make sure that the power cord is plugged in securely on both ends and that the printer is on. confirm power is applied by pressing the c16's cancel (on/off) button or the c11/m11's power button . also, be sure the printer is ready. both the leds should be illuminated when the printer is ready to print.
make certain that the printer cable is securely connected. an error message in the software application telling you that the printer is not responding is often due to a missing or defective interface cable.
my prints have a thin line or scratch traveling the entire card length
there may be dust on the printhead. clean the printhead.
there may be dust on the cleaning roller or feed rollers. clean these rollers.
your blank cards may have scratches on them. check your card stock and replace if necessary.
there may be a scratch or a burned out element in the printhead. contact your authorized reseller for assistance.
my prints have "spots" (small white or colored voids) and/or dust on them.
most likely due to dust inside the printer. clean the inside of the printer.
may also be caused by dust or embedded contaminants on the card. be sure the cards you are using are clean and stored in a dust free environment. some cards have embedded contaminants in their surface and should not be used.
may also be caused by a filthy cleaning roller or feed rollers. clean these rollers.
my printed cards look too dark or too light.
the print intensity may not be set properly for your image. adjust the dye-sub intensity setting within the image color tab of the printer driver by moving the slider 5-10% to the left to lighten or to the right to darken.
may also be caused by an improper internal printer setting. check the image darkness value, and verify it matches the factory default value given on the settings label on the printer's rear or bottom panel.
my printed cards have off-colored lines or steaks in them.
the print intensity may be set too high for your image, causing the print ribbon to stretch and wrinkle. reduce the dye-sub intensity setting within the image color tab of the printer driver by moving the slider 5-10% to the left.
may also be caused by an improper internal printer setting. check the image darkness value, and verify it matches the factory default value given on the settings label on the printer's rear or bottom panel.
my black resin text and bar codes appear smeared or too thick.
the resin print intensity may be set too high for your image. reduce the resin heat setting within the image color tab of the printer driver by moving the slider 5-10% to the left (for m11, this slider can be found in the device options tab).
my black resin text and bar codes appear faded or too light.
the resin print intensity may not be set high enough. increase the resin heat setting within the image color tab of the printer driver by moving the slider 5-10% to the right (for m11, this slider can be found in the device options tab).
the printing gets cut off or is not centered on the card, and a white border appears.
use the image position option within the calibrate tab of the printer driver to precisely center the image.
in the case of white leading or trailing edge border, as shown in the top sample, this may also be caused by an improper internal printer setting. check the image placement and print length values, and verify these match the factory default values given on the settings label on the printer's rear or bottom panel.
the photos on my id cards look very pixelated or grainy.
for best photo-realistic output, you should always use high resolution 24-bit color images. if scanning an image, always scan the image at a 24-bit color setting, at the same size at which you will be printing, and at 300 dpi. if you stretch or "blow up" a small or low resolution image, you will always get a pixelated or grainy effect when printing.
if capturing images with a digital camera or video camera, be sure the camera has a high enough resolution for photos to be printed at about the same size at which they were captured.
two or more cards feed at the same time, or the cards won't feed at all.
be sure the cards are inserted all the way into the card input hopper and that you haven't inserted more than 100 standard cr-80 sized cards into a c16 or more than 45 cards into a c11/m11.
be sure the cards you are using are not sticking together. manually separate the cards if you suspect they are sticking to one another. if separating cards, remember not to touch the surface of the card where you intend to print, since dirt or oil from your hands will impair print quality.
are you attempting to feed thicker or thinner cards? remember, the printer only accepts standard cr-80 sized cards with a thickness of 20-30 mil (.020" - .030" / .5mm - .76mm).
if printing with 20 mil cr-79 adhesive backed cards, you may need to adjust the card separator.
the card feed rollers are extremely dirty. clean these rollers.
the printer seems to skip ribbon panels, print ribbon panels out the usual ymck order (resulting in strangely colored output), or simply wind the ribbon until the c16's ready led flashes or the c11/m11's media led flashes.
check that the proper ribbon type is installed according to the ribbon type option selected in the printer driver.
calibrate the ribbon sensor.
the card or ribbon is jammed.
if your dye-sublimation ribbon is sticking to the card, check to see that you are using blank cards with a polished pvc finish. a card with a dull or sticky finish can cause the ribbon to stick to its surface causing the ribbon to jam or even break.
if you are using an acceptable video imaging card stock and the ribbon is still consistently being jammed down into the drive roller, you may need to reposition the headlift assembly of the printhead. to do this, close the printer's top cover. with the printer powered on, push down both control panel buttons at the same time. you should then hear the headlift assembly rotate and realign itself.
review the proper procedures for clearing ribbon jams and card jams.
the print ribbon has torn or broken.
if your dye-sublimation ribbon is sticking to the card, check to see that you are using blank cards with a polished pvc finish. a card with a dull or sticky finish can cause the ribbon to stick to its surface causing the ribbon to jam or even break. review the proper procedures for clearing ribbon jams and card jams.
if you are using an acceptable video imaging card stock and the ribbon is still consistently being jammed down into the drive roller, you may need to reposition the headlift assembly of the printhead. to do this, simply open the printer's top cover. with the printer powered on, push down both control panel buttons at the same time. you should then hear the headlift assembly rotate and realign itself.
the print intensity may be set too high for your image, causing the print ribbon to stretch and tear. reduce the dye-sub intensity setting within the image color tab of the printer driver by moving the slider 5-10% to the left.
may also be caused by an improper internal printer setting. check the image darkness value and the image placement value, and verify these match the factory default values given on the settings label on the printer's rear or bottom panel. sometimes, if the image darkness is set too dark or if the image placement is set too close to the card's leading edge, this can result in ribbon breakage.
my cr-79 cards look blurry or have misregisterd colors.
if you have a printer with a magnetic encoder built-in, did you adjust the internal card guide to the cr-79 position? click here for details on making this adjustment.