Star Micronics NB24-10/15 user manual Download Characters DOT Graphics

CHAPTER 7

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CHARACTERS

AND DOT GRAPHICS

Subjects covered in Chapter 7 include-

*Designing and printing your own characters • User-designed graphics

Using the procedures outlined so far, all of the printer’s standard functions can be utilized. There are two additional user-defined functions available: designing and printing your own characters, and designing and printing your own dot graphics.

These two functions can be used to design and print any sym- bol, or any graphic shape. This allows you to make your own special symbols, or print a company logo. Some understanding of dot matrix technology will be useful.

DOT MATRIX PRINTING

Before you start to learn how to create your own characters,

you’ll need some understanding of how dot matrix printers work. The process is called dot-matrix printing because each character is composed of small dots arranged on a matrix, or grid. To see how that character grid gets printed, you need to take a look at the print head itself.

The print head in this printer comprises 24 wires apparently arranged in a vertical column. If you were to remove the print head and look at the wires, you would see two staggered col- umns of twelve wires. However, the timing is such that they print as one continuous column of 24 wires.

Figure 7-1 shows an enlarged schematic view of the front of