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How to clean the Eltron P300, P400, P500

Cleaning the Printhead

Raise the printhead bracket and remove the ribbon from the printer. Using an alcohol-filled swab, break the stem to release the liquid into the swab itself. Once the swab is saturated with the solution, swipe it across the print head surface to remove contamination deposits. Repeat if necessary. Use the swab only once since using a dirty swab can actually damage the printhead. You should clean the printhead. with the change of every printer ribbon (approximately 200 prints on a full color ribbon), or more often depending on your environment.

Cleaning the Drive Rollers

In addition to keeping your printhead clean, you also must keep the drive rollers of the printer clean. A cleaning card is a two-sided adhesive card that will clean the drive rollers by picking up the dust and dirt that accumulates inside the printer.

  1. Remove all cards from printer and eject any cards in the printer by holding the black button on front.
  2. Peel off one decal on the cleaning card and set it where you normally would to print a card with the sticky side up and the short side first.
  3. Using Windows 95, click on "START," then "SETTINGS," then "PRINTERS."
  4. Select (highlight) the PRIVELEGE printer with the right mouse button, this will bring up a menu, click on "PROPERTIES."
  5. Click the "DETAILS"; tab then "SETUP" then "DIRECT CONTROL."
  6. In the space provided, type ME and then click "EXECUTE." The card should feed through the printer and come out the other side. Insert the card again, and repeat step 6 until there is no more residue accumulating on the card. Apply the decal back to the cleaning card and remove the decal from the opposite side. Now insert the card gently with the sticky side sown. Be careful not to stick the card to the printer. Repeat step 6 and insert the card again until there is no more residue accumulating on the card.
  7. Click Finish and close out of the printer driver. You may need to check your printer folder for any extra print jobs and purge them in order to start printing cards again. You now have clean drive rollers.
Tips

The quality of your printed card depends on three things:

  1. How clean your print head is.
  2. How clean your drive rollers are.
  3. How clean you keep your cards and ribbon.

As you can see, clean is the key word. The cleaner you keep your hardware and cards, the better your print quality will be. Constant maintenance also will prolong the life of your printer. We recommend a dust cover for the printer while it is not in use. This will help keep contaminates from the inside of the printer. We also recommend an anti-static pad to place under your printer. This will help keep static electricity away from the sensitive printhead and the circuit boards in the printer. Card stock and printer ribbons should be kept in plastic bags or air-tight containers. Cards should be handled only by the edges until they have been printed on. Also, a wrinkled ribbon will not print cleanly.