Barcode printer tune-up tips can enhance the day-to-day operation of your company’s printing. Tune up your barcode printer for the new year and the new decade. Keep your business humming with a few simple maintenance checks. Call Barcode Southwest at 888-764-9965 to learn more!
Barcode Printer Tune-Up Tips
A few barcode printer maintenance checks each month can help your company run more efficiently.
Four Easy Steps
Printer maintenance can prevent your label images from becoming faded. This maintenance also prevents broken text or UPC images. This article provides four barcode printer maintenance tips to help your company have the highest possible print quality.
Frequent Printer Cleaning
A first barcode printer tune-up tip is to clean your printer frequently. Poor label imaging, down time and wasted materials can be eliminated with regular maintenance. Printers that generate a high to moderate volume should be cleaned weekly. Weekly cleaning can remove dust particles. Additionally, ribbon residue build up on the printhead should be removed. In contrast, printers that generate a low volume of labels can benefit from a monthly cleaning. This cleaning will remove any contaminates on the printhead and platen roller.
Clean the Printhead and Platen Roller
The second recommended barcode printer maintenance strategy is to clean your printhead and the platen roller. To prevent streaking and incomplete printing, remove buildup from chemicals, paper dust, and ribbon coating from the printhead. This will also help prevent clogging which can permanently damage the printhead. Make it a habit to clean the printhead when the thermal transfer ribbon or thermal transfer label roll is changed. Both the printhead and platen roller are fragile. Therefore, avoid touching them anywhere except on the edges. Also use only approved cleaners. The most common cleaning methods for printheads are using 99% isopropyl alcohol wipes or swabs or cleaning cards. Finally, remove any jewelry and handle the printer carefully. This will help avoid scratches and cause permanent costly printer damage.
Control Your Climate and Environment
Barcode Label Printer in a Controlled Environment
A third barcode printer tune-up tip is to control the climate and the print room environment. Dusty and/or humid climates can impact the quality of your imaging. Moisture can also cause damage to the printhead. Therefore, controlling the humidity of the print room is critical for barcode printer tune-up maintenance. Additionally, dust can also get trapped and reduce print quality and damage the printhead.
Use Quality Materials
A final factor that can affect your printhead performance is the quality of the label material. Using quality label materials can allow your printed label images to print clearly. Call Barcode Southwest to order quality materials that meet your exact print needs!
Also, be sure to consistently follow the manufacturer’s barcode printer maintenance recommendations. This includes regular preventative maintenance. Routine inspections of the equipment can identify potential problems before they become worse. These inspections can also minimize downtime while reducing the cost of repairs and service calls. Finally, following this tune-up tip can extend the life of your label printer.
Call Barcode Southwest at 1-888-764-9965 to see how we can help your company’s production with proper barcode printer maintenance. Or, complete our contact form!
Barcode Southwest is a premier supplier of barcode printers and labels for a wide range of industry applications. We supply to clients all over the Southwest region of the U.S., including, but not limited to, Houston, TX, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio.
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Posted by Lucy January 13, 2020
Barcode Printers Maintenance for Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio.
