Resolving Print Quality Issues on Zebra Mobile Printers

Details

Description

Print Quality Adjustments and Configurations

Applies To

All CPCL enabled Zebra Mobile Printers

Requirements

Communication with printer and ability to send files/commands to the printers  Read More>>

Overview

Below are some basic troubleshooting steps to help resolve print quality issues in CPCL enabled Zebra Mobile Printers

Procedure

Print Quality Adjustments and Configurations

This solution is useful for

• Adjusting the quality of the printed image
• Setting the print darkness

Symptoms addressed by this solution include

• Light print
• Faded image
• Partially missing print
• Broken bars or lines in a barcode
   

Darkness setting

• Setting or changing the Print Darkness can be done using the Tone or Contrast command in CPCL.  The Contrast command is an older command that is still available in newer printers to make them backward compatible. The Tone command is recommend if it is available in your printer model.  Read More>>
• The QLn Series Printer is a native ZPL printer and may require a different setup for the darkness and print quality.  Read More>>
   

Faded or poor print

• To ensure print quality make sure the print head is clean.

Use the supplied cleaning pen or 99.7% isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab to clean the print elements from end to end.  The print elements are located in the thin gray line on the printhead.

The printhead should be cleaned after every five rolls of media (or more often, if needed)

• The battery needs to be fully charged to insure proper print quality.  Read More>>
• For best print quality insure verify the quality of the media being used. 

Print head location  Read More>>

No print

• The media needs to be "direct thermal"  Read More>>
• If communications is via the serial port, the baud rate of the host device needs to match that of the printer  Read More>>
• The battery needs to be charged  Read More>>
• If the printer receives an invalid label format it may not print. One may need to put the printer in "hex dump" mode to diagnose label formatting issues.  Read More>>
   

Partial or missing print

• Check media alignment
• Clean the printhead
   

Use the supplied cleaning pen or 99.7% isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab to clean the print elements from end to end.  The print elements are located in the thin gray line on the print head.

The print head should be cleaned after every five rolls of media (or more often, if needed)

• Ensure the printhead is properly closed and latched
   

Garbled print

• Verify the serial baud rate. The baud rate of the printer must match that of the host device  Read More>>
• Make sure that you are appropriately sending your print job to the printer.  If sending direct printer code, do not use the ZDesigner driver but rather the generic text or output directly to a communication port  Read More>>