Panasonic KXP8420 Operating instructions

KX-P8420 Technical notes

Introduction

This document describes mainly the software issues about Panasonic Color Laser Printer KX-P8420 including the

explanation of basic features, software problems, troubleshooting, etc.

Troubleshootings included in this document are also included in Panasonic KX-P8420 home page where the

customers can access to.

The most of the content of this document also applies to the printer part of Panasonic latest CSP model KX-P8100.

Please note that this document can be disclosed exclusively for persons in charge of services on KME color

products at Panasonic sales companies because some information is related to the Service mode or factory setting.

The content itself can be revealed to the customers except for the items mentioned above.

Please refer to this document for your service activities regarding KX-P8420 software problems.

We hope that this document will be helpful and thank you in advance for your reading this document attentively.

Index:

1. KX-P8420 Color Features

2. KX-P8420 Color Calibration methods

3. KX-P8420 Consumables management

4. KX-P8420 Driver Features

5. KX-P8420 Driver and Utilities Setup

6. KX-P8420 Font Management

7. KX-P8420 WebTools

8. KX-P8420 Network General/Setup

9. Application Notes

10. KX-P8420 related miscellaneous topics

1.KX-P8420 Color feature

The KX-P8420 uses a simple and flexible color architecture that produces excellent color results with default settings.

It also allows you to customize your color results using various color controls.

Settings for the following KX-P8420 options can be specified via print dialog box options when you send a job.

This document describes how these options work on the color quality.

Color rendering Dictionaries(CRD)

Before an RGB image can be printed, the file color data must be converted to the printer CMYK color space.

Color rendering dictionaries (CRDs) are used to perform color conversions on RGB color space to CMYK color

space. The following table describes the CRDs for KX-P8420 software and provides guidelines on when to use each

one. Each color rendering style uses a different gamut mapping method, such as Photographic or Presentation,

designed for a particular kind of color usage.

Rendering style Best used for

Photographic

—Preserves tonal relationships in images rather than exact colors. This

rendering style maps out-of-gamut RGB colors to printable colors in a way that retains

differences in lightness. Color accuracy is sacrificed slightly in favor of presenting color

relationships in the way the human eye perceives them. Photographic rendering typically

gives less saturated output when printing out-of-gamut RGB colors than

Presentation Color rendering does.

Continuous tone

photographs,

including scans and

images from stock

photography CDs

Presentation

—Creates bright saturated colors. This rendering style does not try to match

printed colors precisely to displayed colors but instead provides vibrant, dense colors.

Photographic images, however, are treated the similar way as by the Photographic rendering

style.

Artwork and graphs

in presentations and

normal text file.

Transparency

— Improves the correspondence between monitor colors and printed color on

transparency paper.

Artwork and graphs

printed on

transparency paper

NOTE:

-The rendering styles referred to in the table cannot be used when selecting host based color management system

such as ColorSync or ICM.

-Color rendering dictionaries cannot be used with CMYK files.

If you select ColorWise tab in Windows95 KX-P8420 Printer properties. In this tab, you can specify the various

P8420 color features described below. The screen is different depending on the platform you use, but the available

features are basically the same.

ColorWise Business Color

This option is available only with Windows95 driver and selected as the default option in ColorWise tab of the

Driver. Select ColorWise Business Color to automatically apply the Presentation color rendering dictionary to

illustration and text objects in a document, and the Photographic CRD to photographic objects. These CRDs

selection are also applied to the driver on other platforms(Win3.1,NT,Macintosh) as the default selections of CRDs.

ColorWise Business Color is ideal for plain paper documents containing a mixture of graphic and text elements.

Thus in most cases this option suits well for printing the document created using standard applications.

NOTE:

- If ColorWise Business Color is chosen, and Transparency is selected as the media type to print on, the

Transparency CRD will be automatically applied to text, illustrations, and photographic objects in the document.

ColorWise Expert Mode

Although selecting ColorWise Business Color produces excellent color quality in most cases, there may be times

customers want to adjust the color quality to their preferences.

By selecting ColorWise Expert Mode, KX-P8420 Windows95 driver enable them to do so using advanced options

such as CRDs selection, RGB source, Press simulation. The setting of these options can be changed without

selecting ColorWise Expert Mode with the driver on other platforms(Win3.1,NT,Macintosh).

NOTE:

- Applying Photographic CRD to illustration and text objects may cause the unexpected print quality such as the

obscure characters.

- In most cases, applying Presentation CRD to image objects does not make the obvious difference on the color

quality, but the subtle difference.

- Selecting CRD is not effective when you print CMYK files.

RGB Source

PostScript RGB data is converted to CMYK data using the specified CRD. This type of RGB data contains its own

source color space information which is used as a reference point for the conversion. The RGB Source option is

used to provide a source color space definition for RGB data in your document.

RGB source Description

EFIRGB

The source color space defined by this setting is optimal for color conversions that will be sent

to a KX-P8420 print device. It also allows for consistent output across different operating

systems.

sRGB (PC)

The sRGB (PC) setting specifies the source space of a generic Windows computer monitor.

Apple Standard

The Apple Standard setting specifies the source space of all standard Macintosh computer

monitors.

In general, selecting Apple Standard produces the brightest color output followed by EFIRGB, then sRGB.

NOTE:

- Selecting RGB source is not effective when you print CMYK files.

Simulation

If you are using the KX-P8420 to print proofs for an offset press job, select the appropriate CMYK Simulation setting.

The CMYK Simulation setting specifies the offset press standard that you want to simulate. The CMYK Simulation

setting you should specify depends on the press standard for which the CMYK data was separated. For example, for

images that were separated for SWOP-Coated paper, select SWOP-Coated as the CMYK Simulation setting. Select

SWOP-Coated to simulate printing to a standard American offset press; Euroscale to simulate a European offset

press, or DIC to simulate a standard Japanese offset press. For images that were separated using a custom

separation (such as a device-specific separation or a separation produced with an ICC-profile), select None as

the CMYK Simulation setting

None

- no simulation adjustments are made to the CMYK color data.

SWOP-coated

is a standard of specifications for printing separations and proofs on coated paper.

DIC

is a Japanese offset press standard of specifications for printing separations and proofs.

Euroscale

is a European offset press standard of specifications for printing separations and proofs.

NOTE:

- Simulation selection is applicable only to CMYK file.

Brightness

Use the Brightness setting to increase or decrease the overall brightness of a document by a maximum of 15

percent. When you select 115%, the print outcome become darkest while you get the brightest outcome by selecting

85%.

ICM or ColorSync

ICM (Image Color Matching), ColorSync is a feature that allows closer color matching between what you see on the

screen and your printed output. Use ICM or ColorSync if you want to match printed pictures and bitmaps (for

example .bmp and .tif images) to the colors on the monitor. Click the Option button to select an image color matching

method and rendering intent.

ICM is available only on Windows 95/98. Windows95 supports ICM1.0 and Windows98 supports ICM2.0. Both ICM

version support different CMM(color management module) and the print quality may differ slightly. P8420 supports

ICM version1.0, but can be used with ICM2.0. ColorSync version must be 2.01 or later.(MacOS7.6 or later).

If you want to use ColorSync, select “ColorSync Color Matching” or “PostScript Color Matching” as Print Color after

selecting “Color Matching” from the pop-up menu under the Printer pop-up menu in the Print dialog box shown when

you select “Print” from file menu within application. If you do not want to use ColorSync, select “Color/Grayscale”.

To utilize these features, ICM or ColorSync ICC profile have to be installed. Please follow the instruction on the

Operating instruction.

Some advanced applications (ex. Photoshop,CorelPhoto) have proprietary CMS(color management system).

You can use P8420 profiles with those CMS. Please refer to application manuals for more detail.

NOTES:

- It is not recommended to use these features because in most cases, you get the almost same output as you get by

using Colorwise Business color mode.

- When printing from Microsoft Office 97 applications, make sure the KX-P8420 ICM profile is not installed in the

Windows¥System¥Color folder. If the ICM profile is installed, Microsoft Office97 files importing JPEG, BMP, and TIFF

images may not be printed correctly. (Printed bluish) The same problem also happens when you create pdf file using

Adobe distiller after making ps file using P8420 driver.

- ICM profile is copied to the folder named Color under Windows System directory after installation. But you have to

activate it before using this feature. 1)Right click the ICM Profile named “Pakx2010.icm” 2)Click “Install in Place.”

- ICM is not copied if you install the KX-P8420 printer driver by using the Add Printer wizard. Copy the ICM profile

manually from KX-P8420 Driver & Utility CD-ROM (English¥Prntdrvr¥Disk1) to Windows¥System¥Color folder.

Install the ICM profile using the instructions above.

- ICM or ColorSync does not work with some features(CRD selection,GrayScale,RGB source) at the same time.

- ICM effect may differ from application to application.

Grayscale

Select Grayscale to print a document using 256 levels of gray. This option is useful for quickly producing preliminary

copies of color documents, or for producing documents to be faxed.

NOTES:

- Many applications offer black and white or grayscale printing options. Use the application’s grayscale option, if

available, for more efficient processing time.

- To enable Grayscale in Windows 3.1, select None in all three CRD options in the Features tab.

- To enable Grayscale in Windows NT 4.0, select Document Defaults from the File menu in the Printers folder, and

select None in all three CRD options in the Advanced tab.

Three Color Mode

Select Three Color Mode to print a document using Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Gray or Black are printed using

C,M,Y toner. Thus the darker area of the print outcome may have the poorer quality than normal printing mode using

CMYK toner. This option is useful for quickly producing draft copies of color documents.

NOTES:

- This option is only available when the printer’s print resolution is set to 600 x 600 dpi.

- This option uses only the same default combination of CRDs used for ColorWise Business Color—the

Photographic CRD for photographic objects, and the Presentation CRD for illustration and text objects.

Color Mode (CMYK/CMY/Grayscale)

With Windows3.1,NT,Macintosh driver, GrayScale or Three Color Mode can be selected by changing color Mode

option.

Reference file

With PostScript applications, you can create colors using any of the color models supported by the application. All

PostScript applications support the CMYK model; some also support the RGB model and other color models based

on monitor display values. PostScript applications also allow you to select named colors using one or more color

libraries, such as PANTONE. CMYK and PANTONE color reference pages are provided on the KX-P8420 to help

you specify the desired color in the application.

Driver & Utility CD-ROM includes the reference pages in the form of downloadable PostScript files.

CMYK Color Reference

The CMYK Color Reference is a PostScript file (Cmyk_ref.ps), which can be printed using a PostScript downloader

utility, such as Fiery WebDownloader or from DOS prompt through parallel port by copy command (ex. copy

cmyk_ref.ps prn). If the file has not already been installed in the Panasonic KX-P8420 directory on your hard disk

drive, you can copy it from the English>Clrfiles directory on the KX-P8420 Driver & Utility CD-ROM to a directory of

your choice.

Each of the 11 pages display swatches in graduated combinations of yellow, magenta, and cyan, and smaller

patches that include 25%, 50%, and 75% black. The process colors are shown in 10% increments. You can specify

these colors, and colors in between, in any application that allows you to define colors as CMYK percentages—and

use the pages to see how they will be printed on your particular printer.

NOTES:

The color output may not be fully match to the color you confirmed in the swatches because the color output may

be affected by many aspects (driver settings, printer settings etc.), but should be very close to the color in the

swatches in normal usage.

PANTONE Coated Color Reference

The PANTONE Coated Color Reference is a PostScript file (Pantone.ps), which can be printed using a PostScript

downloader utility, such as Fiery WebDownloader or from DOS prompt through parallel port by copy

command (ex. copy cmyk_ref.ps prn). If the file has not already been installed in the Panasonic KX-P8420 directory

on your hard disk drive, you can copy it from the English>Clrfiles directory on the KX-P8420 Driver &

Utility CD-ROM to a directory of your choice.

The PANTONE color matching system is a standard color system within the graphic arts and prepress industries. It

specifies hundreds of spot colors, each identified with a unique number. Each PANTONE color is simulated on the

printer by printing an appropriate combination of process (CMYK) colors. The ability to simulate PANTONE colors is

a basic form of color management.

You can choose PANTONE colors in any application that allows you to define colors as named PANTONE colors—

and use the pages to see how they will be printed on your particular printer. This applies to Vecor graphic application

such as CorelDraw. For how to choose PANTONE colors in applilcations, please refer to the manual.

The Pantone color No. Is transmitted to the Printer with PS data and then converted to CMYK color using internal

Pantone color conversion table. Thus the color looks very similar to the color you confirmed in the swatches.

As for Raster graphic application such as Adobe Photoshop, PANTONE color is converted to CMYK color using the

table residing in the application. So the color output are not similar to the color in the swatches compared to the case

of Vector graphic application.

The output of Pantone color may be affected by driver settings. Please use the default colorwise settings. Select

“None” as simulation setting if selected otherwise. Select 100% as Brightness setting is selected otherwise. Or if you

have used the color adjustment on the front panel menu, reset the setting.

Tr o u b l e : The color of the printout is much differ from the color you see on the screen.

Possible Cause: Driver settings is not used.

Corrective Action: Please select 100% as “Brightness” setting in the Driver properties or select None as “Simulation”

setting in the Driver properties.

Possible Cause: Correct RGB source is not used.

Corrective Action: In the driver properties, you can define RGB source from one of 3 options. (AppleStandard,

EFIRGB, sRGB). If you are using Macintosh, it is most recommended to select AppleStandard. If you are using

standard PC, select EFIRGB or sRGB. If you are using Windows95 KX-P8420 driver, select ColorWise Expert mode

to check which RGB source are being used. Please note that this setting does not affect when you print CMYK file.

Possible Cause: Printer is not correctly calibrated.

Corrective Action: KX-P8420 provides 2 methods for calibrating the printer (Bias Adjustment, Visual Calibration) and

another method to adjust the color output for the customer’s preference (Color Adjustment). Follow the instruction

described in the application manual.

Possible Cause: Screen monitor is not correctly calibrated.

Corrective Action: Some application like Photoshop can let you calibrate the monitor setting or specify monitor color

specification Follow the instruction described in the application manual.

2.KX-P8420 Color Calibration methods

Output from color print devices is subject to changes in temperature and humidity, and is prone to drift over time, with

a resulting loss in color predictability. Where color accuracy and consistency are crucial, regular

calibration of the KX-P8420 is necessary. The color output of your KX-P8420 color printer is adjusted using three

different methods: Bias Adjustment, VisualCal, and ColorWise Color Adjustment.

Bias Adjustment

Used to adjust the overall color density. The overall density drift slightly as the number of printed pages increases.

Especially, the overall density tends to increase gradually as the number of pages printed for current Imaging Unit

increases. Bias adjustment is used to compensate for this kind of density drift. If you think color output has become

too dark or too bright compared to previously printed pages, perform the Bias Adjustment. It is also recommended

that you perform the Bias Adjustment after replacing the color imaging unit and/or the toner cartridge(s).

VisualCal

Used to optimize the printer’s range of color density and to adjust gray balance. If you think the gray color in a printed

image does not appear to be a pure gray, perform the VisualCal after performing the Bias Adjustment.

Color Adjustment

Used to adjust the overall brightness of color output and saturation of each color. Perform the Color Adjustment

after the Bias Adjustment and VisualCal calibration to adjust color output to your preference.

Please note that Bias Adjustment and VisualCal is for calibrating the printer to obtain the best color performance

while color adjustment is for adjusting the color to the preference. Please be careful in doing color adjustment

because adjusting to the preference for a certain purpose does not always works well for the other purpose. It is

more recommended to adjust color by using driver setting or Application feature than using Color Adjustment.

NOTE:

- You cannot perform VisualCal or ColorAdjustment if the printer display error or warning message(s). If you

encounter the message(s), be sure to troubleshoot them in advance.

- You cannot perform VisualCal or ColorAdjustment while you are opening KX-P8420 WebTools. Please close

WebTools in advance.

- If you unintentionally enter incorrect value(s) during VisualCal or ColorAdjustment, you may see the unexpected

color output quality. In this case, Reset or redo VisualCal or ColorAdjustment.

Bias adjustment

The printer’s Bias Adjustment feature provides basic control over the printer’s color production. The Bias Adjustment

screens, accessible via the front panel, allow you to override the printer’s current toner density and brightness

settings. Using the Bias Adjustment and calibration offset controls, you can increase or decrease the density of cyan,

magenta, yellow or black, and increase or decrease the overall brightness of all toner colors.

NOTE:

- Visual Calibration and Color Adjustment settings may affect the settings of Bias Adjustment.

— Reset VisualCal before performing the Bias Adjustment.

— Restore the settings in Color Adjustment to the default values (all 0) before using the Bias Adjustment.

- Changes made using Bias Adjustment are retained until the printer is recalibrated.

- The color density setting affects the average life of toner.

- Save the Color Calibration Card for future calibrations.

Visual calibration

VisualCal TM is a calibration method that allows you to calibrate your printer to an ideal color output standard.

The calibration calculations performed by the controller software are based on a series of values entered through the

front panel. The values used in the calculations are determined by evaluating toner densities and color combinations

produced on two specially designed calibration pages printed from the front panel.

Limit, 30% match calibration

The first VisualCal page, Limits, 30% Match, provides the basis for calculating the most acceptable luminosity

(brightness) of the toners. This page contains rows of CMYK dots in a graduated range of toner densities.

The variables needed to recalculate the

density

of the colored toners are determined by identifying the leftmost dots

that can be fully distinguished against their fields in each row, and sequentially entering their

corresponding numeric values via the front panel. The variable needed to recalculate the

luminosity

of the toners is

determined in a slightly different way- the user is required to identify the black dot which best matches a 30% dot

gain field. When all values have been entered, the printer’s toner density and luminosity settings are recalculated.

The human eye cannot distinguish the color very well if it is too bright or dark. By eliminating the color range that is

difficult to distinguish, P8420 can take the most advantage of the available color density range and thus overall color

quality improves.

Operation:

1.Enter number of the first circle virtually separated from the blank background.

2.Enter number of the first circle virtually separated from the solid color background.

3.Repeat step1.2. for K,C,M,Y.

4.Hold the page at the arms length. Enter the number of the circle that best blends with the background.

*If any of the entered values for any colors are 9, the Limits and 30% Match page is reprinted automatically.

Repeat step1.2,3.4.

GrayBalance

The second VisualCal page, Gray Balance, provides the basis for calculating a neutral gray balance, that is, a CMY

gray that as closely as possible matches a pure K (BlacK) gray produced by the printer’s engine. This page consists

of rows of CMY gray patches on a field of gray produced solely from black. The variables needed to calculate the

printer’s most neutral gray balance are determined by identifying the CMY patch that best matches this field, and

entering its row and column location on the front panel. When the values have been entered, the printer’s gray

balance is recalculated.

By pressing continue key on the front panel, the 2

nd

line LCD shows the color corresponding each row of a

graybalance page successively. Select the row that you think is the most suitable and enter press key. The sequence

of the color shown on LCD equals to the sequence of the color printed on graybalance page. For English, R(red)-

>Y(yellow)->G(green)->C(cyan)->B(blue)->M(magenta)->All.

Operation:

1.Determine which patch composed of CMY toners have the most neutral gray that close to the background gray

composed of K toner.

2.Enter the value of row and column in front panel.

3.If the number of row is not 0, the Gray balance page is printed again. Repeat from 1.

4.When the current gray balance that is printed at row 0 matches most the background, gray balance is achieved.

Select 0 and continues.

Apply changes

Before applying the calibration changes compare the Color Test that uses the original calibration values against the

Color Test that uses the new values. If you are satisfied with the printer’s calibration based on the new values, select

Yes from the Apply Changes screen that appears, and press the Enter button to recalibrate the printer based on the

previously entered values. If you are not satisfied with the printer’s calibration based on the new values, select No

from the Apply Changes screen that appears. Or if you want to reset the calibration, select Default.

Effect

Because the density level or color balance does not shift much in normal usage, the effect of VisualCal may not be

obvious in most cases. But if you feel the print quality has really deteriorated in a certain condition, this tool must

help improve the quality.

Operatin flow

The chart attached “<Chart of Panel & Key Operation - Visual Calibration - >” illustrates the flow of VisualCal. As

you can see, the operation has some flexibility such as enabling bypassing of Color Test Printing. You can also see,

at the end of the operation, you can make the selections effective or abort all selections or return to the default

settings.

NOTE:

- If you select other languages than English in front panel language menu, the language used in the printouts

change accordingly. For Graybalance selection, Italian and Spanish version of a printout has a translation problem.

In Italian, Yellow and Green is not translated in the front panel and shown as “Y” and “G” whereas shown as “G” and

“V” in the printout.

In Spanish, Blue is shown as “N” in front panel whereas shown as “A” in the printout. Because the order shown in the

front panel and the printout is the same, select the value on the front panel considering the order.

- The color output might become a little darker after calibration.

- Though GrayBalacne page can be skipped in Operation, GrayBalance setting should not be skipped.

- You can check whether visual calibration is performed or not by looking at configuration page.

Color adjustment

The printer’s color adjustment feature provides additional creative control over printer’s color production. The color

adjustment screens, accessible via the front panel, allow you to override the printer’s current toner density and

brightness settings. Using the color adjustment controls, you can also increase or decrease the

brightness of an image, or you can increase or decrease the density of each the following colors: red, yellow, green,

cyan, blue or magenta. For example, you may choose to make the blues in an image look surreal

by increasing the density of the blue and the cyan in the image, and increasing the brightness setting.

NOTE:

- You can check how color adjustment is performed or not by looking at configuration page.

- You can adjust only one color at a time.

- If you increase Brightness value, the output become brighter while increasing Brightness value in Printer Driver

makes the output darker.

- Changes made using Color Adjustment are retained until the printer is recalibrated. Or reset the adjusted colors to

the last calibration made using the Reset All to 0 option in the Adjust Color screen; or recalibrate

the printer using VisualCal.

The chart attached “

<Chart of Panel & Key Operation - Color Adjustment - >”

illustrates the flow of Color

Adjustment.

In below chart,

Select “Reset All” to reset the adjustment of Colors.

Select “Yes” to “ApplyChange” if you want to enable the selections or “No” if you do not.

TroubleShootings:

Tr o u b l e : Visual Calibration or Color Adjustment can not be performed.

Corrective Action:

1)If error or warning messages are shown on front panel LCD, troubleshoot them.

2)If WebTools are used, close them first.

3)If still cannot be performed, turn off/on the printer and try again.

Tr o u b l e : A single color appears faded.

Possible Cause: The toner is almost depleted. Check the LCD message or maintenance menu on the front panel.

Corrective Action: Replace the color toner cartridge soon (depending on the complexity of your prints, you can

continue to print up to 100 more pages).

Possible Cause: The color density is set incorrectly in the printer panel.

Corrective Action: See “Chapter 7 Color Calibration” in Operating Instructions Manual. Color adjustment settings

may affect the color output. Reset the settings.

Tr o u bl e : Prints have dull, faded colors.

Corrective Action: Adjust or calibrate colors. See “Chapter 7 Color Calibration” in Operating Instructions manual.

Corrective Action: Make sure that the color imaging unit stays covered until immediately before installing it in the

printer. Exposure to light for more than 45 seconds can damage the color imaging unit.

Corrective Action: Make sure that the toner cartridges are installed correctly.

Corrective Action: Make sure that you use a high-quality laser paper: 60–105 g/m 2 (16-28 lbs.) paper in the media

trays and 75–165 g/m 2 (20–44 lbs.) paper in the multi-purpose tray.

Visual Calibration Endpoint Page Endpoint Page

Endpoint Print Printing

Endpoint Page Ready

Cancel

Endpoint Black Low

Black Low 4 * (0 to 9)

Black Low

5 (0 to 9)

Black Low

3 (0 to 9)

Endpoint Black High

Black High 4 * (0 to 9)

Endpoint Cyan Low

Cyan Low 4 * (0 to 9)

Endpoint 30% Match

30% Match 4 * (0 to 9)

Gray Balance Page Gray Balance Page

Print Printing

Gray Balance Page

Skip

Gray Balance Best Patch (row)

Best Patch (row) 0 * (-4 to 4)

Gray Balance Best Patch (col)

Best Patch (col) R

Best Patch (col)

Y

Best Patch (col)

All

Color Test Color Test

Print Printing

Color Test

Skip

Apply Changes Ready

No

Apply Changes Ready

Yes

Apply Changes Ready

Default

Color Adjustment Brightness

Brightness 0 * (-5 to 5)

Brightness

1 (-5 to 5)

Brightness

-1 (-5 to 5)

Adjust Color Red

Red 0* (-5 to 5)

Red

1 (-5 to 5)

Red

-1 (-5 to 5)

Adjust Color Yellow

Yellow 0* (-5 to 5)

Adjust Color

Adjust None

Adjust Color Reset All

Reset All No

Reset All

Yes

Color Test Color Test

Print Printing

Color Test

Skip

Apply Changes Ready

No

Apply Changes Ready

Yes

3.KX-P8420 Consumable management

User replaceable components

When the printer panel indicates that a supply needs to be replaced, make sure that you have replacement supplies

on hand. The printer may continue to print until the supply is completely used up; but then it stops until you replace

the indicated supply.

1.Printer component:

Color Imaging Unit *1

“Image Unit wearing out.”

- Change the color imaging unit soon.

- Monochrome 57,000 pages or color 14,250 pages. Also uses pixel counter value (96B pixel) to check wearing out

status. When the number of pages reaches above numbers or pixel counter value reaches above value, it shows

wearing out status.

“Imaging Unit Worn out.”

- Change the color imaging unit now.

- Monochrome 60,000 pages or Color 15,000 pages. Also uses pixel counter value (101B pixel) to check worn out

status. When the number of pages reaches above numbers or pixel counter value reaches above value, it shows

worn out status.

2.Printer component:

Toner Cartridge *1, *2

“Low <Color> Toner”

- Change the color toner cartridge soon.

- 12,000 pages (Black) or 10,000 pages (CMY) * These figures are based on an average of 5% coverage of the

printable area and standard density for any one color.

- Low toner status is detected by the sensor inside the printer engine, so the number of pages vary depending on the

condition.

“<Color> Toner Empty”

- Change the color toner cartridge now.

- When 1.2B pixels are consumed after Toner low message is shown.

After the toner is replaced while Low <Color> toner or <Color>Toner empty message are shown, KX-P8420

recognizes the toner replacement if the sensor detects “not toner empty” status for more than 400 image.

3.

Fuser unit*3 (oil supply roll installed)

“Fuser Unit wearing out ” alternates with “Oil Roll wearing out “

- Change the Fuser unit soon.

28,500 pages

Also uses pixel counter value which corresponding to 30K sheet averaging 5% coverage to check wearing out status.

When the number of pages reaches above numbers or pixel counter value reaches above value, it shows above

message.

“Fuser Unit and Oil Roll Worn out”

- Change the Fuser unit now.

- 31,000 pages

*Paper 2

nd

side,transparency,coated paper,Label,envelope are counted as 2 pages for 1 copy.

4. Oil supply roll*3

“Oil Roll wearing out”

- Change the Oil supply roll now.

- 15,000 pages

“Oil Roll Worn out”

- Change the Oil supply roll now.

- 15,500 pages

*coated paper is counted as 2 pages for 1 copy.

*It is recommended to replace the cleaning pad when “Oil Roll Wearing out” or “Oil Roll Worn out” message is shown.

The cleaning pad comes with Option Oil supply roll.

5. Transfer unit*4

“Transfer wearing out “

- Change the Transfer unit soon.

- 80,000 pages

* 1 These figures are based on an average of 5% coverage of the printable area and standard density for any one

color (refer to Example A below left: Monochrome 5% coverage). 4 colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and

Black) are used for full color print. The frequency of replacement will vary, depending on the complexity of the prints

and the percentage of coverage of each color and print density. Example B below right is the case of full color print.

The percentage of coverage of each color is as follows. Cyan: 40%, Magenta: 22%, Yellow:

35%, Black: 20% If you continuously print with this setting, the average life of the Color Imaging Unit will be

shortened to about 2,500 pages. You can get the idea how much percentage of coverage is used in your document

by checking the values shown on Front panel “Image Area” menu. Please refer to the later chapter in this document.

*2 The starter cartridges that ship with the printer have an average life of approximately 3,000 pages, based on an

average of 5% coverage.

* 3 Specialty media (Transparencies, coated paper, etc.) will result in shortening the life of a consumable to maintain

better print quality. When replacing the fuser unit, replace the oil supply roll as well. Do not insert

the used oil supply roll into the new fuser unit; it may damage the new fuser unit.

4 When you have just replaced Transfer unit, you must select Yes in the New Transfer Unit menu. See next section.

NOTE:

- If you print with high density when Low <Color> Toner is displayed, you may get faded printout before <Color>

Toner Empty is displayed.

- Please use the consumables specified by Panasonic sales company because these parts may differ depedinging

on the model No or the region.

Displaying the life of supplies and coverage of toner

KX-P8420 has a front panel menu function to show how much percentage of each consumable life remains to

be used. Please note that the values shown here is just the approximate value and are not always correct. So the

consumable wearing warning message might occur regardless of the displayed values.

Maintenance menu

Page Count - shows the pages your KX-P8420 has printed since your

purchase of the printer.

Toner Cartridge - shows the percentage of CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW and BLACK toner cartridges remaining.

NOTE:

- The remaining value of Toner become 0% when Low <Color> Toner message is shown. The value return to 100%

after the toner is replaced. Or may become 100% before replacement because of toner low sensor instability.

The printer recognize the toner replacement if low toner is not detected more than 400 pages.

- The value become incorrect when the replaced cartridge is a starter kit because P8420 assumes new cartridge is

not a starter kit.

- If you replace the toner cartridge before Low <Color> Toner or <Color> Toner Empty is displayed, the value of the

toner cartridge remaining will be incorrect.

- The remaining value depends on how much coverage in the printable area are used.

- Theoretically the remaining value should be around 0% just before Low <Color> Toner message is shown. But

actually it does not especially when an average of coverage is too large or small. Because actual toner usage

depends on many factors(ex. coverage, printing pattern, temperature) When the average is too large, the value tend

to become 0% long before Low <Color> Toner message is shown.

Imaging Unit - shows the percentage of the life of color imaging unit remaining.

Transfer Unit - shows the percentage of the Transfer unit remaining.

It shows the percentage of the Transfer unit remaining.

New Transfer Unit (No/Yes)

You must select Yes when you have just replaced Transfer unit. The life will be reset to 100% remaining by selecting

Fuser Unit - shows the percentage of the Fuser unit remaining.

*The remaining value may not be correct if high duty printing (large coverage) continues because this percentage

is only calculated using the number of sheet consumed and pixel counter values are not used.

Oil Roll - shows the percentage of the Oil roll remaining.

Image Area

Last— shows the percentage of the whole printable area covered by each toner in the previously printed page. This

menu cannot show the value correctly just after the printer was turned on.

CYAN: ###%

MAGENTA: ###%

YELLOW: ###%

BLACK: ###%

Average— shows the average percentage of the printable area covered by each toner of all pages printed since the

toner replacement.

CYAN: ###%

MAGENTA: ###%

YELLOW: ###%

BLACK: ###%

Service mode menu related to the consumables

Service mode has a menu that shows the number of sheets or pixels for each consumable as below. These menus

are located below Display Information/Display Counter menu.

Imaging Unit: Image = #: Shows the number of images used since last Imaging Unit replacement.

Pixel = #; Shows the number of pixels used since last Imaging Unit replacement.

Transfer Unit: Sheet = #; Shows the number of pages used since last transfer unit replacement.

Pixel = #: Shows the number of pixels used since last transfer unit replacement.

Oil roll: Shows the number of pages used since last oil roll replacement.

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Panasonic KXP8420 Operating instructions

Panasonic KXP8420 Operating instructions

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