Printronix T4204 manual Controlling Print Quality, Cleaning the Printhead

Chapter 5 Troubleshooting Common Situations

Controlling Print Quality

Two factors have the greatest effect on print quality:

•The amount of heat applied by the printhead (print intensity)

•The speed at which media is moving under the printhead (print speed)

For example, low-cost direct thermal media often have very high reaction temperatures, which means that it takes a great deal of heat to make a clear image. Resin ribbons and film media may also require higher print intensity for a quality image.

The printer provides two ways to increase the heat:

•Running the printer slower by changing the print speed via the host or the PRINTER CONTROL menu.

•Setting the print intensity to a higher value with the Print Intensity function, accessed via the host or through the PRINTER CONTROL menu. This causes more heat to be transferred into the media, thereby generating a darker image.

Also, the printhead should be cleaned frequently to ensure that foreign material does not accumulate on the printhead and interfere with heat transfer. If smears, voids or white lines appear in the printed form, the printhead should be cleaned with a printhead cleaning pen or a cotton swab moistened with isopropyl alcohol (see Figure 7).

The cleaning should be done as a matter of routine whenever you install a new ribbon (thermal transfer mode) or when you install new media (direct thermal mode).

Figure 7. Cleaning the Printhead

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