Print Cut Off or Missing on RFID Tag

Symptom

Print is missing or cut off print when trying to print towards the leading edge of the label. 

Applies To

RFID Printers

Cause or Overview

You may experence missing or cut off print when trying to print towards the leading edge of the label.  This is generally seen when using RFID Tags that do not meet Zebra's placement specification for the printer and the data to be printed on the tag is after the ^RF ZPL command in the label format.

See Placement Specification Read More>>

For example, the following ZPL code on a 4x2 label with a tag at x = 32:

^XA
^RS8,F12,,1
^RW15,15
^FO50,290^A0N,65^FDSimple write^FS
^RFW,H,,12,E^FD112233445566778899001122^FS
^FO450,290^A0N,65^FDSimple^FS
^XZ

Produces the following label:

For the tag used in this example the recommened placement specification is x = 20.  In order to properly read or encode the tag a relative program position of F12 (32-20) is used.  This moves the label forward 12mm to encode the RFID tag. Once the label has been moved forward the leading edge of the label is past the print line and the image will be truncated.

Solution

It is recommended that any data to be printed on the label be placed before the ^RF statement in the ZPL format.  For example:

^XA
^RS8,F12,,1
^RW15,15
^FO50,290^A0N,65^FDSimple write^FS
^FO450,290^A0N,65^FDSimple^FS
^RFW,H,,12,E^FD112233445566778899001122^FS
^XZ

Produces the following label:

For full details on the above RFID commands, see the  RFID Programming Guide. Read More>>