It is one of those things that should be easy, until it is not. You load a ribbon and some labels into your printer and start printing. Usually it works, no problem. But sometimes things are not working the way that they should.
Is it a printer setting? Is something broken in the printer? Or do you just have a bad match between the thermal ribbon and the label material that you are printing on? Labels are such a basic product; you wouldn’t think that they are complicated. But they are, and when you start breaking down all of the variables, you start to see why things can go wrong with label printing so quickly.
The first mistake that we see customers make is trying to use direct thermal labels where they really need thermal transfer. Life is so much easier if you just load the label in the printer, and they print without having to match a ribbon with the label. But, unless your label only needs to last a few days or weeks, direct thermal labels will not hold up.
So, now we know that you need thermal transfer labels. That is when the questions really start piling up. What type of label material, what type of adhesive, what type of liner, and most important, what ribbon will work with the label material chosen.
We have ribbon guides that will give us a general indication, but to really be sure, we need to test print the label material with the ribbon options that we have. First you be sure that the print looks good, then you start rubbing and scratching the label face to really be sure that the ribbon is adhering to the label stock.
Who is going to do all of that work for you to be sure that your labels will print well and hold up? The EMP Tech Group, of course. If you need help with this, feel free to reach out to us.