Brother PT-1170 User Manual

GENERAL PRECAUTIONS

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TAPE CASSETTES

SPACE KEY

• Use only Brother TZ tapes with this machine. Do not use tapes that do not have the

• Tapes are available in three different widths: 1/4” (6 mm), 3/8” (9 mm) and 1/2” (12

• Do not pull the tape since this may damage the tape cassettes.

• Do not attempt to cut the tape while printing or feeding since this will damage the

• Do not clean the machine with alcohol or other organic solvents. Use only a soft, dry

• Remove the batteries and disconnect the AC adapter if you do not intend to use the

MODEL PT-1170

• Do not put any foreign objects into or anything on the machine.

• Do not expose the machine to high temperatures or high humidity. Never leave it on

USER’S GUIDE

• Do not use the machine in dusty places, and keep it out of both direct sunlight and

• Do not leave any rubber or vinyl on the machine for an extended period of time.

• After inserting a new tape cassette, advance the tape by holding down

• Do not touch the print head mechanism. If the head is touched, clean it immediately

• To avoid injuries, do not touch the cutter’s edge.

• Use only the AC adapter designed exclusively for this machine. Use of any

POWER SUPPLY

Changing the batteries

Batteries installed incorrectly can overheat and leak. Can result in chemical burns
and machine overheating and damage.

Your machine requires 6 alkaline AAA batteries.

LA5767001

Printed in China

could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.

receiver is connected.

FCC NOTICE

Carefully follow these instructions.

1 Press bumps on top of back cover and open.
2 Pull out tape cassette, if one was installed.
3 Remove batteries, if they were already installed.
4 Hold machine as pictured:
5 Insert six new batteries as follows:

USP4976558 USP5069557
USP4927278 USP5009530

6 Insert tape cassette.

USP4839472 USP4983058 USP5120147

7 Insert two hooks on bottom end of back cover into slots on bottom

are as below:
Patent numbers and patent publication numbers which are related to this product

8 Turn machine on.

Optional AC adapter

- Changes or modifications not expressly approved by Brother Industries, Ltd.

- Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

The AC adapter allows you to use this machine wherever an electrical outlet is available.
Use Brother’s AD-30 adapter for your new PT-1170.

- Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the

1 Insert the plug on the adapter cord inzto the adapter

- Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

- Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

2 Insert the plug into the nearest standard electrical outlet.

interference by one or more of the following measures:
turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the
harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by

OVERVIEW

interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause
interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B

Display

Backspace key

Return key

Caps key

keep the manual in a handy place for future reference.
Although this machine is easy to use, we suggest that you read this manual carefully before starting and
machine.
factory, the lab or the home, the quality and performance of the PT-1170 make it an extremely practical
You no longer have to worry about urgent tasks that require professional printing. In the office, the
available allows you to print labels with different widths and exciting colors.
character sizes and styles to design beautiful custom labels. In addition, the variety of tape cartridges
With your new PT-1170, you can create labels for any application. Select from the many frames,

INTRODUCTION

mark.

mm).

tape.

cloth.

machine for an extended period of time.
Note: If power is disconnected for more than three minutes, all text shown in the

display and any text files stored in the memory will be lost.

the dashboard or in the back of your car.

rain.

Doing so may cause staining.

pressing

with a soft wipe (e.g., a cotton swab) to avoid permanent damage.

other adapter will void the warranty.
Please contact your Brother dealer for details.

CAUTION

Always:

• Insert "+" ends before "-" ends.

• Remove "-" ends before "+" ends.

• Replace all 6 batteries at the same time with new ones.

of machine. Push down firmly on cover until it snaps into place.

If no power, immediately remove batteries and call Brother Customer Service at:
1-877-478-6824

jack on the bottom end of the machine.

once.

FIRST, in
LOWER

insert ˝+˝ ends
pointing DOWN.

Tape cutter lever

Function key

Num key

On/Off key

Batteries

Tape cassette

Back cover

layer

­+

and

SECOND, in
UPPER

insert ˝+˝ ends
pointing UP.

Print head

Tape exit slot

A TZ tape cassette is supplied with this unit. The Brother TZ tapes used with this machine are
available in a variety of colors and three tape widths (1/4” (6 mm), 3/8” (9 mm) and 1/2” (12
mm)).

1 Press in on the rough area at the top end of the machine and

fold open the back cover.

2 If a tape cassette is already installed, remove it by pulling it

straight up.

3 If the ink ribbon in the other tape cassette is loose, use your

finger to wind the toothed wheel in the direction of the arrow on
the cassette until there is no slack in the ribbon. Also, make sure
that the end of the tape feeds under the tape guides.
Note: If you are using a new tape cassette provided with a

stopper, be sure to remove the stopper.

4 Insert the tape cassette firmly into the compartment, making

sure that the entire back of the cassette contacts the bottom of
the compartment.
Note: When inserting a tape cassette, make sure that the inner

ribbon does not catch on the corner of the metal guide.

5 Securely close the back cover, making sure that it snaps into place.
6 Feed the tape by holding down

and then push in the tape cutter lever to cut the tape.

and pressing once,

STARTING

Press . If batteries have been installed or the machine has been plugged in using the
optional AC adapter, the previous session’s information is displayed when the machine is
turned on. This feature allows you to stop work on a label and turn off the machine, then
return to it later without having to re-enter the text.
The machine automatically turns off if no key is pressed within five minutes. The current
session’s information is stored in the machine’s internal memory and displayed when the
machine is later turned on again.

CODE KEY

By holding down and pressing a key with a function, character or accent written
above it, you can use the corresponding function or add the corresponding character to
your text.

CAPS KEY

By pressing to enter Caps mode, you can add upper-case letters to your text by

layer

simply pressing the character keys. When this mode is on, the Caps indicator in the top­left corner of the display comes on. To exit Caps mode, press

+

indicator goes off.

-

until the Caps

NUM KEY

By pressing to enter Num mode, you can add numbers to your text by simply
pressing the corresponding keys. When this mode is on, the Num indicator in the bottom­left corner of the display comes on. To exit Num mode, press
indicator goes off.

until the Num

DISPLAY

This machine’s LCD shows one row of 8 characters; however, the text that you enter can
be up to 55 characters in length. The 8-character display is like a window which moves
across the text.

CURSOR MOVEMENT

You can view and edit dif ferent parts of the text by moving the cursor backward and
forward.

● To move the cursor one character at a time, press

● To move the cursor to the beginning of the text, hold down

● To move the cursor to the end of the text, hold down

or .

and press .

and press .

BACKSPACE KEY

This key can be used to remove characters from your text, clear all of the text or cancel
the current function and return to the text input mode.

● To delete the character to the left of the cursor or to cancel a function, press

● To clear all of the text that is currently entered, hold down

and press .

As on a word processor, press to add a blank space to your text.

RETURN KEY

Press when you wish to accept or confirm a setting, or end the first line of text and
start the second.

● To add a second line, press
indicate the end of the first line and the beginning of the second.

Note: Two lines of text can only be entered if 3/8” (9-mm)- or 1/2” (12-mm)-wide tape

is installed.

● To accept or confirm a setting from a list, press once.

once. The return mark ( ) appears in the text to

ACCENTED CHARACTERS

You can also choose from a list of other accented characters that can be added to your
text.

Letter Accented character Letter Accented character

A АБДВГЖ a абдвгж
CЗ c ç
E ÈÉËÊ e èéëê

I ÍÏÎ i íïî
NÑ nñ
O ÓÖÔÕ o ó ö ô õ
U ÙÚÜÛ u ù úüû

1 Press

Note:

2 Hold down and press . The message “A-U?” appears in the display.
3 Press the key for the letter in the accented character that you wish to add, and then

press
character.

4 Press

if you want the accented character to be an uppercase letter.

T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press .

and until the cursor is positioned under the desired accented

to add the selected character to your text.

SYMBOLS

In addition to the letters, symbols, and numerals on and above the keys, there are 72
symbols available with the Symbol function. These symbols are divided into 9 groups,
corresponding to the letters A through I.

Group Symbols

AÜüÇçÆæáé
Bíóú
CÕõÑñ¡¿§#
D·°;%+×÷=
E$¢[]
F
G
H

I _~

1 Press
2 Press the key for the letter of the group containing the symbol that you wish to add,

and then press

3 Press

. The message “A-I?” appears in the display.

to add the symbol to the text.

TM

4

and until the cursor is positioned under the desired symbol.

®©

Ãã

★

23

SIZE

The characters in the text can be set to one of five different sizes in addition to AUTO,
which automatically adjusts the characters to the largest possible size according to the
width of the installed tape. The currently selected size setting is shown by the indicators at
the top of the display. All of the size indicators light up when the AUTO setting is selected.

A

SIZE1 (A: standard size) SIZE2 (

SIZE4

(A: double width & double height)

Note:

• If there are two lines of text, they are printed with the SIZE1 setting applied,
regardless of the selected size setting.

• To quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

.

1 Press
2 Press

current size setting appears in the display.

3 Press
4 Press

.

and until SIZE is displayed, and then press (or ). The

and until the desired size setting is displayed.

(or ) to apply the selected size setting to the text.

: double width) SIZE3 (A: double height)

SIZE5

(A: 4× width & double height)

23

.

STYLE

PRINTING & CUTTING

STORING TEXT

TROUBLESHOOTING

You can also use one of nine different print styles for the characters in your label. If a
setting other than NORMAL is selected, the Style indicator at the bottom of the display
lights up.

NORMAL OUTLINE BOLD

SHADOW ITALIC I+OUTL (italic + outline)

I+BOLD (italic + bold) I+SHADOW (italic + shadow) VERTICAL

Note:

• If there are two lines of text, they are printed in the NORMAL style, regardless of
the selected style setting.

• To quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

1 Press
2 Press

.

and until STYLE is displayed, and then press (or ). The

current style setting appears in the display.

3 Press
4 Press

and until the desired style setting is displayed.

(or ) to apply the selected style setting to the text.

UNDERLINE/FRAME

This option allows you to emphasize or decorate your entire text by framing or underlining
it. If any setting other than OFF is selected, the Undl/Frm indicator at the bottom of the
display lights up.

OFF (no underline or frame) ROUND WOODEN

POINTING CANDY UNDL (underline)

Note:

• The underline or frame is not printed if the VERTICAL style setting is used.

• To quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

1 Press
2 Press

.

and until UNDL/FRM is displayed, and then press (or ).

.

The current underline/frame setting appears in the display.

3 Press
4 Press

and until the desired underline/frame setting is displayed.

(or ) to apply the selected underline/frame setting to the text.

MIRROR PRINTING

This function prints your label so that the text can be read from the adhesive side of the
tape. If mirror-printed labels are attached to glass or some other transparent material,
they can be read correctly from the opposite side.

Note:

• With this function, the text must be printed on transparent tape.

• To quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

1 Press
2 Press

.

and until MIRROR is displayed, and then press (or ). The

current mirror printing setting appears in the display.

3 Press
4 Press

and until the desired mirror printing setting is displayed.

(or ) to apply the selected mirror printing setting to the text.

TAPE MARGIN

This function can be used to leave equal margins of 1/6” (4 mm (#)), 1/2” (12 mm (##)) or
1” (24 mm (###)) on both sides of the text. Using the “–” tape margin setting, multiple
formats can be printed, one after the other without feeding the tape, onto a single label.

Note: T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

1 Press
2 Press

current tape margin setting appears in the display.

3 Press
4 Press

Note:

.

and until MARGIN is displayed, and then press (or ). The

and until the desired tape margin setting is displayed.

(or ) to apply the selected tape margin setting to the text.

• After printing with the “–” tape margin setting, hold down and press
once to feed the tape before pushing in the tape cutter lever to cut it,
otherwise some of the printed characters may be cut off.

• After printing with the # or ## tape margin setting, push in the tape cutter lever
to cut off the label, and then use scissors to cut along the printed dots (:) and
centre the text within the label.

After you have entered the text and chosen the desired format settings, you are ready to
print the label.

● To print the label, press

. The message “PRINT” is displayed while the label is
being printed, and the label comes out of the tape exit slot at the top end of the
machine.

● To feed out 1 1/24” (25 mm) of tape (for example, after printing using the “–” tape
margin setting), hold down

and press once. The message “FEED” is

displayed while the tape is fed out.

● To cut off the label, push in the tape cutter lever in the top-right corner of the
machine.

Note:

• In order to prevent damage to the tape, do not try to cut it while the messages
“PRINT” or “FEED” are displayed.

• After printing with the # or ## tape margin setting, push in the tape cutter lever
to cut off the label, and then use scissors to cut along the printed dots (:) and

.

center the text within the label.

REPEAT PRINTING

This function allows you to print up to nine copies of the same label.
Note: T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

1 Press
2 Press

.

and until REPEAT is displayed, and then press (or ). The

message “1-9?” appears in the display.

3 Press

and until the number of labels that you want to print appears on the

right side of the display.

OR

Press the key (1-9) corresponding to the number of labels that you want to print.

4 Press

(or or ) to print the labels.

Note:

• After printing with the “–” tape margin setting, hold down
once to feed the tape before pushing in the tape cutter lever to cut it.

• After printing with the #, ## or ### tape margin setting, push in the tape cutter
lever to cut off the tape, and then use scissors to cut along the printed dots (:)
and separate the labels.

NUMBERING

This function can be used to print many copies of the same text while increasing a
selected number by 1 after each label is printed, for example, when printing labels
containing a serial number (for example, 0123, 0124, and 0125).

Note: T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press

1 Position the cursor below the number that you wish to increase.
2 Press .

3 Press

and until NUMBER is displayed, and then press (or ).

The message “1-9?” appears in the display.

4 Press

and until the last number that you want to print appears on the right

side of the display.

OR

Press the key (1-9) corresponding to the last number that you want to print.

.

Note: The last number that will be printed must be larger than the number selected

in the text, otherwise the message “ERROR” will appear when you try to print.

5 Press

(or or ) to print the labels.

Note:

• After printing with the “–” tape margin setting, hold down
once to feed the tape before pushing in the tape cutter lever to cut it.

• After printing with the #, ## or ### tape margin setting, push in the tape cutter
lever to cut off the tape, and then use scissors to cut along the printed dots (:)
and separate the labels.

MEMORY

You can use the memory to store your most frequently used text. The text file remains in
the memory, even after all characters are removed from the display by holding down

.

and pressing . Later, the text can easily be reused by recalling it from the memory.
The machine’s memory can store up to 300 characters, which can be divided into as

many as nine text files. The maximum capacity for a single text file is 55 characters.

and press

and press

Note: T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press .

1 Press
2 Press
3 Press

.
and until MEMORY is displayed, and then press (or ).
and until STORE is displayed, and then press (or ). The

message “1-9?” appears in the display.

4 Press

and until the file number where you want to store the text is

displayed.

OR

Press the key (1-9) corresponding to the file number where you want to store the
text.

5 Press

(or ) to store the text. The text previously shown in the display

reappears.

Note:

• If the file number you selected already contains text, the message “ERROR”
appears. Press

(or ), and then select a different file number.

• If nine text files are already stored, the message “ERROR” appears. Press

(or ), and then delete one of the stored text files before trying to

store the current text.

.

• If 300 characters are already stored, the message “FULL” appears. Press

(or ), and then delete one of the stored text files before trying to

store the current text.

RECALLING TEXT

Note: T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press .

1 Press
2 Press
3 Press

.
and until MEMORY is displayed, and then press (or ).
and until RECALL is displayed, and then press (or ). The

message “1-9?” appears in the display.

4 Press

and until the text file that you want to recall is displayed.

OR

Press the key (1-9) corresponding to the file number of the text that you want to
recall.

5 Press

(or ) to clear the display and recall the selected text.

DELETING A TEXT FILE

Note: T o quit the following procedure at any time without making any changes, press .

.

1 Press
2 Press
3 Press

.
and until MEMORY is displayed, and then press (or ).
and until DELETE is displayed, and then press (or ). The

message “1-9?” appears in the display.

4 Press

and until the text file that you want to delete is displayed.

OR

Press the key (1-9) corresponding to the file number of the text that you want to
delete.

5 Press

(or ) to delete the selected text file.

ERROR MESSAGE LIST

ERROR An error occurred.
BATTERY The batteries are weak.
B A T T E R Y The batteries are empty.
FULL The maximum number of characters (55 characters) have already

been entered or the memory is full.

1. The display stays blank after you have
turned on the machine.

2. The machine does not print, or the
printed characters are blurred.

3. The printed characters are not formed
properly.

4. Striped tape appears.

5. The memory has cleared on its own.

6. A blank horizontal line appears through
the printed label.

7. The machine has “locked up” (i.e., nothing
happens when a key is pressed, even

though the machine is on).

Problem

• Check that the batteries are correctly
inserted.

• If the batteries are weak, replace them.

• Check that the adapter is correctly
connected.

• Check that the tape cassette has been
inserted correctly.

• If the tape cassette is empty, replace it.

• Check that the character size is
appropriate for the width of the tape that
is used.

• If the batteries are weak, replace them.

• The tape cassette is empty. Replace it.

• The batteries may be weak. Replace
them.

• There may be some dust on the print
head. Remove the tape cassette and use
a dry cotton swab to gently wipe the print
head with an up-and-down motion. Try
printing again, and if dust still remains,
dip the cotton swab in isopropyl (rubbing)
alcohol and gently wipe the print head
again.

• Turn off the machine, and then while
holding down and , press

to turn the machine back on.

Finally, release and .

Note: The text and formats in the

Solution

display and all text files stored in
the memory are erased.

SPECIFICATIONS

Keyboard: 42 keys

Print speed: 10 mm/sec.

Character size: Standard size

Character font: HELSINKI

Print tape: Pressure-sensitive adhesive-based (TZ tape only)

LCD: 7 × 5 dots 1 line × 8 characters

Power supply: Six AAA size alkaline batteries (LR03) or optional AC adapter

Dimensions:

Weight: 0.9 lbs. (400 g) (without batteries and tape cassette)

Buffer size: 55 characters

Memory size: 300 characters maximum, 9 text files

Thank you for purchasing this Brother Product. We hope that you will enjoy using it. We
suggest that you keep all packing and other materials.

SHOULD YOU ENCOUNTER ANY PROBLEMS WITH YOUR PRODUCT,

After referring to the instruction manual, if you still need assistance, call Brother Customer
Service at:
Voice: 1-877-4-PTOUCH OR
Fax: [phone]
If you need a local service center, please call 1-800-284-HELP to locate the authorized
service center closest to you.

Double width
Double height
Double width & double height
4× width & double height

Three widths available:
1/2” (12 mm)
3/8” (9 mm)
1/4” (6 mm)

(7V , 1.2A)
Auto-power off

6 1/16” (154 mm) (W) × 5 5/64” (129 mm) (D) × 2 1/2” (64 mm) (H)

IMPORTANT WARRANTY INFORMATION

PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR

PRODUCT TO THE STORE!