Zebra Support for Wristbands LaserBand Troubleshooting Guide, Pressure Bar Installation Instructions

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Troubleshooting Guide for LaserBand® Products

Troubleshooting

Issue Possible Cause Recommended Solution

The wristband sheets are jamming in the printer

Labels are coming off inside the printer and wrapping onto the drum

The print is shifting on the sheets when they pass through the printer

The printed image isn’t very good

First verify that the printer is adequate for printing this media.

Has the media ever been tested in the printer?

Can be caused by the sheet jamming and bunching up.

Did you qualify your printer?

Most printers will skew a little even with plain paper (1/16-inch – 1/32-inch).

Too much skewing can lead to the sheet jamming.

The most common cause is using non-OEM toner. NonOEM toner may not provide enough heat, limiting its bonding and adhesion to the media. This can cause affect bar width and cause "splatter."

Does it have a setting for heavier media – labels, card stock, etc?

A higher end printer with more setting works better.

Generally printers that have problems with one laser wristband will have problems with other laser wristbands.

Remove the jam.

Labels should not release from the liner in normal use.

Some printers may have issues handling wristband sheets.

See Qualify your printer on page 2.

Good practice is to have 1/16-inch margin around format to adjust for skewing.

May require a service call to adjust the printer.

Use OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) toner.

The sheet may be going too fast, which stops adequate heat from being applied, causing flaking or smearing.

It is difficult to remove the media from carrier sheet

This can be caused by manufacturing issues.

Verify that the bar code is being set properly by the software.

Try printing at a slower speed.

The label may be cut too deep or not deep enough, causing the label or wristband to not remove cleanly from the sheet.

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Troubleshooting Guide for LaserBand® Products

Best Practices

Doing the following will significantly reduce the issues you have printing laser wristbands in your printer.

Qualify your printer

1. Test at least 250 sheets in small lots of 10 sheets over 48 hours. Check for jams, skewing,

toner adhesion, and print quality.

2. An acceptable printer is one that can provide: a. Solid toner adhesion b. No more than one jam per 1,000 sheets c. No more than 1mm of skew from left to right of sheet d. Sharp clean printing

Loading printer

1. Remove 1-2 days of wristbands from protective bag, and fan the sheets to loosen the

media stack. Doing this reduces the likelihood for media curling.

2. Load the sheets in printer tray according to the printer manual.

3. Fill the tray no more than 2/3 full.

Caution • Do not overload the tray.

4. Proper printer settings are important. Set the printer to “Label, Tough Paper, Heavy or

Vinyl Label” depending on make and model.

Recommended environmental conditions:

1. Acclimate wristbands and labels by placing them in the room in which they are to be used

for at least 24 hours before running through printer.

2. For best printer performance, the room temperature should be 65°-75° F (18°-24° C) and

50% ± 5% relative humidity.

3. Store wristbands on a flat surface, and keep sealed in the protective bag until ready for

use.

Printer condition

1. Printer must be in good working order and regularly maintained.

2. Only use OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) toner cartridges. After market

cartridges cause toner adhesion, and print quality problems.