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We have a great deal of expertise in solving general Labelling and Label Printing problems for users with difficult application requirements.

If you have a Labelling or Label Printing problem that that you cannot find the answer too, why not try asking Lancer Labels, we will do our utmost to give you a suitable solution on this FAQ page.

Will you have to buy from Lancer if you ask a question? - No!!! there is no obligation

What's in it for Lancer Labels you ask? - We can use our extensive knowledge in this area and if we don't know the answer, we can increase our knowledge by using our contacts in the industry to give you an answer.

Just contact us and see for yourself.

Lancer Labels will not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage (including, but not limited to, loss of income or profit) arising out of or in connection with this website or any information contained in or downloaded from this website, except to the extent that such liability may not be excluded at law.

 

Q1 - I want to find out more about bar coding, where do I start?

A1 - This is a very common question, we recommend you visit these links and read up on the subject. If you still have questions. please do not hesitate to contact us directly. Bar coding Terminology Barcoding information

 

Q2 - My Zebra 105 printer is starting print halfway across the label, can you urgently get a service engineer to look at it.

A2. - It sounds as if the printer is not detecting the edge of the label, perform a media calibration and try again. If it still happens check that there is no debris/dust in the paper sensor path On this printer it will be a black plastic device on the top and bottom of the paper path next to the chassis. The customer checked and found a piece of label obscuring part of the sensor, they saved a very expensive service call.

NB - Yes! Lancer Labels could have sent a service engineer, however we are the first line of defence for our customers, it's part of our service to help the customer get back into operation by the best means.

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Q3. - These labels you provided for my TEC372 printer will not work, the print will not align on the label.

A3 - There are variations in the material properties of both the paper label and the backing paper that can result in the printer not sensing the gap between labels. Some printers have a media calibration routine to cope with this. With the TEC372 you can choose between 3 sensors settings.
Reflective - For use with labels with a black sensor mark on the backing paper
Transmissive1 - For use with most standard paper and backings.
Transmissive2 - For use with Pre printed labels or when media will not work with sensor 1.
Change your sensor selection to Transmissive 2, this can be found in Printer Setup.

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Q4. - We have to cure our products in an oven at 143 Deg C for 20 minutes, we want to label them prior to going into the curing procedure. We have tried normal paper labels but they sometimes fall off, can you help.

A4 - A normal paper label and adhesive is not meant for this type of environment. There are a number of high temperature synthetic label materials that may suit this environment Before going to this expense you could try using a quality laser label, they tend to have a better resistance to heat than normal paper labels as they are subjected to heat during the laser printing process. Let me know how you get on.

 

Q5. - We currently use a Polyester label with sequential numbers for warranty purposes, on equipment's that we sell. We suspect that some customers are moving the labels between equipment's and claim warranty on items that are out of warranty date. Do you have any idea what we can do to prevent this.

A5. - This is quite a common occurrence. There are several types of "Tamper Evident" labels that can be used in this application.
Type 1 - The label is destroyed when removal is attempted, available in Vinyl, Paper and Polyolefin.
Type 2 - This label leaves a diamond or chequerboard pattern or the word "void" when removal is attempted, available in Metallised Polyester.
Either of these labels should be suitable for your application, they can be preprinted with sequential numbers and replaced when service or warranty takes place.

 

Q6. - We manufacture flat computer cables that have ridges on the surface, our current vinyl labels are peeling off after several days, do you have any solutions to this?.

A6. - Normal permanent adhesive requires a flat surface for good adhesion. The cables you use are used in most PCs and the ridges do not allow sufficient surface area for good adhesion. I suggest you try a label with a Hi Tak or rubber based adhesive, both of these types are very aggressive adhesives and should be suitable for your application.

 

Q7. - We are a large Direct Distribution company running MRP SAP R4, we are having problems finding a suitable SAP Barcode software and printers with a reliable ethernet. What do you recommend?.

A7. - We have recently installed three Zebra 170XiII printers with integral ethernet interfaces onto a SAP R4 system and used Zebra's Bar-One R4 bar-coding software for generating the labels for these printers. Zebra have developed their Bar-One software for SAP R4 with a lot of thought and it seems to integrate easily into the system. There are other bar-code software's on the market and the review I am sending you will help you to make your choice for your particular application requirement.

 

Q8. - We are an Actuary and have a lot of documents each day that we need to scan the signatures, our current method is using a flatbed scanner but this is too slow, can you suggest an alternative.

A8. - A flatbed scanner is fine for scanning a full sheet but when you want to scan a small signature it still has to scan the whole page and subsequently takes a long time. You also have to select the signature area and save it a a bitmap file - long winded. 
We would suggest an "Image Capture Scanner", it can be used for linear barcodes, 2D barcodes and signatures or other small image areas. It will instantaneously scan the image and save as a bitmap, which can then be recalled as required. Visit our and click on the manufacturers logo to see what is available. Our personal preference for this application would be the Welch Allyn ImageTeam 4410LR.

 

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Q9. - I bought some clear thermal transfer labels but when I try to print, the print misaligns as the labels are printed ( it moves up the label). Do you know what is causing this, I have tried changing all of the sensor settings and have to set at continuous to get any print, all other settings indicate there is no paper or paper jam.

A9. - The media sensors require either a "Black Line" (Reflective sensor) or a change in "Light Transmission" (Transmissive sensor) between the backing paper and label. The sensor cannot tell where the edge of your labels are as they are clear and light passes through, there is no change in transmission or reflection. You require a black mark printed in between each label and set the sensor to "Black Mark". Your label supplier should have known this, if you explained that you were using a thermal transfer printer. See Answer 3

 

Q10. - Do you know where I can get Thermal printer drivers.

A10. - The first stop if you want the latest driver is your printer manufacturers site. As we know from experience the manufacturers driver is not always the most suitable for your application, we use "Seagull Scientific" drivers or "Nice Drivers". These drivers sometimes give you facilities that would normally be available using DOS commands or manufacturers program language.

 

Q11. - We want to ensure that the barcodes we print are able to be read by our customers scanners.

A11. - There are 2 ways of doing this.
1/ Use a normal barcode scanner to check the barcode as it is printed, this checks that the barcode is readable by your scanner and probably your customers. CAUTION! It does not tell you that the barcode print is within specification and likely to be read by all scanners operating within specification.
2/ To check if the barcode is printed to specification you would need a "Bar Code Verifier". If your barcode passed verification you can be sure that it will be read by your customers scanners. If it is not read by their scanner, then you can be sure that it is their scanner that is at fault, not your printed barcode. In the past we have used PSC verifiers.

 

Q12. - Our thermal printhead is missing some dots, we have been quoted extortionate prices to have an engineer change it, can we buy the printhead and fit it our selves.

A12. - We would not recommend you change the printhead yourself, it is easy to misalign the printhead or mark the thermal elements whilst fitting. Don't expect the printhead supplier to swap the printhead if you get it wrong and damage it - they won't.
Having advised you against it, you can do it yourself if you have an experienced electromechanical technician available. The ease of changing a printhead varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, I strongly suggest purchasing the Service Manual for your printer before trying to fit the printhead. Best of Luck!

 

Q13 - We are a retail outlet with 3 shops and we want to print bar code labels to put on goods as they come in. We do not have a computers in the shops, can you suggest a solution.

A13 - What you require is a Stand Alone printing system. The label templates are pre programmed into the printer and then recalled from the printer keyboard when required. See the following site
http://www.zebra.com/ for the Eltron/Zebra range of stand alone printers.

Labels and ribbons can be supplied separately to your requirements.

 

Q14 - We are a manufacturing company and currently have old DOS based labelling software with printers that are 7 years old. We want to update the complete labelling system with 4 printers, 3 label design/print stations and 2 Print Only stations, with a possibility of increasing the number of users when required. The price we have been quoted for networking licenses is outrageous, can you suggest an economical solution to this.

A14 - Software network licenses tend to be expensive, we have recently evaluated a new software, which you should look at. 
Seagull Scientific's BarTender software - Enterprise Version is aimed at networking for Windows and Non Windows platforms. The unusual thing about it is you have unlimited network users and pay only for the number of printers that you have connected. In your case this means you can purchase a 5 printer licence and have the software available to all the network users.

Go to our page where you will find a download link, let us know what you think.

 

Q16 - We are a medium sized Gymnasium with about 5000 members. We want to issue each member with a Magnetic membership card with their name and photograph on it. The cards also need to be compatible with our swipe door entry system, which uses Hi Co cards. We have had prices for a card printing company to produce the first 5000 cards and then ad-hoc cards, but this is very expensive. Do you have a cost effective solution?.

A16 - There are a number of manufacturers of plastic card printers that would suit your requirements, which has a high initial throughput but then would only be used when you need to issue a card as a replacement or to a new member. Look at the Eltron P310i printer is light duty and would suit your requirements. Magnetic stripe cards and Colour YMCKO ribbons will be available from the supplier of the printer.

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Q17 - We have an Eltron Thermal Transfer printer and have lost the user manual, can you tell me where to get a new one.

A17 - You can get a new manual from local Distributor/Reseller of your printer. Alternatively most manufacturers now have a download section on their web site, where you can download various documents such as user manuals. Go to our printer page and click on your manufacturers logo.

 

Q18 - I have a thermal transfer printer and I am having problems with printing labels from Word using Windows 95.

A18 - All thermal transfer printers are capable of printing from Word using a suitable Windows Printer Driver. 
Your windows system is now aging and it is possible that you may have the wrong printer driver for your system, try downloading the latest windows driver for your printer from the manufacturers site (see A17), ensuring it will support Win 95.
After installing the driver open it up and set all of the parameters to suit your label. From word ensure that the page settings are suitable for your label. Design your label and select print, select your printer and check that the properties are correct. You should now be able to print any size label suitable for your printer. (See A10 for alternative drivers)

 

Q19 - Do you know where I can get labelling software that will produce Hazardous material symbols and warnings.

A19 - We would recommend Epitag Elite with the HazChem module (software). This package will produce labels with the various HazChem symbols, Risk and Safety text, also has the ability to modify the HazChem database and translate into other languages.

 

Q20 - We are a county ambulance service with 3 ambulance depots. We have a lot of equipment in each ambulance and in our stores that we are having trouble tracking. Ideally we would like to audit each ambulance for equipment when it has finished its shift and the stores occasionally. To complicate matters We have one server for the 3 depots and another server for the admin/stores and a requirement to run software from PCs/Laptops.

A20 - Our recommendation for this application would be the EasyTrak asset tracking system.
EasyTrak systems are available in PC or Laptop versions and are supplied with tracking software, portable scanners, fixed scanners and asset labels. Extra options are customised labels and a label printer. This system will enable you to use the PC system with portable scanners for the 3 depots and the Laptop systems with fixed scanner for Admin and stores. The full exception reporting facility will enable you to track assets throughout your organisation.

Q21. - I have recently changed to polyester labels to get a longer life, However the print quality is not very good and smudges when rubbed. Help!!!!

A21. - Firstly try increasing the contrast or printhead heat setting, this can be found in your printer setup. If this does not work, you are probably using a wax ribbon which is normally used on paper labels but sometimes works on polyester. You will need to obtain a Wax/Resin or Resin/PolyResin ribbon, these are more expensive and are very effective on synthetic materials, such as polyester, vinyl etc. (don't forget to reset your contrast to nominal)

 

Q23 - I have an Eltron TLP2742 printer and have just purchased a ZebraTLP2844 printer. The ribbons for the 2742 will not fit the 2844, why is this?

A23 – Zebra took over Eltron some time ago and brought out the new 28xx range of printers to replace the 27xx range, unfortunately the 28xx range was designed so that it can only take a 74M long ribbon and not the 91M as in the 27xx range. The 91M ribbons will not fir into the new range but the 74M ribbons will fit both ranges. So if you want to continue using the 2742 use only the 74M ribbons.

 

 

Disclaimer - Whilst we take every effort to ensure our answers are correct, we cannot accept any responsibility for actions you may take after reading this page.