the Margins tab, scroll to 0,3 cm
for all margins, then select Landscape
as the Orientation.
4. Close the window by clicking OK.

Your Word window should now look like this:
You are ready to custo-
mize your card by
laying out all design
components:
■Logo and pictures
■ID photo
■Fixed and variable
texts
■Barcode, etc
Example :
Please note that this example
is not meant to teach a user
how to use Microsoft Word.
The only purpose is to
explain the relationship bet-
ween card design and set-
tings of the Tattoo Rewrite
printing manager.
17

Configuring the Tattoo Rewrite printing driver
To ac ces s th e set tin gs f rom th e Word wi ndow:
1. In the menu, click on File, then Print.
2. The dialog box shows that the Evolis Tattoo Rewrite is selected.
3. Click on Properties. The Evolis Tattoo Rewrite Printer dialog box comes up.
The printing settings for this example are the following:
1. « Main » dialog box
■Card Type: according to the type of Evolis card used (See the “Supplies” chapter)
■Treatment: Gray scale
■Orientation: Landscape
■Copies: sets the required number of copies
2. « Settings » dialog box
■(Printing) Contrast: value of 10
■(Printing) Quality: value of 0
■(Erasing) Temperature: value of 10
3. Click OK to close each dialog box.
4. When back to the main window, click OK to start printing.
WARNING !
The printing settings are optimized for Evolis-approved cards. These settings can be adjusted in a given
range. When using other cards, please test print a few cards for validation purposes or contact Evolis
if required.
Help is available for all dialog boxes. See the above “Using the online help” section for
more details
18

Chap. 3
Maintenance
Make sure you do not waive your warranty!
Failure to observe the maintenance guidelines as detailed in this chapter compromises the
warranty of your Tattoo Rewrite printer/print head. Evolis cannot be held liable if the printer
faces unapproved maintenance conditions.
Evolis provides the following cleaning product (item reference A5011 – UltraClean cleaning
kit) that contains:
■5 cleaning cards pre-saturated with isopropyl alcohol 99%
■5 cotton swabs with isopropyl alcohol 99%
■1 dispenser with 40 pre-saturated cleaning clothes
Cleaning the inside part of the
printer
When to clean: every 500 cards processed
How to clean: Use pre-saturated cards
A LED comes on to indicate that the inside of the printer requires clea-
ning (every 500 cards inserted) as explained below:
Printer status after processing 500 cards
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20
A printer that does not get cleaned despite the cleaning LED notice will start blinking when an addi-
tional 100 cards are inserted. The LED starts blinking in the following way:
Printer status after processing 600 cards
A blinking LED indicates that the printer needs immediate cleaning (within the next 5 cards).
Else, the print head warranty is waived.
Cleaning the inside of the printer
Cleaning is rather simple, as it only requires pre-saturated cleaning cards that are custom-designed for
the printer. Your Tattoo Rewrite printer is shipped with a cleaning kit containing samples of these cards.
Cleaning cards that are repeatedly passed through the printer clean the transport rolls, the cleaning
rolls, the print head and the magnetic head (when applicable).
1. Open the cover and withdraw any card lying insi-
de the printer. Close the cover.
2. Remove the feeder as shown