Polaroid P3000 User manual

P3000 Printer Guide
566372-001 Rev A
January 2006

Information resources for the P3000 ID Card Printer
Installation To install one printer to a PC using a USB cable, see the
Installation Map, shipped at the top of the printer carton.
For detailed installation information or for special
situations (such as network installation), see e-Guide/
InfoCent.chm on the driver CD-ROM.
Message Help If you see a message, click Help on the message box.
Help topics are short and to the point.
Printer Guide This Printer Guide contains operating information for the
printer and driver.
Info Central For in-depth information about using the printer, install
Info Central on a Windows PC, then click the icon on the
desktop. (Insert the PCID Driver CD-ROM and choose
User Information to install Info Central.)
FAQs
The Support and Service area at www.polaroid-id.com provides a FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
area where you can search for information about a problem you experience.
Dealer
For help with questions not addressed by other P3000 ID Card Printer information, contact the Reseller
you purchased your product from for technical support. If your reseller is not available or cannot assist
you, please contact Polaroid Commercial ID Systems at 1-866-484-0611. Please make sure you have
the serial number of the printer available at the time of your call.
Customer
Care
Contact Polaroid Commercial ID Systems at 1-866-484-0611. Please make sure your have the serial
number of the printer available at the time of your call.

539251-401 Rev A Page iii
Contents
About the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Loading cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Loading print ribbon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Check the PC connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Power on the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Status light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Opening Printing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Open the Printer Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Cleaning the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Printer supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Getting the most out of your printer . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Site requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Legal Notices (FCC) . . . . . . . . . . . Inside back cover

Page 1
About the printer
The outside of the printer
Printer Cover.
Latch: Lift the latch to open the printer cover.
Input hopper: Lift the cover to load blank cards.
Output hopper: Remove completed cards.
Ready button: Push to pause or unpause the printer.
The status light helps you understand printer operation.
See ”Status light” on page11 for details.

Page 2
Ports are located on the left side of the printer.
Manual Advance Knob: Use to release a card in
the printer or to turn rollers.
Power Receptacle: Plug in the power supply to
power on the printer.
Cable Guides: Hold the data cable securely.
Optional Smart Card USB Port: See “Features
and options” on page 4.
Optional Smart Card Serial Port: See “Features
and options” on page 4.
USB Data Port: Connect the data cable to the
printer. All printers use this port.

Page 3
The inside of the printer
Cover Arm: Holds the cover and printhead cartridge in place.
Printhead Cartridge: Applies the image to the card.
Print Ribbon Cartridge (shown with color print ribbon).
Printer Label: Includes the serial number and model information
(located on the left side of the printer and not visible in this drawing).
Cleaning roller (not visible in this drawing): Removes dust and debris
from cards.
Tip: Lift the latch to open the printer and see inside.
1
1

Page 4
Features and options
Features and options are identified on the printer label.
• Printers with “U” printing can print one color (monochrome). Printers
with “C” printing can print in full color or monochrome (with specific
ribbons).
• All P3000 ID Card printers use a USB connection.
• A magnetic stripe module can be a three-track (IAT) module. The
optional magnetic stripe module is visible inside the printer.
• An optional smart card module can be one of the following:
— Combination smart card reader (SC347 on the label): SCM
331 DI (dual interface) reader. Visible inside the printer.
Includes a USB port.
— Contact station (SC400 on the label). Visible inside the
printer. Includes a serial port.

Page 5
Loading cards
1Open the input hopper cover.
2Remove cards from the original package.
Tips: Handling cards
•Cards can stick together: Slide or fan cards to
separate the edges.
•Do not touch the surface of cards before printing them.
(Oils on hands will reduce printing quality.)
•Handle cards by the edges or wear gloves.
•Orient all cards the same way.

Page 6
3Place the cards in the input hopper.
The diagram shows the typical locations for the
magnetic stripe and smart card chip.
4Push the input hopper cover closed until it
latches.
See Info Central for current information about cards to use in the printer.

Page 7
Loading print ribbon
1Open the printer cover.
2Remove the ribbon cartridge.
3Remove both used ribbon spools from the
cartridge (if present).
Tips: Handling print ribbon
•Keep unused ribbon in the original package.
•Don’t place ribbon on a dusty or dirty surface–
dirt could damage the printhead.
4Run a cleaning card and replace the cleaning
sleeve at the same time that you load a new print
ribbon. See ”Cleaning the printer” on page 17 for
the steps to follow.
— Load the new roll of print ribbon on the
cartridge. Put the full spool of ribbon on the
supply spindle of the ribbon cartridge. Push
until the spool clicks onto the spindle.
— Put the empty take-up spool on the spindle
with the solid black gear. Push until the spool
clicks onto the spindle.
1
1

Page 8
5Replace the loaded ribbon cartridge in the printer.
— Make sure both spindles rest in the black
supports on the left side of the printer.
— Make sure the ribbon cartridge handle rests in
the supports on the right side of the printer.
— Make sure to install the full, new spool toward
the input hopper of the printer.
6Close the printer cover. Press down firmly to latch it.

Page 9
Check the PC connection
The printer and PC are connected when the printer is set
up. Before beginning card processing, make sure the
connection is complete.
The USB data cable should be connected to a USB port
on the PC and to the USB data port on the printer.
The printer can be connected in these other ways:
•Through a direct network connection, where the
printer is connected to a network (using a print server,
such as an HP
®
Jetdirect
®
175x) and the PC is
connected to the same network.
•As a shared printer, where the printer is connected to
another PC on the network and the user’s PC is
connected to the network.
See Info Central for more information about connecting
the printer.

Page 10
Power on the printer
Plug in the printer to power it on.
The printer does not have a power switch.
1Make sure the power supply cord connects to the
printer power receptacle (1).
2Connect the power cord to the power supply (2).
3Connect the power cord to the power outlet (3).
4The printer powers on and initializes.
Tips for printer power
•Wait while the printer initializes.
•The printer Status Light displays steady green
when the printer is ready to print cards. See
”Status light” on page 11 for details.
•Follow the guidelines for your organization about
when to power the printer on and off.

Page 11
Status light
The front of the printer has a light that provides information about the current state of the printer.
At startup, the status light displays steady amber for several seconds, a red-amber-green sequence, and then
blinking green for several seconds. When the printer is ready to print, the status light is steady green.
Status Light Description Meaning
Red-Amber-Green The printer is starting. The light displays colors while
the printer initializes.
Steady Green The printer is ready and waiting to print cards.
Blinking Green The printer is busy, such as when printing cards or
initializing.
Steady Amber The printer is paused (without an error) or is initializing.

Page 12
Blinking Amber The printer has an error. Check the following:
• See the PC for a message.
• If you used the Power-on/Ready sequence to
print a test card, check the printer for problems.
• If you changed the printer name, power the PC
off and on.
Steady Red The printer has a condition that requires service or the
printer did not power-on correctly. To attempt to correct
the condition, power the printer off and on before
calling for service.
Off The printer power is off.
Status Light Description Meaning

Page 13
Opening Printing Preferences
Begin with the printer connected to the PC and powered on
so values are saved correctly.
1Choose Start from the Windows task bar.
2Choose Settings and then Printers (and Faxes). The
Printers (and Faxes) window opens.
3Click once on the PCID Driver printer icon to select it.
— The driver must be installed for the printer icon to be
present.
— PCID Driver is the default name of the printer.
— From the menu bar, choose File and then choose
Printing Preferences, and then click the Advanced
button.
It might take a few moments for the dialog box to
appear.
4The dialog box opens.
Printing Preferences dialog box
for Windows XP

Page 14
5View settings or change settings.
— Make sure that driver settings match printer
features and supplies used.
— The Print Ribbon Type setting is read from
the printer and cannot be changed (for most
connection types).
— If you change the card design, review and
update all settings for the new card design.
— Use the default settings of “Spool printing so
program finishes printing faster.” and
“Enable bi-directional support.”
— To open the Printer Toolbox, choose “Open
Printer Toolbox.”
6Choose OK to save and close or choose Cancel
to close without saving changes.
See Info Central for detailed setup information,
including information about settings for card
features. Printing Preferences dialog box
for Windows XP.

Page 15
Open the Printer Toolbox
The Printer Toolbox icon is located in the lower right corner
of the Windows desktop. The icon shows the status of
communication between the printer and PC. See Info
Central for details about the icon.
By default, the Printer Toolbox dialog box is displayed. If it is
not, do one of the following to display it:
— Double-click the icon.
— Open the Printing Preferences dialog box, and use
the Printer Toolbox choices.
Use the Printer Toolbox to:
• Run a cleaning card.
• Change color settings.
• Print a sample card or magnetic stripe test card.
• View the status of communication between the printer
and PC.
• Suspend communication when not printing a card.
• Change edge to edge settings.
• Use Advanced Setup to change printing intensity.

Page 16
The Printer Toolbox displays:
• The current state of communication between the driver
and printer.
• Message text, if there are any messages.
• The current port mode, which can be USB, Shared
Mode, or Directly Networked.
• The printer type.
• The driver and printer firmware version numbers.
Communication automatically resumes when you print a
card, or when you open the Properties or Printing
Preferences dialog box.
Buttons on the Printer Toolbox are not available (grayed)
when a card is ready to print or is printing, when there is a
message, or when the printer is powered off. Wait until
printing is done before printing a sample card, running a
cleaning card, or using advanced setup. Some buttons do
not apply to this printer and are always gray.
See Info Central for information about using the Printer
Toolbox.

Page 17
Cleaning the printer
Run a cleaning card and change the cleaning sleeve when changing
the print ribbon. Make sure that all cards sent to the printer have
completed printing before cleaning.
1Open the printer cover and remove the ribbon cartridge.
2Remove the cleaning roller.
3Open the input hopper cover.
4Remove unprinted cards from the input hopper .
5Open the Printer Toolbox (if needed, see ”Open the Printer
Toolbox” on page 15).
6Click the Clean Printer button. A prompt to insert the cleaning
card appears.
7Open the cleaning card package and remove the cleaning card.
8Insert the cleaning card into the input hopper, just past the roller.
9Click OK on the message box. The printer moves the card
through the printer several times and ejects the card. Wait a few
minutes to allow the rollers to dry.
Clean
Printer
Button