What is the main cause of printhead damage in bar code printers?

It is well known that bar code printheads are a very important part of all components of a bar code printer, directly affecting print quality. Since the print head of a professional thermal or thermal transfer type bar code machine is particularly vulnerable, it is easy to cause the printing work to be abnormal if it is not maintained.

Bar code printers mostly use thermal printing and thermal transfer printing. Compared with the two, the thermal printing method wears the print head and the pollution intensity is greater. Many users think that the maintenance machine has increased the expenditure. This kind of short-term investment-oriented bar code printer will inevitably bring a certain degree of loss to the production of the enterprise, and will also increase the production cost. After professional testing, the meager expenses required for regular maintenance and maintenance of the print head can save several times or even dozens of equipment repair or renewal costs.

According to professional and technical personnel, the printhead damage of bar code printers mainly comes from: in addition to human damage, such as nail contact with print head scratches, etc., the damage of the bar code printer head is mainly caused by the wear caused by high-speed printing, the high temperature environment makes the thermal Paper (thermal printer) or ribbon (thermal transfer printer) dirty print head, crack and deformation of the print head caused by high voltage or static electricity. Once the print head is damaged, there are white lines in the printed label (the print head has a row of dots that are dirty or scratched), and the printed label is blurred, and the reader cannot read the data.

When there are inconsistencies in the printout of blank dots/lines in the bar code or graphics, there may be dirt on the printhead that needs cleaning. For best results, the printhead should be cleaned regularly. Experts recommend cleaning before loading a new roll of ribbon, thermal print media, or printing continuous or folded print media over 150 meters. It is not required to turn off the power when cleaning the print head.