How to maintain your Series 3 label printer

Having a thermal label printer can bring many advantages to your business.

Letting you print high quality, durable labels as and when you need them, thermal labels are a time-saving and cost-effective option for your company.

At Soabar, our very own Series 3 label printer makes printing easier than ever. It can easily call up stored labels, add variable information such as batch codes and can print from a USB memory stick or the internal memory of the printer. Giving you labels at the touch of a button, the Series 3 printer can even be used with a battery pack as a mobile label printer when you need it.

To get the most from your printer, it needs to be maintained often. Regular maintenance is the key to keeping your printer in its best condition and is useful for preventing and fixing any issues before they become expensive and time-consuming.

 

How to maintain your Series 3 printer

Printers are damaged by a range of elements, such as humidity, heat, ribbon and paper quality as well as general wear and tear. Most of the common printer problems are caused by a built up of dust and dirt, which makes regular cleaning a priority for your printer maintenance.

Regular cleaning is a great way to make sure all dust and dirt is removed from your machines and your print head is in great condition. For your print head, the most common methods of cleaning are using isopropyl alcohol or cleaning cards. The isopropyl alcohol is used either on a wipe or swab and is great at dissolving any residue and dirt from the print heads. Cleaning cards clean the print head and remove a build-up of dirt, but should be used only sparingly as they could damage the print heads and rollers with frequent use.

When it comes to regular cleaning, a good rule of thumb to follow is to clean the print heads and rollers every time you install a new ribbon or roll of paper. It’s also good to remember that when cleaning the print head, be careful not to touch anywhere but the edges. If your print head is worn or damaged, it will need replacing.

After cleaning, make sure all your ribbons are installed correctly. If your ribbon is creased, it could cause diagonal streaks through your printing caused by uneven spacing pressure. If your ribbon is creased, it needs to be tightened and reloaded into the printer.

When carrying out maintenance, make sure you’re using the right type of ribbon and paper for the job. By using low-quality products, you could cause a build-up of wax within your printer, resulting in expensive damages.

 

Conclusion

How often you do maintenance depends on how often you use your printer.

As well as carrying out your own cleaning, it’s also a good idea to have your printer professionally maintained to ensure there are no issues or potentially expensive faults and damages that might be hidden.  

If you’ve spotted anything different with your printer, such as lower quality images, slower printing times, incomplete or streaked images, quickly wearing out print heads or even printer alerts, your printer should be maintained.

At Soabar, we offer our own maintenance service to ensure your printer is always running as it should. With over 30 years of experience in servicing all brands of thermal printers, you can guarantee your printer is in safe hands.

Need more information about when to service your thermal printer? Get in touch with our team today.