Brother LN0617001 User Manual

Fig. 1

Thermal print head

Rubber pinch roller

Fig. 7

®

Before using the P-touch, read this instruction leaflet, and then keep it
in a handy place for future reference.
With this machine, use only tape cassettes bearing the logo.

55

The stylish and portable PT-55 allows you to quickly and easily print labels anywhere you go. Simply switch on the P-touch,
enter the text, and then print out your label. You can also choose from various character sizes, styles, and framing/background
patterns in addition to underlining. In addition, you can specify the length of the label. The text can be printed on either one
or two lines and can include special symbols and accented characters. Various tape colours and two tape widths (9 mm and
12 mm) are available for creating personalised labels.

Care and precautions

•

Clean the machine using only a soft, dry cloth.

•

Use only

•

Do not expose the machine or the tape cassettes to
high temperatures, high humidity, or excessive dust.

•

If you do not intend to use the machine for an
extended period of time, remove the batteries.

•

Do not touch the tape cutter button while printing.

•

Do not touch the cutter blade.

•

Do not block the tape exit slot. (Fig. 1)

•

Do not put labels in your mouth.

•

Do not affix labels to skin.

AAA-siz

e (LR03) alkaline batteries

For a list of the tape cassettes that can be used with this machine,
refer to Accessories at the bottom of this page.

Installing/replacing

.

batteries

1) Remove the back cover by pressing in the rough
area at the top end of the machine and pulling off
the cover. (Fig. 2)

2) If a tape cassette is already installed, remove it.

For details on removing the tape cassette, refer
to Installing/changing the tape cassette.

3) If batteries are already installed, remove them.

4) Insert

5) Insert the tape cassette.

6) Attach the back cover by inserting the two hooks on

four new AAA-size (LR03) alkaline batteries

as shown below. (Fig. 3)

Be sure that the two batteries on the left side of
the P-touch are inserted with their positive poles
pointing toward the bottom end of the machine
and that the two batteries on the right side of the
P-touch are inserted with their positive poles
pointing to the top end of the machine.
Always replace all four batteries at the same time
using brand new ones.

For details on inserting the tape cassette, refer
to Installing/changing the tape cassette.

the bottom end of the cover into the matching slots
on the bottom end of the machine, then pushing
down firmly on the cover until it snaps into place.

Back cover

LN0617001

TAPE

Installing/changing the
tape cassette

1) Remove the back cover by pressing in the rough
area at the top end of the machine and pulling off
the cover.

2) If a tape cassette is already installed, remove it by
pulling it straight out.

3) Make sure that the end of the tape feeds under the
tape guides as shown below. (Fig. 4)

If you are installing a new tape cassette, be sure
to remove the paper tab.

4) Insert the tape cassette, making sure that it snaps
into place.

Make sure that the tape cassette fits properly
around the two guides in the cassette compart­ment.

(Fig. 5)

5) Attach the back cover by inserting the two hooks on
the bottom end of the cover into the matching slots
on the bottom end of the machine, then pushing
down firmly on the cover until it snaps into place.
(Fig. 6)

The amount of tape remaining in the cassette is
visible through the window in the back of the P­touch.
When green tape is fed out, the tape cassette is
empty.

Cleaning the print
head

When dust accumulates on the print head, blank hori­zontal lines appear through the printed label. If this
occurs, clean the print head.

1) Turn off the P-touch.

2) Remove the back cover by pressing in the rough
area at the top end of the machine and pulling off
the cover, and then remove the tape cassette.

3) Use a dry cotton swab to gently wipe the print head
and the rubber pinch roller with an up-and-down
motion. (Fig. 7)

4) Insert the tape cassette, and then attach the back
cover by inserting the two hooks on the bottom end
of the cover into the matching slots on the bottom
end of the machine, then pushing down firmly on
the cover until it snaps into place.

5) Turn on the machine, enter some text, and then
press

R

.

6) If blank lines still appear in the printed label, repeat
steps 1 through 4 using a cotton swab dipped in
isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.

CAUTION

• Be sure to use only the tape cassettes listed in

Accessories

be used with the PT-55 (i.e. tapes with a metallic
appearance):
M-531, M-731, M-831, M-931, M-E31, M-521, M-721,
M-821, M-921 and M-E21

. The following tape cassettes can NOT

Accessories

The following accessories are available for the PT-55.

Tape guides

Fig. 4

Tape cutter button

Guides

Cassettes with 8-meter long tape 12 mm 9 mm

Black characters on white adhesive
Red characters on white adhesive
Blue characters on white adhesive
Black characters on blue adhesive
Black characters on yellow adhesive

M-K231
M-K232
M-K233
M-K531
M-K631

M-K221
M-K222
M-K223
M-K521
M-K621

Fig. 2

Right side

Fig. 3

Left

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

General description

★

NORM (normal-default)

SHAD (shadow)

Underline indicator

Style indicator Label length indicator

Tape cutter button

Uppercase indicator Power key

Numerals indicator Left/right arrow key

Back space key

Numeral mode/1 key

Basic operations

• Turning on/off the P-touch

To turn the P-touch on or off, press P.

The P-touch conserves battery power by automatically
switching itself off if no key is pressed within five min­utes.When the batteries are low, the message "BATT"
appears in the display. When the batteries are empty,
the P-touch turns itself off and the display stays blank.

• Selecting the input mode

An indicator on the left side of the display shows the cur­rent input mode. If there is no indicator, lowercase letters
can be typed in when a character key is pressed. If the
indicator appears beside
typed in, and if the indicator appears beside
als will be typed in. To switch to the uppercase or lower­case input modes, press
is indicated. To enter the numerals input mode, press
once. When the P-touch is turned on, the input mode is
automatically reset to uppercase letters.

• Entering characters

To enter lowercase and uppercase letters, continue press­ing the key for the desired letter until the letter is displayed,
and then press
the key for the desired number.

If the input of a letter is not finalized, for example by
pressing
text cannot be formatted or a symbol cannot be added.

The characters shown below are available with the various
keys and input modes:

Key

1

ab cдб ав г ежзABCДБАВГЕЖЗ

2

def ëéèê DEFËÉÈÊ

3

ghiïíìî GHIÏÍÌÎ

4

jkl JKL

5

mnoсцутфхшœMNOСЦУТФХШŒ

6

pqr s PQRS

7

tuvüúùû TUVÜÚÙÛ

8

wxyzÿ WXYZ

9
0

Space

Tape exit slot Built-in label-backing peeler

Function key Enter key

Print key Character keys

Symbol key

a

A

Frame indicator

Display

Space/0 key
Uppercase/lowercase mode key

, uppercase letters can be

n

, numer-

until the desired input mode

1

L, l

L,l

Lowercase letters

(no indicator)

or r. To enter numerals, press

or r, the label cannot be printed, the

Uppercase letters

(indicator beside

Space 0

aa

aa

)

Numerals
(indicator

beside

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

nn

nn

• Entering a space

To add a space to your text, make sure that the indicator does
not appear beside

n

(numerals), and then press

• Adding a second line of text

To end the first line of text and start the second, press L.
The marker appears to the left of the cursor. Two-line

SIZE1

text is always printed with the

NORM

(normal) style.

text size and the

To change a message back to a single line, delete the
marker . (For details on deleting the marker, refer to

Deleting a character

.)

• Moving the cursor

You can move the cursor (_) to view or edit parts of the text to
the left or right of the 6 characters shown in the display.
To move the cursor to the left, press l; to move the cursor
to the right, press

r

. Move the cursor several characters

in a row by holding down the key for the desired direction.

• Deleting a character

To delete a character, press C. The character to the left
of the cursor is deleted. To continue deleting characters,
hold down

C

until all of the desired characters are
deleted. To delete a character in the middle of the text,
move the cursor below the character to the right of the one
to be deleted before pressing

C

.

• Clearing all text and formats

To clear the current text and selected formats, press F,
press l or r until "CLEAR" is displayed, and then press

L

. All text is erased, and the text size, style, underline/frame
and label length return to their default settings, and the input
mode is reset to uppercase letters.

• Entering a symbol

To enter a symbol, press @. The first row of symbols

@

appears. Continue pressing
the desired symbol is displayed, press

until the row containing

l

or r until the

cursor is positioned under the desired symbol, and then

L

press

. Your text reappears in the display with the

selected symbol added to it.

To return to the current text without adding a symbol, press C.
The symbols shown below are available in the following order:

– _

)

/ \ : ; . , ' "

( ) [ ] < >

$ £ Fr

ß

! ? @ & #

← → ↑ ↓ °

µ

∗ % • + × ÷ ± =

♥

§ ¿ ij

• Printing

To print out the entered text, press
"PRINT" appears while printing.

Do not press the tape cutter button while printing, as
this will cause the tape to jam.

R

. The message

• Cutting off labels

Cut off the label that is fed from the tape exit slot by press­ing in the tape cutter button.

0

✏

∼

Formatting the text

.

To format the text by changing the text size or style, adding
underlining/framing/shading or specifying the label length,

F

press

STYLE, FRAME

L

displayed, and then press
applied to the entire text. For more details about each func­tion, refer to the appropriate section below.
To return to the current text without changing the formatting,
press

, press

. Next, press l, r, or F until the desired setting is

C

.

l

or r until the desired function (

or

LENGTH

) is displayed, and then press

L

. The selected formatting is

SIZE

Removing the label
backing

The PT-55 is equipped with a peeler that allows you to

,

easily remove the backing from labels. (Fig. 8)

1) Insert the label, with the printed surface facing down,
as far as possible into the built-in peeler. (Fig. 9)

2) Fold back the label to the right 180˚. (Fig. 10)

3) Quickly pull the label out to the right. The end of the
backing is separated from the label. (Fig. 11)

• Text size

The following five text sizes are available:

SIZE1

SIZE2

SIZE3

SIZE4 (default)

SIZE5

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Function key operations

• Text style

The following nine text styles are available:

OUTL (outline)

ITAL (italic)

IT+B (italic + bold)

IT+S (italic + shadow)

When a text style other than

b

the indicator below

comes on.

NORM

BOLD

IT+O (italic + outline)

VERT

(normal) is selected,

• Underlining/framing/shading

The following frame settings are available:

TEXT (default) UNDL (underline)

BOX2 BOX3

BOX5 BOX6

When

UNDL

is selected, the indicator belowc comes on.
When a setting other than
indicator below
shading is not printed if the

d

TEXT

comes on. The underlining/framing/

VERT

or

(vertical) style is selected.

BOX1

BOX4

BOX7

UNDL

is selected, the

• Label length

If

L OFF

was selected, the length of the label will adjust
automatically according to the length of the entered
text. If

L ON

was selected, the current label length set­ting in millimetres appears. Press
character keys to enter the desired length between 50
and 300 mm, and then press L. When
selected, the indicator below scomes on.

l

or r or use the

L ON

is

Press F, press l or r to select one of the follow­ing, and then press L.

SIZE

Press l, r, or F to select a text size,
and then press L.

STYLE

Press l, r, or F to select one of the
following, and then press L.

NORM

FRAME

(normal)

IT+B

(italic + bold)

ITAL

(italic)

BOLD IT+O

VERT

(vertical)

Press l, r, or F to select one of the

SHAD

(shadow)

OUTL

(outline)

IT+S

(italic + shadow)

(italic + outline)

following, and then press L.

TEXT BOX2 BOX5
UNDL

(underline)

BOX3 BOX6

BOX1 BOX4 BOX7

LENGTH

Press l, r, or

F to select one of the

following, and then press L.

L OFF

L ON Press l, r, or F or use the

character key to enter the desired

label length, and then press L.

CLEAR

(All text is erased, and the text size, style, under­line/frame and label length return to their default
settings, and the input mode is reset to upper­case letters.)