Print Job Control is the first module displayed when the printer software is loaded. From this module you can manage all aspects of working with print jobs and also control many features of the printer. The table "Job Control Panels" documents the numbered call-outs and the rest of this section explains each of these areas in more detail.
The Print Job Control display is divided into functional and status areas. The functional areas supports all operator input necessary to operate, maintain and service the printer. The status areas are used to report image and printer status.
Print Job Control|
Component |
Function |
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1) Job and Printer Status |
Displays the status and progress of print jobs. |
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2) Printer Messages Panel |
Displays the last four lines of the log - click in this area to see more of the log. |
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3) Pause/Resume and the Ink System Status |
To the right is the print job Pause/Resume button and the Ink System Status icon - click to view an ink status report. |
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4) Command Toolbar left |
Displays icons for actions related to the print jobs and control of the printer. |
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5) Command Toolbar right |
Displays icons for ink temperature, lamp control, start print jobs, and print a nozzle check. |
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6) Active Jobs List |
Displays a list of all Active print jobs. |
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7) Job Placement Preview |
Displays the selected print job with a preview that shows the placement of that job on the printer. |
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8) Inactive Jobs |
Displays a list of all Inactive print jobs. |
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9) Job Information and Parameters panel. |
This panel shows the parameters of the currently selected print job and also allows changes to the parameters associated with that job. |
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10) Interface Tabs |
Use these tabs to select the different modules of the printer user interface. |
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11) Software Version Number and Image Upload Progress |
Displays the current installed version of the printer software. The image upload progress panel indicates the name of a print job that is currently uploading to the printer. This panel is not always visible and appears only when an image is loading to the printer. It is located below the software version number when it is active. |
1) Job and Printer Status Panel
The job status panel is in the top left corner of the display screen. It shows information about the current state of the printer or job activities.
Printer Status
Job name currently printing
Total copies, number of printed copies and copy progress
Overprint progress and number of overprints if more than zero
All incoming jobs go directly into the job list or job queue.
Selecting a job in the list highlights the job and updates the job information area.
The job information area contains offsets, print quality mode information, number of copies and overprints, and the name of the ProductionHouse profile used and the image to be printed is also displayed.
Jobs can be moved up or down in the list and can either be printed, held or canceled.
2) Printer Messages (or Log) Panel
The printer status panel is in the top right corner of the display. It shows the last four lines of the printer log that contains printer errors, warnings, and information messages. To see more of the log, click on the panel to bring up a new window that allows you to scroll through the log.
3) Pause and Ink Status
Pause/Resume print button. This button can be used to pause or resume a print job. It is active only while a job is printing.
NOTE
Use of the Pause/Resume button may cause artifacts in a print because of the uneven curing of the ink if the job is paused. Do not use this unless it is essential that the print job is paused.
Ink System Status. Click the icon to open an ink system status dialog that displays ink-related information. This includes, for each color of ink: an expiry date, ink type code, ink bag status, fill status (whether ink is being pumped into the reservoir), and whether the reservoir is full. The dialog also shows the current printhead temperature, the meniscus vacuum level, and the purge pressure.
4 & 5) Command Toolbar
The printer toolbar contains buttons that allow you to interact with the printer (listed in the table below in the order they are displayed on the command toolbar). Note that some of the buttons have a checked and unchecked state with a different appearance of the icon image to reflect their state.
Command Toolbar |
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Print job |
This command can do the following actions depending on context:
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Hold job |
The command can do following actions depending on context:
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Cancel job |
The command can do following actions depending on context:
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Delete job |
Deletes a job from the printer. However, you cannot delete a job that is currently printing. |
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Flatbed icon |
Process flatbed jobs toggle command - Allows printer to process flatbed jobs. This must be selected to enable flatbed printing when the printer is booted or after re-setting the printer due to an error. |
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Flatbed Settings |
A dialog window automatically appears when confirmation is required. If it is closed before you select Confirm, it can be reopened by clicking on this button. Media Parameters Enter or confirm the thickness of the media. The printer will automatically adjust the carriage height to media thickness and also the print gap. Media thickness confirmation is required only for the first copy of a print job, unless it is changed during printing. If the media thickness value is changed while printing, confirmation is requested before printing the next copy. If you use a media underlay click on that box to add its thickness to the overall media thickness. If the underlay has a different thickness than the one shown, then change that value in the Printer section of the Settings module. Lamp Power Control Allows the operator to control the power output of each UV lamp independently. To extend lamp life, use the lowest setting that provides adequate curing for a particular media. Leading and Trailing Edge are relative to the direction of carriage travel. To enable or disable this setting, see the User Interface section of the Settings page "Tie lamp controls together". When enabled, this feature automatically matches the power of the trailing UV lamp, when power of the leading UV lamp changes. It is still possible to adjust the power of the trailing UV lamp individually, when this setting is not enabled. |
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Roll enable |
Click on the Roll icon to enable or disable the Roll Media Option print queue (this allows you check media parameters before the job actually prints). Roll media print jobs will not print unless this icon is selected. NOTE
Roll media print jobs do not require explicit user actions to start the print job once Roll module is initialized (see Roll Media Manager) If this icon is selected, and the job status is not on Hold, roll media print jobs will start automatically when the printer receives the job. |
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Roll Media Manager |
The Roll Media Manager allows the operator to load and unload media and to initialize the Roll module so that the tension on the roll media is set and the job is ready to print. |
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Ink Temperature Control |
This button controls the ink heater and also displays the ink temperature. The state of the button reflects the status of the ink heater. The heater times out after two hours of inactivity (time can be changed up to four hours by a service technician). If the ink heater is turned off when the timeout period has expired, the button changes its status to unchecked. The print heads must be at operating temperature (47°C - 116°F) before a job will start printing. NOTE
If this button is flashing, it indicates an error. Click on the Ink Status button to check the ink system. |
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UV Curing Lamp Control Button |
This button controls the UV curing lamps. The state of the button reflects the state of the lamps. The UV lamps will timeout after 15 minutes of inactivity (time can be changed by a service technician). If lamps are extinguished when the timeout expired, then the button changes its status to unchecked. If lamps are off before the print starts, then lamps are turned on automatically and the button would reflect the state accordingly. |
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Table vacuum button |
This button controls the table vacuum and duplicates the function of the table vacuum foot switch. The button reflects the actual state of the table vacuum. There is an automatic timeout that will turn the table vacuum off. The actual time is set in the Settings module under Printer. NOTE
Once turned off, vacuum cannot be turned on again for approximately 5 seconds. |
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Start Button |
This icon can be used to start a flatbed print job (same function as the physical button on the table). |
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Nozzle check |
This button populates the active job list with a job that prints a nozzle check pattern. The nozzle check print is used to identify nozzle dropouts that can cause banding and other print quality problems. NOTE
For information on how to use the nozzle check to troubleshoot nozzle dropouts, see the Printhead Maintenance section in the Maintenance chapter. |
6) Active Print Job List
The active job list consists of a table, job count summary on top and job order control buttons on the left. A job count summary displays total number of active jobs and number of jobs put on hold. Job order control buttons can be used to change order of jobs queued for printing. The active job list has the following features:
All incoming jobs issued from the ONYX ProductionHouse workflow go directly into the active job list.
After a job is printed it automatically moves from the active to the inactive job list.
The operator can drag and drop jobs to move them between the active and inactive job lists (except for a job that is being prepared to print).
All the jobs are stored locally on the printer hard drive.
Selecting a job highlights the job and updates the job information area.
Jobs can be moved up/down in the active list using the button on the left. Jobs can either be printed, held, canceled or deleted. Jobs canceled from the active list are moved to the inactive list.
Deleted jobs are removed from the hard drive and are no longer accessible (except for Special Prints, which cannot be deleted).
The current job being printed can be paused or canceled. A canceled job will move from the active to the inactive print job list.
A job count summary displays the total number of active and inactive jobs and the number of active jobs on hold.
7) Job Placement Preview
The table placement preview shows the print location and a proportional representation of the image in relation to the table. The zoom button in the bottom right corner activates a popup preview window. If a preview image is not available, an approximately sized white box is used as a placeholder, and the zoom button is not displayed.
The preview image can be positioned by dragging it around the window (this will automatically update the offsets fields).
When an image is out of bounds in the actual table area, that area in the table preview is marked in red.
When an image is out of bounds in the bleed region, that area of the table preview is marked in yellow.
Roll media print jobs will display only the middle part of the image if it does not fit in the window. They can't be repositioned by dragging in the window.
8) Inactive Print Job List
Inactive job list consists of a table and job count summary on top. A job count summary displays total number of inactive jobs. The list can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate column header. The icons in the first column reflect the job type and status and can be use to sort the list. The size column is sorted by image area. Date column is sorted by a compound value of date and time. The inactive job list has the following features:
The operator can drag and drop jobs to move them between the active and inactive job lists.
Jobs deleted from the inactive list are deleted from the hard drive.
The operator can automatically set the status of a job to Hold when the job is put in this queue. This can be set separately for flatbed and roll media jobs.
9) Job information and parameters panel
The job information area displays only relevant job parameters of the current print job. For example, the Overprints field is not displayed for roll media jobs. Some of the parameters may be modified.
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Offsets |
A job's vertical and horizontal offset parameters can be changed with the mouse wheel when mouse cursor is positioned over the field. Rotate the mouse wheel up or down increments or decrements offset at the rate of one unit per notch. Hold the right mouse button and rotate the wheel increments or decrements at the rate of 10 units per notch. An alternate method to change parameter values is to click on the field and this brings up an onscreen keyboard so you can click on the numbers required. You can also use Preview to drag an image to the desired position. |
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Print Parameters |
Displays information about the print job that is currently selected:
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10) Printer Interface Module Tabs
These tabs allow you to switch between different functional modules of the printer. Click on a tab to display the screen associated with each of the modules available.
11) Software Version Number and Image Upload Progress
Displays the version of the currently installed printer software.
The image upload progress panel indicates the name of a job that is currently uploading to the printer. This panel only displays information while an image is transferred from the ProductionHouse computer.