Mis-register Magicard Tango 2 printer. When printing occasionally the colours will mis-register. Happening more frequently. Have changed dye-film reel and cleaned machine. Still happening. Any ideas?

Hello Richard,

Sorry for the delay in replying to your request.
You may have already resolved your issue by now.
The advice below may help others with the same issue though.

In the case of a damaged (scratched) printhead, the lines always run along the cards longest length (landscape), and are always in exactly the same place.
They are normally White, and usually very thin (just a few pixels wide). You would also see the line on the used dye film too by unwinding some film from the take-up spool (at the front of the printer).

Sometimes in the case of older out-of warranty printers, it is easier / cheaper just to avoid that are of the card using the card design. The image can also be rotated 180 degrees in the driver's Printing Preferences. However, if the card design has a solid colour background, or the White line is in the centre of the card, printhead replacement may be the only option.

Depending on which Rio model you have (Rio, Rio 2, Rio2e, or Rio Pro), different printhead assemblies are available as a field replaceable unit. Part numbers are below;

Magicard Rio - FG/M9005-794
Magicard Rio 2 / Rio 2e - FG/M9006-630E
Magicard Rio Pro - FG/3652-0160

All are available from your local Magicard dealer / reseller.

Prevention is better than cure;

• Replace the sticky cleaning roller in the cleaning cassette as regular as possible.
• Only use good quality blank PVC card stock (no sharp edges, or burrs)
• Clean the printer regularly using the appropriate cleaning kit;
  
  Rio, Rio 2, Rio 2e (Cleaning kit part number: M9005-761)
  Rio Pro - (Cleaning kit part number 3633-0053) *
  Rio Pro - (Sticky roller kit (5 rollers +metal shaft) - 3633-0054)*
  * A sticky cleaning roller is supplied with every new dye film

Kind Regards,

MC.

From your description, there are only a few possible causes:

1. The ribbon you have is not the correct one for your printer model, or is not a genuine Magicard ribbon. Where did you purchase?

2. The printer has old "firmware" that doesn't recognize new ribbon RFID tag info. (firmware is an internal program on the printer that should be periodically updated - free download from Magicard web-site: Magicard ID Card Printers Identity Solutions ).

3. The ribbon-sensor has failed (printer cannot see / sense the ribbon's presence).

If we can help further, just reach out to us!

Safe-Card ID Services
Charlotte, NC USA
https://www.safecardid.com/

Hi There,

General Error 24:03;
This error is caused by a faulty RFID tag in the colour dye film.
Contact your Magicard dealer for a replacement dye film.

Hi Mahom -
It sounds like your printing software has sent the print-job to the Windows print-queue as a single job. Because it didn't complete originally, and then you reset the printer (power-off), it has now lost track of where it was and will only start at the beginning of the job again. Best thing to do is unplug the printer again; cancel any pending jobs in the Windows print queue for the Tango printer; then re-print job EXCEPT for the cards already printed.

Have you cleaned the printer using a Magicard cleaning kit? Your printer neds to be cleaned using a cleaning kit every time you cahnge dye film to maintain a top quality print.
Cleaning kit contains 10 cards, 1 pen and 5 rollers - P/N M9005-761. You can buy it from your Magicard approved dealer or contact Magicard directly who will direct you to a dealer - [email protected]
www.magicard.com

Hi There,

This is very a very common problem!
Fortunately, it's really easy to fix too;

Go to your 'Printers & Faxes' folder. Right-click on 'Magicard Printer Series'.
Select 'Properties'. Click on the 'Device Settings' tab.
Select the correct printer model in the drop-down list (Tango 2);


I suspect you currently have 'Tango' selected.

I hope this helps.

With Best Regards,

MC.

Hi MaCaTa2,

It can be frustrating when things aren't going smoothly.
Sounds like you're wasting a lot of dye film and cards too!

What program are you printing the badges from?
You have a very 'paper' size with this type of printer.
If you select 'Magicard Printer Series' as the printer, you will then see a special paper size called 'CR80 Edge To Edge'. This is basically the size of a credit card. (2 1/8 x 3 3/8" (54 x 85.6mm). Check your font sizes are not too big. Any text printed on the back of the card is on page 2 of 2 (on the Tango model, a Rio would feed a second card).
Experiment with an application like MS Word, where you can clearly see the 'pages'.
Create a new word document, straight away go to 'File, Print', select 'Magicard Printer Series' from the printers list, then 'Close' (not 'Print'). Next, go to 'File', 'Page Setup', for the paper size choose 'CR80 Edge to Edge', set all the margins to '0' (this is a 'full bleed' printer.
You will now see a credit card size page to work on. If you fill this page (or insert a page break), you continue onto page 2 (the card back - only available on Tango).

I hope this helps.

Regards,

MC.

Hi There,

I think this may be something Win 2K is doing.
However, rather than power cycling the printer, simply removing the USB connection then replacing it should be enough to 'wake it up' (and save on dye film).

Check the power saving settings for your USB Root Hub;(Hardware/Device Manager/USB Controllers/ USB Root Hub/Properties/Power Management). Make sure the 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power' option is NOT ticked.

Check also under 'Settings' / 'Printers', right-click on 'Magicard Printer Series', you should NOT see either 'Resume Printing' (printer is paused), or, 'Use Printer Online' (printer is offline).

Also, make sure you have the latest drivers installed. The Rio 2 / Tango 2 driver V6.01 is compatible with the 'older' Rio / Tango printer (even the non 'NP' models). You can download this here;
Make sure though that you select 'update driver files' and NOT 'add a printer' when prompted (restart is required). Port name should be 'NUSB01' when you see the list of available ports.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

MC.

Hi There,

Im_useless:
0.126 is not a Magicard error number. On a Rio 2 printer, the error number will be displayed on the LCD display. It should look like 02:?? or 04:??, etc.

Are the cards feeding out of the hopper?
How far into the printer have they gone before you get the error?
Are any of the dye film panels printed before the card gets stuck?
Are the cards ejected when you click on 'OK'?

Guest:
The most common reason for the dye film sticking to the cards are if they already have overcoat printed on them (you can not print over overcoat). Also, if you are printing very dense images, try selecting 'ColorSure' mode in the printing preferences, Try reducing the YMC printhead power in printing preferences.

Hi There, I presume (from the error number) that you are using LC3 (monochrome) dye film in your printer. This error is normally given when the printer detects LC3 (monochrome) dye film, but is then sent 'Colour' printing data from the driver. If you have 'encode only' selected there should be no printing data sent to the printer at all (number of copies = 0), only the mag stripe information should be sent. I suggest you contact Magicard Technical Support in the UK (I am one of their support engineers). We will need some further information (serial number of the printer, etc). Please also check you have the latest firmware (print the internal test card by pushing the button on the back) and are using the latest driver. All are available for download from: www.magicard.com To contact customer support send an email to: [email protected] Advice is free regardless of whether the printer is in warranty or not. With Best Regards, Alan.