Kodak Photo Printer Paper Jam: How to Clear the 605, 305 and 6850

A Kodak photo printer paper jam usually clears without opening anything: on the 605, 6800 and 6850, the Paper Rewind button on the operator panel pulls the stuck paper back in, and the full manual clear takes about five minutes if that fails. We build photo booth software and run our own booths, and the Kodak 305/605 we run ourselves has jammed mid-event, so this guide is written from the operator side of the queue. Quick clear first, then the full procedure per model, what the error messages actually mean, when a jam is really hardware, and the habits that stop it happening again.

Try the rewind button first (605, 6800, 6850)

The rewind button is the cheapest technician you will ever hire. This is Kodak's own first method, straight from the 605 and 6850 manuals:

• Kodak 605. Press and hold Paper Rewind until the panel shows Paper Empty. Open the paper door, cut off any damaged or printed section of paper square with scissors, and reload the roll. When the panel shows Ready, the jam is cleared.
• Kodak 6800 and 6850. Press Paper Rewind until Paper Empty appears, then press Paper Advance to re-load — the printer feeds out, cuts and discards a short blank strip, and shows Ready. No opening, no trimming. If Paper Jam survives that, go to the manual procedure below.

The Kodak 305 has no rewind shortcut, it goes straight to the manual procedure below. And one caution before anything else: never pull paper out abruptly, and never let anything scratch or mark the rollers. A marked roller prints its scar on every photo after.

The full clearing procedure, model by model

If the panel still complains, or you run a 305, open the machine. No scissors, screwdrivers or anything sharp inside the paper path, trimming happens outside the printer.

Kodak 605

1. Turn the printer off.
2. Open the paper door, then the top cover, and lift the ribbon out of the way.
3. Look inside and carefully remove every piece of paper, gently and slowly.
4. Cut the damaged or printed section off square, reload paper and ribbon, close up and power on.

Kodak 6800 and 6850

1. Turn the printer off and open the upper cover.
2. Remove the ribbon.
3. Pull the jammed paper out slowly and carefully.
4. Cut off any damaged or printed areas, reload, power on.

One quirk worth knowing: near the end of a roll, the remaining tail of paper can be too short to eject itself, so the Paper Jam message stays up even though nothing is really wrong. That one always needs the manual route and a fresh roll.

Kodak 305

1. With the power on, press OPEN and slide the printing unit out.
2. Remove the ribbon cassette and open the door.
3. Pull the defective paper out in the direction of the arrow, then cut the defective and printed part off with scissors. Skip that cut and the ribbon sticks to the paper and tears on the next print, one jam becomes two problems.
4. Clean the thermal head and the platen roller while you are in there, the manual asks for it and it takes a minute.
5. Wind all the slack out of the paper roll, reinstall paper then ribbon, close the door and push the unit shut. Slack left in the roll is the classic cause of an immediate second jam.

Run DNP printers too? The philosophy differs. A DS-RX1HS or DS620A has no rewind button, you always open up and pull by hand along the paper path, though the DS620A slides out drawer-style much like the 305. The full procedure is in our DNP paper jam guide.

Ribbon error or paper jam? Reading the messages

Kodak printers tell you which problem you have, if you know the vocabulary:

The one that fools people is Check Ribbon after a jam. The ribbon is usually fine, it is stuck to the sheet you did not finish removing. Clear the paper completely and the ribbon error clears with it.

Why it jammed: the usual causes

That storage number is Kodak's own spec for its print kits: 30 C or lower, 60 percent relative humidity or lower. That means a media box in a hot car boot or a damp storeroom is quietly preparing your next jam before the roll is even loaded.

When it is actually hardware

Most jams are one of the causes above and your own two hands are the cure. Suspect the machine itself when:

• The jam repeats in the same spot with fresh media, a careful reload and a clean path. Worn or marked rollers steer paper crooked no matter how well you load.
• Cutter jam keeps returning after you have cleared every scrap. The 605's manual defines it as the cutter failing to travel fully to one side, and a cutter that cannot finish its stroke on a clean path is a mechanism problem, not a paper problem.
• The panel shows Mecha Error XX or Service XX.YY.ZZ. Those are the printer's own service codes. Write down the full code and the serial number before you call, the technician will ask.

Be honest about age, too. These Kodak models have been working events for a long time and many booth units are second-hand. Weigh a repair quote against what the printer is worth, a second-hand backup that keeps you booking events often beats an expensive repair on a tired machine. A dead printer mid-event costs the reprint, the refund and the review. And if it is the camera half of your booth acting up instead, that checklist is in our guide to Canon errors on a photo booth.

Preventing jams on booth duty

• Trim square, every time. A clean, straight leading edge is the whole game on a dye-sub printer. On Kodaks specifically, an uncut printed section costs you a ribbon as well.
• Wind out the slack before you close a 305, and seat rolls straight on all of them. Most jams are born in the thirty rushed seconds of a media change.
• Clean the thermal head and platen roller at media changes. The 305 manual makes it explicit after every jam, and it is a good habit on the whole family.
• Store media sealed, cool and dry. Under 30 C, under 60 percent humidity, in the bag until loading.
• Keep kits together. A 6R print kit is ribbon and paper matched for 750 4x6 prints on the 605, 6800 and 6850. Mixing halves of different kits invites ribbon errors and misplaced cuts.
• Give it clean power. Dye-sub printers draw hardest exactly while printing, and a voltage sag mid-print can abort a sheet and misalign the next. If your venues have questionable electricity, read our guide to venue power problems that kill photo booth gear.
• Test print at setup, every event. One print catches a curled roll or a mismatched kit while there is still time to fix it quietly.

One habit beats them all: find out about printer trouble before the guest does. Booth Health in Pix Pro shows your booth's status remotely so a printer problem pings your phone instead of surprising your queue. It is our own product, and the free plan on the download page is the easy way to start.

Jam cleared and thinking about the rest of your setup? Start with the best camera for a photo booth, and if your venues have sketchy electricity, the venue power guide is the other half of keeping a printer alive. Baca panduan ini dalam bahasa Indonesia.