Zebra Printer Prints Too Light

Possible Causes:

• Zebra Printer Darkness Adjustment 

• Zebra Printer Pressure Adjustment

• Zebra Printer Print Speed

• Zebra Printer Label and Ribbon combination

• Label Software Darkness settings

• Zebra Printer Print head Position

When a Zebra printer prints too light, the print head was not able to bond the ribbon material to the labels or the direct-thermal label was not heated sufficiently to darken to a readable image. The amount of heat (energy) applied to the material is related to the temperature of the printhead, the pressure applied to the printhead, and the amount of time the material is under the head.

The Zebra printer darkness setting effects the amount of energy, and heat applied to the label when momentarily under the row of print head elements. Increasing the darkness setting in the Zebra printer is always a good place to start. If you have label software adjust the heat or darkness setting in the printing software. Too much heat will cut the ribbon (like a heat knife). This will fuse melted ribbon backing material to the printhead causing voids in print that look like streaks that move around on the material.

The Zebra printer pressure adjustment is one of the more flexible features on a Zebra printer. The position of the pressure feet and the degree of pressure applied can have a crucial effect on the darkness of the printed image. (especially on applications using resin ribbons). Too much pressure will prematurely wear your print head to the point where it may need replacement. Certain label and ribbon combinations require more pressure than others. Generally, wax ribbon with paper labels requires the least pressure and resin ribbon with gloss synthetic labels requires the most pressure and also results in the most durable image.

Zebra printers and other brands often have specifications that state print speeds as great as 12"/sec.