Archive for the ‘Thermal Labels’ Category
Maintaining Thermal Label Printers
Thermal label printers provide the unrivaled services, when it comes to printing barcodes and price tags. However, you need to maintain these printers to ensure the quality of labels as well as to maximize the life span of the printer and its components. Almost every industry need thermal label printers these days and they are available in various shapes and sizes. Broadly, they are classified into direct thermal label printers and thermal transfer label printers. Direct thermal label printers use a heat sensitive, chemically treated label material to create the image directly onto the label when heat is added. The printed image or text is usually black in color. Thermal transfer label printers, as the name suggests, use a medium to transfer the printed image or text onto the label material. These printers require an ink ribbon. When heat is transferred through the print head, it melts the ribbon and transfers the ink to the label material.
Be it a direct thermal label printer, or a thermal transfer label printer, the following tips will help you in maintaining them for years.
Keeping the print head clean is very important. The manufacturer usually provides a guideline for cleaning the print head – simply follow it to maximize their life span. Print heads are usually cleaned with concentrated (70%) Isopropyl alcohol. If you are using direct thermal label printers, clean the print head as you change the label material. And for thermal transfer label printers, it must be cleaned while changing the ribbon.
Dust in the air and on the label material will gradually accumulate in your thermal label printer. The solution is to blow away the dust once or twice in every month. Apart from scratching the print quality, the dust accumulated on the printer can cause sensor issues. You can either form a compressor or use a can of air to blow away the dust. While using a compressor, opt for one that comes with a filter or moisture trap to keep the moisture away from spraying out the nozzle. And if opting for a can of air, never spray the liquid into the printer.
While removing label jams never use any sharp objects. Thermal label printers come with a platen roller made of a rubber component. This rubber component pushes the label material out once the printing process is completed. In addition, it is responsible for providing a counter pressure to your print head for an even print. Using a sharp object to remove label jams may cut the roller, which in turn, will damage the print quality and create repeating faded spot. This is a major drawback if you are printing barcode labels.
It is also important to know the resolution of the printer. For thermal label printers, the standard resolution is 203 DPI. It is good for both barcodes with low density and descriptive labels. For barcode labels with medium density, you can opt for a thermal label printer with a resolution of 300 DPI. Such printers are also good for printing large to midsized descriptive labels. For labels with high barcode density, it is recommended to opt for a printer that has a resolution of 600 DPI or more. However, the cost of the print head will increase with its resolution.