Setup
Loading Transfer Ribbon
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P1062653-002 Rev. A ZD500 Series™ Thermal Transfer Printer User’s Guide 1/16/2014
4. Rotate the thumb wheel on the left side of the supply spindle towards the rear of the
printer until the ribbon is pulled tight across the printhead.
5. Verify that the media is loaded and ready to print and then close the printer cover.
6. Press the Feed button to have the printer feed a minimum of 10 cm (4 inches) of media to
remove slack and ribbon wrinkle, and to align the ribbon on the spindles.
7. Change the print mode setting from direct thermal printing to thermal transfer to set the
printer’s temperature profiles for thermal transfer media. This can be done with the printer
driver, application software, or printer programming commands.
• When controlling printer operations with ZPL programming, refer to the Media Type
(^MT) ZPL II command (follow the instructions in the ZPL Programming Guide).
8. To verify the mode change from direct thermal printing to thermal transfer printing, use
the Test Printing with Configuration Report Printouts onpage 27 to print a configuration
label. The ‘PRINT METHOD’ should read ‘THERMAL-TRANS’ on the printer
configuration status label.
Your printer is now ready to print.
Your media may need a ‘Manual Calibration’ to adjust the printer’s sensors and label length
setting to operate properly. See the Manual Calibration - Media onpage 75. If you are using
RFID media, run a RFID Calibration procedure, see the RFID Menu onpage 65 - RFID
CALIBRATE for details.