SATO CL608VA, CL612VA manual Print Potentiometer

Section 3: Cleaning and Maintenance

PROCEDURES CL408 and CL412

ADJUSTING THE PRINT QUALITY

The CL4XX printers are equipped with two different methods of adjusting the quality of the print: print darkness and speed. When adjusting the printer for optimum print quality, a bar code verifier system should be used. The human eye is a poor judge of the relative widths of the bars in a symbol, a characteristic that is extremely important for good bar code quality.

Darkness (Print)

This adjustment allows the user to control (within a specified range) the amount of power that is used to activate the individual print head heat elements. It is important to find a proper print darkness level based on your particular label and ribbon combination. The printed images should not be too light nor should the ink from the ribbon “bleed.” The edges of each image should be crisp and well defined.

The Print Darkness can be set using the front panel LCD panel (see page 2-16) or by downloading the setting using the Print Darkness software command (see page 4-58). There are five ranges, 1 , 2, 3, 4 and 5, with setting 1 giving the lightest print and 5 the darkest print . Once the range has

been selected, the PRINT Potentiometer on the front panel can be used to make finer adjustments.

PRINT Potentiometer

The fine adjustment for Print Darkness is the PRINT potentiometer on the operator panel. It provides a continuous range of adjustment, allowing you to make precise changes. Use a small cross-point screwdriver, turning clockwise for darker print and counterclockwise for lighter print. See Section 2: Installation and Configuration for instructions on performing potentiometer adjustments.

NOTE: The PRINT potentiometer adjustment will affect the darkness in all of the command code speed ranges, i.e. if the PRINT potentiometer is adjusted for lighter print, the darkness will be lighter in all speed ranges selected by the command code.

Print Speed

The other method of controlling print quality is by controlling the speed at which the label is printed. This adjustment is made only on an individual label basis using the either the Print Speed command code or the CL4XX LCD display panel. For more details on this command, see page 4-62 in Section 4: Programming. Changing the print speed allows the user to control the amount of time allowed for print element cooling before the media is stepped to the next print position. It is especially critical

SATO CL Series Printers 9001035 Rev. E Page 3-7