AntF

Q: Can software cause paper jam in LW 360?

I have a LW Select 360 connected to MacPro by Parallel to USB cable OS10.6.7. This works reasonably well but occasionally seems to not connect properly. The main issue though is with the paper feed. I originally assumed a feed roller issue but no matter how much I cleaned the rollers the second or third copy would appear to stop part way through the printer in a similar (but not always the same) position. The job was quite a simple form created as a multipage document in Illustrator and placed InDesignCS3 (Numbering added in ID). Even trying to print a few copies at once caused the 'jam' in case it was to do with print spooling. After trying everything I could I exported the file as a pdf and printed perfectly through Acrobat Pro.

 

Now, I would have said printing to an old printer may cause problems but wouldn't have expected this sort of issue. It was as though the software was trying to 'force feed' the printer and it choked. Anyone else had a similar issue?

MacPro 2.66, Mac OS X (10.6.7), MBP 13 i5 iMac

Posted on May 24, 2011 5:40 AM

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Q: Can software cause paper jam in LW 360?

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  • by Appaloosa mac man,

    Appaloosa mac man Appaloosa mac man May 24, 2011 9:01 AM in response to AntF
    Level 5 (4,330 points)
    May 24, 2011 9:01 AM in response to AntF

    AntF,

     

    The fact that a PDF works while other software from Adobe does not is curious because Adobe invented the Page Description called Postscript.  It was the language that allowed laser printers to get rid of pixelated rough edges created by dot matrix printers. Does Illustrator have a problem printing the components before they are placed in InDesign?  If the job is too large to spool to the printer or the printer has too small of a buffer to take all of the print command at one time, you will have a break in instructions that might result in incomplete pages. 

     

    Because Adobe created the PDF from its Postscript language, it is completing the printer page layout instructions all at once.  The printer sees a complete set of print instructions as a document and not as fragmented instructions from the application that created the document.  Some programs used to say 'printing page five.'  The application was sending each page one at a time.  PDF converts to printer commands before sending them to the printer.

     

    Mechanically, once you get a signal to the printer, the problem is rarely software related.  If in doubt, disable all print spooler or print monitor software and print directly from the application to the printer.  That includes disabling 'Drag and Drop' printing.

     

    Here is what happens mechanically inside the printer.  The paper feed roller picks up the first page.  An electical relay signals the rubber roller to pick up the first page.  The roller is designed to mechanically rotate into position and then back out. The roller then needs to stay out of the way until it is needed again. 

     

    There is a second relay that also affects paper handling.  The printer has to delay the second page until the first page is out of the way.  Some actions are mechanical, some are electrical.

     

    On our Laserwriter IIG, the page separation relay would stick just long enough to add an extra one inch to the top margin of the second page.  The official fix was to clean the contacts to remove gum from the metal plates.  The sticky contacts slowed down the timing just long enough to throw off the timing for the toner drop but not enough to cause a paper jam.

     

    Your printer may be experiencing enough of a timing delay to cause a paper jam.  A good cleaning or servicing would be good.  Go to

     

    http://www.fixyourownprinter.com

     

    to find resources.

     

    A search for the Laserwriter 360 shows 241 discussions on that model.

     

    I do not have the schematic on the 360 but we could certainly take one apart to answer a specific mechanical question.

     

    Jim~

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 24, 2011 8:51 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2011 8:51 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man

    Hi Jim,

    thanks for the information. The page that doesn't make it through usually stops just before the feed rollers in front of the toner cartridge - sometimes it has been further back towards the feed tray. This is what made me think it was the feed rollers not gripping the sheet well enough. Occasionally a blank sheet is sent through the printer that sometimes doesn't come all the way out which may be due to the relays you mention. Not sure where they are though to try and clean.

    Previously I had noted that Illustrator files printed would tend to do a similar thing and I assumed this was due to the CS3 issue of printing multiple copies by sending the file multiple times and causing a pause between each page. Printing from ID then seemed to work better. I recently moved to Snow Leopard (from Leopard) but not sure if this has any affect.

    The strange thing is that Acrobat printing works well which would seem to suggest the printer is OK. Unless the USB to parallel cable is part of the problem.

  • by Appaloosa mac man,

    Appaloosa mac man Appaloosa mac man May 24, 2011 9:07 AM in response to AntF
    Level 5 (4,330 points)
    May 24, 2011 9:07 AM in response to AntF

    I just edited my response to address that issue.  You replied while I was editing.  Reread the introduction to see if that addresses your software questions.  I had jumped to mechanical before addressing software.

     

    One other thing happens when paper is feeding.  The paper can snag in the paper path.  When it does, the timing is also affected.  Our 16/600 has a broken hinge on the back access door.  If the door does not align properly or close just right, the second page will hang up just before the toner cartridge or just before the fuser rollers.  Most of the paper guides are plastic and subject to wear.

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 24, 2011 9:39 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2011 9:39 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man

    Any issue printing from Illustrator was either very slow printing as each copy was sent individually, or jamming. If the file printed it was always OK.

     

    The ID pages seemed to be a problem even printed in small (10) copies or 200 and the file was pretty simple line art so shouldn't have had a huge amount to buffer - although they were printed in reverse order as they were to be collated afterwards.

     

    Had a read through the FYOP site and a couple of similar problems - unfortunately without answers. The control of the paper feed looks the best area to investigate. The paper path seems OK - can't see anything that may cause a problem and if there were it would be there when printing from Acrobat.

     

    As it appears Acrobat prints OK I will use this on the next few jobs to confirm this works consistently but also see if I can spot any solenoids that may be causing a problem.

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 24, 2011 10:59 AM in response to AntF
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2011 10:59 AM in response to AntF

    The other thing I have noticed is that if I delete the print job part way through the part of the job that has been sent to the printer prints out OK with no jams. I guess this points to the print spooling being part of the problem.

    Just tried printing the original file from Illustrator and it too fails on the second print and another test from Acrobat is OK.

  • by Appaloosa mac man,Helpful

    Appaloosa mac man Appaloosa mac man May 24, 2011 12:30 PM in response to AntF
    Level 5 (4,330 points)
    May 24, 2011 12:30 PM in response to AntF

    I was reading through the developer info and got bogged down in detail.  Need to run to town come back to this.  One thought came to mind as I was reading the technical jargon.  Page end signal errors are described.  Sounds like that is what is happening.

     

    Google apple laserwriter 360 and one of the search results is

    PDF] LaserWriter Select 360 Printer - Apple Developer

    developer.apple.com/legacy/mac/.../LaserWriter_Select_360.pdf

     

    That may be more detail than you want to read.  You are not alone.  Just looking for clues.  I have tech support for earlier printers but not that one.

     

    Jim~

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 24, 2011 1:01 PM in response to Appaloosa mac man
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2011 1:01 PM in response to Appaloosa mac man

    Thanks for the input on this. Tried the same file from Macbook Pro and same results - a simple file (2 boxes) prints OK though so it may be file size related to some degree. Maybe this is why the pdf prints OK as all the grunt has been done in the conversion?

     

    I will try a different USB to parallel cable as other users have reported some work better than others - Belkin seem to be OK so I will try that option. The Page end signal thing sounds promising as sometimes the printer doesn't seem to have cleared the previous job and switching off or pulling the USB and reinserting seem to make it work as expected.

     

    Perhaps just have to live with it. Apple shouldn't have made such a long lived printer!

     

    Will read the link and try and understand it.

     

    Ant

  • by Appaloosa mac man,

    Appaloosa mac man Appaloosa mac man May 24, 2011 1:08 PM in response to AntF
    Level 5 (4,330 points)
    May 24, 2011 1:08 PM in response to AntF

    Haven't left yet.  Do not try to understand it all.  Just skim and see if you see fact patterns that match your experience.  That document was written for developers.  It is way to deep for casual reading.  Skimming for awareness is all.

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 25, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 25, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man

    As you say, there is a lot of technical detail in the document that I do not fully understand. Parts about switching signal sound interesting but difficult to do much about. I think the things to try are a different USB to Parallel cable and perhaps look into the dip switch positions a little more. I know the number selected determines the settings for each port but have seen different reports as to which is the best setting. I assume I need to have the Parallel port set to Postscript. I have the printer config page with all the options but don't fully understand which combination of settings is the best to use. Real plug and play stuff! with more emphasis on play.

  • by Appaloosa mac man,

    Appaloosa mac man Appaloosa mac man May 25, 2011 10:04 AM in response to AntF
    Level 5 (4,330 points)
    May 25, 2011 10:04 AM in response to AntF

    The phrase 'lost in translation' comes to mind.  If you had another printer and tested the print commands to it, you could try and isolate the problem.  If that printer was ethernet based and did not have problems, you would have more reason to suspect the parallel to USB converter.

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 30, 2011 8:33 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 30, 2011 8:33 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man

    Hi, new cable on the way so will test when it arrives. I have a Xerox 7750 connected through ethernet and this works fine so it points towards the cable although the fact the LW360 is much older and only PS 2 may also be an issue.

  • by Instant_1,

    Instant_1 Instant_1 May 30, 2011 2:41 PM in response to AntF
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 30, 2011 2:41 PM in response to AntF

    Hi AntF,

    I recognize this as a question of RAM. How much RAM do you have installed in your LWS 360?

    Since I replaced the original 7MB with maximum possible 16 MB the problem with printing large docs vanished.

    (Installed memory has to be configured in the printer settings as well).

  • by AntF,

    AntF AntF May 30, 2011 3:31 PM in response to Instant_1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 30, 2011 3:31 PM in response to Instant_1

    Hi, I have the standard 7MB - when new the extra RAM was really expensive and I never got around to increasing it. The document printing wasn't a massive file - it was an Illustrator eps placed into InDesign and numbering added via a linked Excel file - sounds complicated but it had printed out OK in the past. The only real issue of relatively low memory was taking an age to print large files - at least I always put it down to this. I assumed the spooling of the files to print would be done on the Mac not the printer but I may be wrong on this.

     

    What issues with large documents dod you have? Similar to my issue or just slow processing of the PS data?

     

    It wouldn't hurt to increase the memory if I can find the right modules. I did try a module out of my old Performa 6200 but it didn't seem to be recognised but may be worth a revisit.

     

    Best, Ant.

  • by Instant_1,

    Instant_1 Instant_1 May 30, 2011 3:49 PM in response to AntF
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 30, 2011 3:49 PM in response to AntF

    Hi again,

    My issue was the same as yours. The printing just stopped "half way".

     

    Here is the memory specs from LWS360 UserGuide:

     

    The LaserWriter Select 360 can be upgraded with more memory, which allows you to print more complex documents and improves performance on documents that contain many fonts.

     

    The printer's standard memory size is 7 MB (megabytes), 4 MB of which are contained on a removable SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module).

    The printer may be upgraded to 16 MB total (the largest size supported by the printer) by removing the 4 MB SIMM and replacing it with a 16 MB SIMM.

    This 16 MB SIMM may be purchased from your Apple-authorized dealer.

     

    The SIMM must meet the following specifications.

    - Size: 16 MB (4 Mbit x 32 bit)

    - Access Time: 80 ns or less

    - SIMM Type: 72-pin

     

    I bought my 16MB on e-bay for $3.

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