Apple Color StyleWriter 6500 General Maintenance

Routine care for the Apple Color StyleWriter 6500, from Apple's Color StyleWriter 6500 Service Source. The Service Source has no lubrication procedure.

Color StyleWriter 6500 (Apple Service Source image)

Cleaning the mechanism

Apple's cleaning information for the 6500's mechanism:

Cleaning information (Service Source, pp. 183-185)

Part	Apple's instruction
Carriage plate	Water on a clean lint-free cloth; dry carefully, as damp parts may rust
Carriage rod	Cleaning not recommended. If very dirty, wipe with a clean lint-free cloth; no water or solvents
Encoder strip	Wipe left to right (viewed from the front) with a clean lint-free cloth; do not pull hard on the strip
Purge unit	A dry cotton swab only; for bad deposits, a swab with water
Pivot assembly	Water on a clean lint-free cloth; dry carefully
Drive rollers	Water on a clean lint-free cloth; no solvents
Print cartridge contacts	Water on a clean lint-free cloth
Case parts	A mild detergent (Apple names PK 200 or Simple Green) with water on a lint-free cloth; solvents and water may be used for stubborn fingerprints

Fibre tracks

Fibres caught in ink residue on the carriage or cartridges drag through the wet ink and leave fine streaks. Remove the cartridges (do not leave them uncapped for more than eight minutes), clean the nozzle area of any cartridge with ink build-up or a fibre using a foam swab or lint-free cloth moistened with distilled water, without wiping across or towards the nozzle plate, then wipe the two black hook-shaped arms under the cartridge cradle. Refit, plug in and print a self-test page.

Cartridges

Cartridges (Service Source, pp. 7 and 30)

Apple number	Cartridge	Life
M5658G/A	Black	840 pages at 5 %
M5659G/A	Colour (cyan, magenta, yellow)	460 pages at 15 %

Apple recommends its Color Ink-Jet Premium Plus coated paper (M4792G/A Letter, M4791G/A A4).

Replacing and aligning

Never slide the carriage by hand.

1. Switch on and open the access door; the carriage centres.
2. Unplug the power cord at the printer and remove the cartridges.
3. Hold each new cartridge by its sides and remove the tape from its print head, touching only the coloured caps or black plastic.
4. Slide the cartridges into the carrier and close the blue latch over each, pressing firmly until it snaps. Both cartridges must be fitted.
5. Plug in and close the cover; the carrier moves right. A blinking Resume light means a cartridge is not seated.

Align after every new cartridge. With plain paper loaded, choose Print, select foreground printing (alignment does not work in the background), choose the Services panel, tick "Align ink cartridges before printing" and print. Pick the best-aligned horizontal and vertical sets, enter their number and letter, check the second page, and click Proceed or Align again.

Cleaning routines

With the printer on, hold Power and press Resume seven times for standard cleaning, eight for deep cleaning or nine for priming, then release Power. Each routine uses more ink than the last, priming especially, and each prints the same page. The top line of that page is composite black from the colour cartridge, the second black from the black cartridge, then cyan, magenta and yellow lines. Apple notes that missing colours or dots are almost always faulty cartridges: if three cleanings do not help, fit new ones. Cleaning is also available from the Services panel of the Mac OS driver and from the Windows Toolbox.

Purge unit and capping

If a 6500 comes in for service and the customer has had it for some time, Apple's instruction is to replace the purge unit (922-2912), which contains the capping assembly.

After replacing the logic board or mechanism

Both utilities are on the Service Source Companion CD (Diagnostic Utilities, Color SW 6500 Utilities).

• Default settings (after a new logic board): run the Color SW6500 Default Settings utility, choose the serial port and click Send File. Without it the board stays in manufacturing mode and the carriage does not centre when the door is lifted. Apple specifies the version dated 4 May 1998. Check the result on the extended diagnostic page (hold Power, press Resume 12 times): the first two NVM addresses should read "00 00", and the last thirteen pairs of the first row should read 43 6f 6c 6f 72 53 74 79 6c 65 57 72 69 (ASCII "ColorStyleWri"). If they read "ff", the wrong version of the utility was used.
• X-Y calibration (after a new logic board or mechanical assembly): run the Color SW 6500 X-Y Calibration utility, open the front cover, read the X and Y values marked on the right side of the carriage, enter them, close the cover and click Send File. On the extended diagnostic page the X and Y values are the third and fourth values in the fifth row of the NVM map, as signed 8-bit hexadecimal (02 = 2, ff = −1).

Jams, stalls and shipping

Clear paper jams by feeding the paper through, never by pulling it out: with the printer on and the access door open, press and hold Resume to drive the rollers, release and press again to reverse them. For a carriage stall, switch off, open the door and clear the carriage path, check the white plastic clutch actuator, and inspect the belt, carriage, purge unit and rod; a damaged mechanism part means a new mechanical assembly. To ship a mechanical assembly, remove the cartridges and media, fit the carriage restraint in the fourth and fifth slots on the left of the carriage plate, tape the carriage against it, cover and tape the carriage circuit board against static, and pack the mechanism in its top and bottom cushions.

Related pages

• Apple Color StyleWriter 6500
• Apple Color StyleWriter 6500 Troubleshooting Guide
• Color StyleWriter 6500 Service Source