Thermal Printer Tips

Misbehaving barcode printers.

Thermal printers are popular because they are so reliable, but like anything mechanical, it wears out. Your printer has a couple of components that are more prone to wear so I’d like to help you spot problems and learn how to prevent them.

Platen roller.

The platen roller is the soft rubber roller that pulls the labels under the printhead.

Printing on a damaged or worn platen roller is like writing on paper where the desk is scratched or bumpy. Slowly the print quality on your labels or tags gets worse and worse. Damaged platen rollers produce faded labels, light and dark patches of printing and wrinkled ribbons.
Old labels stuck to your platen roller or cutting labels off your printer with a knife or blade can also damage your platen roller.

You can reduce wear by regularly cleaning the roller with a cloth dipped in isopropyl alcohol, or using a print head saver wipe. If you need a replacement platen roller for your printer – email me for a quote, telling me the make and model of your printer.

Printhead.

Printheads wear out. It’s inevitable. How can you tell if your printhead is faulty? White lines appear on your labels where it should be black.

It becomes a problem when a bar in your barcode is missing – because further down the distribution chain it won’t read (not to mention looking bad).
You can save yourself money by looking after your printheads so they don’t wear out so quickly.

• Clean them with a special Print Head Cleaning Wipe every time you change a label roll or ink ribbon. (If you would like a free sample of one of these wipes, please email us and we''ll post one out to you)
• Keep your labels and ink ribbons dust free.
• Adjust the printhead temperature to it’s lowest acceptable level and if you can adjust printhead pressure (not all printers can), reduce that as well.
• Always use an ink ribbon that overlaps the edges of your labels – so you don’t have abrasive label material rubbing against the printhead.
• If you fear your printhead is worn, or you want wider ink ribbons email for a quote including the make and model of your printer.

Service and Maintenance Contracts.

Service and maintenance contracts give you the security of knowing that if your printer needs repairing it will be done promptly and efficiently. We can offer these contracts for most makes and models of printers so please email our Service Specialist, Debbie King, for a quotation.

We''re here to give you help and advice so please feel free to call us on Freephone 08008 560 588.