How to Print Success

A Step-by-Step Installation Guide for the Epson ColorWorks C6000/C6500 Series Printers

Setting up a new Epson ColorWorks C6000/C6500 Series Printer involves several key steps to ensure it is correctly installed and ready for use. Mediajet has created this detailed guide with tips to make sure the installation runs smoothly.

Additional Resources

The following links, provided by Epson, feature the CW-C6000/C6500 product tour video, installation demonstration video, technical reference and user’s guides, and latest versions of the printer’s driver, utilities, and manuals.

C6000 Series: On-Demand Color Label Printers/Take the Tour Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k15ZRv_Oqso

Epson ColorWorks CW-C6000/C6500 Printer Setup Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cO4e2I7I-c

CW-C6000/C6500 User’s Guide:  https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pos/bulk/cw-c6000_c6500_ug_en_02.pdf

CW-C6000/C6500 Technical Reference Guide:  https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pos/bulk/cw-c6000_c6500_trg_en_revb.pdf

The latest versions of the printer driver, utilities, and manuals can be downloaded from the following URL.  https://epson.com/Support/sl/s

Unbox-Install-Print, Step-by- Step Instructions

1. Unbox the Printer (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 31-33)

• Before removing the printer from its packaging, make sure you received the right Printer.

• Locate the “doggy door” on the outside of the box to reveal the matte or gloss black ink that your printer will be configured to.
• Do not rip the tape off the top of the box to open. This box is a reusable and should be stored for future transporting.
• Remove the white clips near the base of the box to easily lift the top straight off the printer.
• Remove the four corner supports and carefully lift the printer out of the box. Place the printer on a flat, stable surface near a power outlet, and your computer or network. Before lifting the printer locate the areas along both sides of the base to easily grasp.
• Everything that will be touched in this stage of unboxing will be identified by a blue piece of tape.
• Remove the plastic bag and all other protection materials from the outside of the printer.
• There are several packing materials within the printer that must be removed. Each one is marked by the blue tape. Please refer to the Printer Setup Video link, above, to identify the specific location of each piece of blue tape.

• Remove the clear plastic protective film over the LCD screen and front cover, and any other white foam protection materials.
• Remove the sample label roll, power cord, USB cable, and safety instructions located inside the media compartment.

2. Printer Part Names and Functions (User’s Manual, Pg. 19-24)

• Review diagrams and images of the main operational parts of the printer.

3. Connect to Power (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 34-35)

• Plug the power cord into the appropriate receptacle located on the back of the printer, and the other end to an electrical outlet.
• Other ports found on the back of the printer include USB, Ethernet, and a remote I/O for interface to an automated applicator.
• Attach the USB or Ethernet cables after the driver has been installed in step 9.

4. Install the Ink Cartridges and Maintenance Box (User’s Manual, Pg. 30-33) and       (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 36-40) 

• Locate the four ink cartridges to be installed: the black cartridge, located in the “doggy door", and cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges nestled in the white packing Styrofoam inside the top of the box.
• The maintenance box was installed in the printer before the printer was shipped. See the video link on printer setup, or the CW-C6000/C6500 Technical Reference Guide for the specific location.

• Open the 2 ink cartridge covers on the front of the printer to access the ink cartridge slots. The ink will only insert in one direction and only in the slot with the matching color. It is impossible to misload the ink.
• Shake each ink cartridge gently before installing.
• Insert the cartridges into their respective slots, ensuring they click into place, and then close both ink compartments.
• At this time the screen on the operation panel will provide the steps involved in configuring the printer for matte or gloss black ink.

5. Configure Printer for Matte Black or Gloss Black Ink

• Once you configure a printer with matte ink, it will remain a matte printer for the lifetime of the printer. This is the same when configuring a printer with gloss ink.
• Select the appropriate matte or gloss printer configuration on the Screen. The screen displays the status of the printer, menus, and error messages.
• Use the arrows on the operation panel to select a setting or menu item, and then press the OK button to activate the selected menu or setting.

6. Initialize the Ink

• Carefully follow the specific instructions provided on the screen to initiate the automatic ink priming sequence. The printer must be undisturbed throughout this entire process, which takes several minutes.
• The ink priming process, which only happens once, takes a significant amount of time because there is no ink in the printer. During this process, ink is pulled from the cartridges, past the pumps, through the ink lines, and to the print head. The printer continues to pump ink through this mechanism until the entire system is full of ink, without any air bubbles detected in the lines or print head.
• Air bubbles in the ink will create missing ink on the label which will reduce the quality of the printed image or text.
• The screen will indicate when the ink initialization process is complete.
• Select Dismiss, then the printer’s home screen will appear. (User’s Manual, Pg.27-28) This screen provides information about the label settings selected for the current print job. This information includes the label format, dimensions, material, gap detection, ink levels, and a menu to adjust each setting. This screen will also relay information about the current state of the printer. For example, “Ready” will appear when it is prepared to print, “load paper” if paper has not been loaded, and “ink level is nearing end” to indicate that the cartridge is almost empty and a new cartridge will be needed. The printer will detect when a cartridge is completely out of ink, or when the maintenance box is full, and will not initiate printing until these consumables are replaced.
• When the ink priming process is finished, the ink levels displayed on the home screen will be significantly lower. This is because the ink has been cycling through the printer for the duration of the priming process to rid the entire ink mechanism of air bubbles.
• The printer discards this used ink into a collection tank called the Maintenance Box. This box collects ink that is discarded during the initial priming process, and any time an automatic or manual print head clean is needed. When the printer detects that the maintenance box is full, a replacement message will appear on the screen.

7. Adjust the Media Gap Sensors (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 176-177)

• The C6000 series Printers have gap sensors that can be moved horizontally to adjust their alignment. For sensor location and detailed information refer to: https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pos/bulk/cw-c6000_c6500_trg_en_revb.pdf
• The media gap sensors capture where the gap between labels ends and the next label begins, so the printer can detect where printing will be initiated.
• This sensor adjustment is necessary before printing on odd-shaped labels such as circles or ovals.
• When printing on rectangular labels the sensors must remain aligned but unlike odd shaped labels, they can sit anywhere on the horizontal.
• This gap detection sensor mechanism uses a transmitter (light emitting unit) and a detector (light receiving unit) that must stay aligned, one over the top of the media, and one under. The media will advance in-between these 2 sensors.
• If the sensors are misaligned the printer will generate an error relaying, “paper detection error”.
• Check the alignment of these sensors before loading media. If misaligned, turn off the printer and use a small pointed tool such as a paper clip, pen tip, or tiny screwdriver to move them to an aligned position. Align the center of the circle on the adjustment tab with the scale mark.
• If you adjust the detectors with the printer powered on, the detector may malfunction resulting in starting auto paper feeding.

8. Load Media (User’s Manual, Pg. 39-51)

• All of the ColorWorks printers accept fan folded and roll media. (User’s Manual, pg. 17)
• The media is loaded after the printer is primed with ink.

Fan Folded Media is a non-continuous media that comes in a rectangular stack. The labels are alternately folded backwards and forwards, with perforations or gaps in the fold. This media is delivered in a box that is placed behind the fan fold slot, located in the back of the printer.

• The fan fold box needs to be ~5 inches away from the printer and low enough that the media smoothly flows up and into the printer without tension.

• To load the fan folded labels, open the media cover (front or back), remove the roll spindle and put aside.
• Close the blue platen release lever. The platen release lever must be closed to print. When this lever is opened, it unlocks the paper path, for easy removal.
• Load the fanfold label into the printer, ensuring it is correctly aligned and fed through the media path. When the printer detects the media advancing into the printer it will automatically grab and continue pulling the media through to the print position. 
• Close the media cover.

Roll media consist of labels on a roll, wound around a 3” core, with a max outer diameter of 8” for the C6000 and 6” for the C6500 printers.

• To load the roll media, open the media cover and remove the media spindle or carrier from the printer. (User’s Manual, Pg. 22) Insert the opened end of the spindle through the core until the roll is positioned snuggly against the closed end of the spindle.
• Attach the clear Flange to the spindle and guide it to the side of the roll to secure the roll. Squeeze the blue levers on the flange to attach or remove to/from the spindle. The roll will be sandwiched between the closed end of the spindle and the flange.
• Gently drop the loaded spindle into the designated grooves inside the printer.
• The media should be loaded with the labels advancing over the top of the roll.
• Always close the blue platen release lever before printing. When this lever is opened, it unlocks the paper path, to easily remove the media. If the platen lever is left opened when the media cover is shut, the printer will relay an error message that the media is not loaded correctly. Reload the media.
• Adjust the movable edge guide slightly wider than the width of the label. ( User’s Guide, Pg. 21) The label should enter the printer between the stationary guide (left side) and movable guide (right side). These guides keep the media advancing smoothly through an aligned path. When manually pushing the label into the printer the left edge of the label should gently contact the stationary guide. The right movable guide should not contact the edge of the label but be positioned close enough to prevent bunching and maintain alignment.
• Manually guide the free edge of the media into the printer, ensuring it has a straight edge, it is correctly aligned, and smoothly fed through the media path. When the printer detects the media advancing it will automatically grab and continue pulling the media through, to the print position.
• Close the media cover.

9. Install Printer Drivers and Software. (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 41-44)

• There are two methods to install the printer driver on a computer and connect the printer to the computer, Setup using Install Navi and Setup without using Install Navi.
• Setup using Install Navi: Follow the on-screen instructions of Install Navi to install the printer driver and connect the printer to the computer.
• Setup without using Install Navi: You can get the software from the following website. For customers in North America, go to the following web site http://www.epson.com/support/ For customers in other countries, go to the following web site: http://www.epson-biz.com/
• Printer driver installation can also be executed using the CD that comes with the printer.

10. Connect the Printer to a Computer and Configure Network Settings

(Technical Reference Guide, Pg.41-43 and Pg. 217 Information for Application Development))

• To connect to the printer via Ethernet, the network settings are required.
• When connecting to the printer via USB, the network settings are not required.
• Before starting the network settings, ask your network administrator for information required for the network settings.
• Follow the steps to set up the IP address of the printer (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 42-43)

11. Create a Print Job (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 44)

• Now that the printer driver is installed, the media settings that define the specific print job can be entered.
• Configure the settings in accordance with the specific Operating System instructions found in the Technical Reference Guide: Windows printer driver ("Printer Driver for Windows" on page 66.) Not a Windows printer driver ("Printer Setting" on page 123.)  When configuring the settings without using a computer ("Operation Panel Settings" on page 155.)
• To operate the printer driver for Windows, open Printing Preferences then select the General tab to open the settings page. (Technical Reference Guide, Pg. 66-76)
• Review the ink levels. If the ink levels are not available, there may be a connection issue.
• The design philosophy of the C6000 Series printers is to define print jobs and everything about those jobs.
• In the general settings page, enter a meaningful media name to represent the print job being created. This print job will be saved under the designated media name and defined by all the settings associated with the specific print job. Some of these settings include the label dimension, type of material, print quality, paper source, gap detection, and advanced settings. (Technical Reference Guide, Pg.66-76)
• The specific settings for this job can be retrieved or edited by entering the designated media name.

12. Perform a Test Print

• Load a test label into the printer.
• Use the printer’s control panel or the computer software to print a test page to ensure everything is working correctly.

13. Calibrate the Printer (if necessary)

• Follow the instructions in the user manual to calibrate the printer for optimal print quality.
• Calibration is found in the printers maintenance setting. 
• This may involve adjusting settings such as print alignment, color calibration, and media detection.

14. Print First Print Job

Now that the print job has been configured, verify that the screen in the operational panel is in a ready state to print, without error messages. Double-check that all entered settings are accurate then print.

Troubleshooting   (User’s Manual, Pg. 62-73)

• Refer to the troubleshooting section in the Use’s Guide for solutions to common issues. https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pos/bulk/cw-c6000_c6500_ug_en_02.pdf
• Ensure the printer firmware is up to date by occasionally checking Epson Support   https://epson.com/Support/sl/s for updates.

Maintenance   (User’s Manual, Pg. 52-61)

• Review important maintenance instructions for external and internal printer parts

Reviewing the information provided in this tutorial can help to get your print operation off to a very successful start. The CW-C6000/C6500 Series User’s Guide, Technical Reference Guide, Printer Setup demonstration video, and all other links provided are excellent resources for instruction, education, and troubleshooting.   If you encounter any challenges, or need additional assistance, don’t hesitate to contact Epson support at 1-562-276-1314/ Opt. 3, or Mediajet at customerservice@mediajet.com / 904-222-6840.