What is Thermal Transfer Printing?
Thermal Transfer Printing is a method where heat is used to transfer ink from a ribbon onto a substrate. For example, for the printing of barcodes and other variable information.
Why are there unprinted diagonal lines on my barcode or other variable data?
At times, you may come across unprinted diagonal lines on your barcode. This is a commonly seen issue that is easy to solve with just a bit of troubleshooting. In the picture below, we have recreated this issue for you to demonstrate what it may look like.
In the majority of these cases, unprinted diagonal lines may appear on your print due to the ribbon being wrinkled. But worry not, we have created an easy step-by-step guide to help you solve this:
Step 1: Check inside your thermal transfer printer
First of all, let’s take a look inside the printer. In the vast majority of cases, you will see that the ribbon is not covering the print-head and the label at its full width. On top of that, very often wrinkling is noticeable.
Step 2: Open the print-head and take a look at the positioning of your Thermal Transfer Ribbon
Realigning your Thermal Transfer Ribbon is a crucial step. To ensure proper alignment, open up the print-head and wind up the ribbon until it’s at its full width again.
In the picture below, you can see that we winded up our Thermal Transfer Ribbon until it was at its full width covering the entire label. When you achieve this, step 2 is completed.
Step 3: Close your thermal transfer printer and do a test run
Once your alignment is correct, close your Thermal Transfer Printer and initiate a test run. When all steps are correctly carried out, this should have solved your issue. Are you still experiencing unprinted diagonal lines? Then reach out to us, our TTR Experts are here to help you optimise your print results and find the right Thermal Transfer Ribbons to your needs!
