Thermal Barcode Printers

These articles were designed to be a complete introductory course in Thermal Barcode Printer Technology. They are designed to be gone through in order, but each can be used as a standalone refresher in the various topics related to Thermal Barcode Printers.

Thermal Barcode Printers: Why Use a Thermal Barcode Printer?

by ScanSource Technical Services September 9, 2010 Barcode Printing

Why do I need a special printer just to print barcode labels? Customers often have existing printers they feel they should be able to use for their labeling needs. To understand the advantages of Thermal Barcode Printers, lets start by taking a look a couple of alternative printing options. Dot Matrix: Poor quality Can’t print [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: Key Components

by ScanSource Technical Services September 9, 2010 Barcode Printing

Key components of a Thermal Barcode Printer The basic functionality of all thermal barcode printers is pretty much the same. Because of that there are some key features inherent to all thermal barcode printers. Printhead The thermal printhead is made up of a series of heating elements. Each individual element is called a dot. As [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: What is Direct Thermal Barcode Printing?

by ScanSource Technical Services September 10, 2010 Barcode Printing

Now that we have taken a look at our barcode printing options, let’s focus our attention on Thermal Barcode Printers. The first concept we are going to look at is the difference between the two primary printing methods: Direct Thermal and Thermal Transfer. Both technologies have their advantages and disadvantages. Which one you chose is [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: What is Thermal Transfer Barcode Printing?

by ScanSource Technical Services September 14, 2010 Barcode Printing

Thermal Transfer: Uses a ribbon to transfer ink to label Crisper printing (important for barcode compliance) Long life span for printed labels Wide range of media material types Ribbon protects printhead, prolonging its usage Used when label is needed for longer period of time Used when label is required to be exposed to harsh environments [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: A look at Printhead and DPI Requirements

by ScanSource Technical Services September 15, 2010 Barcode Printing

In real simple terms a Thermal Printhead is made up of a series of perfectly square heating elements over a ceramic substrate. These heating elements are usually referred to as dots. The number of these dots per inch (dpi) indicate the resolution of the printhead. The standard DPIs are 203, 305, 406, 609. The higher [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: Explaining Top of Form

by ScanSource Technical Services September 16, 2010 Barcode Printing

Every printer needs a way of locating the Top of Form (top of the label.) Thermal Barcode Printers have two ways of doing this. Which one you use depends on the type of label you are using. How the printer locates the Top of Form Gap/Notch Media Black Line Media (Black Bar, Mark) Continuous Media [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: Explaining Media and Ribbons

by ScanSource Technical Services September 16, 2010 Barcode Printing

Labels What’s important to keep in mind is there is a media for every application, be that a simple shipping label that only needs to last 3 days, or a warning label that needs to last 10 years on the side of a fishing boat in the North Atlantic. Both are labels, and both can [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: An Introduction to Options

by ScanSource Technical Services September 16, 2010 Barcode Printing

Now that we have a pretty good understanding of how Thermal Barcode Printers work in general, let’s take a look at some common options. Peel and Present: Dispense Mode Self Strip Present Sensor Most label stock comes on a substrate (backing material). In many applications you don’t want the worker to have to spend the [...]

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Thermal Barcode Printers: An Introduction to Interfaces

by ScanSource Technical Services September 16, 2010 Barcode Printing

The interface is how the host that is generating the print job communicates with the printer. No one printer is going to support all of these possible interfaces so it can be important to know ahead of time how your customer intends to connect to the host so you can make sure the printer is [...]

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