Thermal transfer printing technology, used in the Marsh 241D is a contact printing technology. The printhead is brought into contact with the substrate under a small print force, against a platen. There are a few factors which influence the performance and life of the printhead.
- Print platen
- the print platen rubber needs to be the correct surface and hardness.
- we recommend the use of Marsh Platen Rubber which you can buy here.
- Print force
- although the specially designed ActiveCore™ ribbon provide some protection to the printhead, the contact process described above does mean that the printhead is subject to abrasive wear over time.
- other environmental factors, such has dust, airborne acidity and moisture can also influence abrasive wear, hence print head life times cannot be guaranteed
- the surface properties of the substrate also impact printhead wear, with smooth flexible packaging being more benign than rougher, uncoated paper label substrates, for example
- for these reasons, we strongly recommend running your Marsh 241D coder at the lowest of the 3 available Print Force settings that produces adequate print quality for your needs.
- Print Heat
- thermal transfer printing involves the rapid heating and cooling of print elements on the printhead.
- the Marsh 241D/25 coder utilizes a printhead with 24mm active print elements. There are 8 elements (often referred to as "dots") per mm, hence there are 192 dots.
- the Marsh 241d/32 coder utilizes a printhead with 32mm active print elements - a total of 256 dots.
- the dots are selectively energized to melt the ink on the ribbon immediately under the dot and the ink transfers to the substrate to create the printed code.
- the amount of energy - we call it "Heat" required can vary depending on several factors, predominantly the surface of the substrate material.
- over time, this heating and cooling process also eventually wears out the printhead dots.
- for these reasons, we strongly recommend running your Marsh 241D coder at the lowest of the 3 available Print Heat settings that produces adequate print quality for your needs.
- thermal transfer printing involves the rapid heating and cooling of print elements on the printhead.
Print Force and Print Heat settings are available on the 241D Control Panel (Sign In, or Register if you have not done so already, and view/download the 241D HMI Guide from our Document Library). These settings are also available via the Marsh 241D App.
- Printhead contamination
- over time, tiny residual amounts of ink and other contaminants from the production environment will build up a residue on the surface of the printhead.
- this can cause a reduction in print performance and can lead to premature wear
- for this reason, we strongly recommend that you clean the printhead regularly after every 6 rolls of ribbon. Cleaning the printhead is a simple procedure, please see here.
- Buy our Marsh ActiveCore™ ribbon, you will get free isopropyl wipes for cleaning your printhead.
SUMMARY:
- Regularly clean the printhead
- Run at lowest Print Force setting for adequate print quality
- Run at lowest Print Heat setting for adequate print quality
- Use Marsh Platen Rubber
For all the above reasons, the printhead is a consumable item and therefore not covered by warranty. For full details, please see our Warranty and Terms & Conditions