Technical Support

Printhead condition is affected by:

1. The type of print job: where possible, printing in landscape orientation rather than portrait uses more nozzles across the width of the printhead and therefore reduces the number of firings per nozzle. This helps avoid overuse of certain nozzle groups on the printhead and has the effect of extending printhead life (all other conditions being equal).
2. The environment and media cleanliness: paper dust from the media and dust in the area where the printer operates should be kept to a minimum. These tiny dust particles can clog the printhead's minuscule nozzles and render them unusable: there are 1600 nozzles per inch on the Memjet printhead! For the best printhead performance, we recommend using media that has been cleanly processed and contains as little paper dust as possible.

Check with your media manufacturer about the processes they have in place to guarantee media cleanliness. For example, label manufacturers can control dust levels by manufacturing in an enclosed room, using adhesive backing rolls at each stage of the manufacturing process and/or vacuuming before shrink-wrapping the media. Also, make sure the printer's media cover is in place during printing.

The decision to replace a printhead should be based on the user's print quality expectations; there is no requirement to replace the printhead after printing a specific number of inches.

We do not believe it is a requirement if the label material has been converted properly and cleanly. That said, it is important for the operator to perform proper cleaning, such as vacuuming the print area every 1500 feet (450 m) of printed labels (as we know, no label conversion process is dust-free) or sooner, depending on media cleanliness. For preventive maintenance measures and recommendations, please refer to the user manual.

Only the VP600 model is designed to support fan-fold rolls. However, the VP700 and VP750 colour labelling machines can be configured to work with an external unwinder or media source. Ask your distributor if you need to know how to configure the printer for this operating mode.

Yes, media thickness must be between 0.1 and 0.3 mm.

The cutting module is rated at 400,000 cuts (on the liner). That said, the cutting module can be expected to have a relatively shorter service life if:

1. Printing is mainly done in “print and cut” and “print and present” modes, rather than roll-to-roll.
2. Cuts are made on continuous label material, rather than on the liner only.

Yes. See our video tutorial on how to replace the blade.

The spare parts included in the maintenance kit are the lift motor, the service station, the aerosol fan and filter, etc. Please refer to the user manual for more details on parts and the replacement schedule.

We strongly recommend keeping the pre-job maintenance function enabled, as it helps prevent print quality problems before starting a print job. Bear in mind that the Memjet printhead has 1,600 nozzles per inch (33% more than HP's ITJ printhead, which has 1,200). With such a high nozzle density and given how small the nozzles are, it is extremely important to keep them properly hydrated whenever possible.

From a warm start, the standard time to first label is under 10 seconds. The printer depends on the host computer for image rasterisation. Therefore, the “time to first label”, defined as the time from pressing the print button on the computer until the label is printed, depends on the computer's processor speed, memory and network bandwidth, if configured as a network printer.
That said, you can enable the “Fast time to first label” option in the embedded web server (EWS) to speed up the process if the operating cycle time is extremely short. The downside of using this option is that some pre-job services are shortened or eliminated, which may negatively affect print quality (PQ).

The printer depends on the host PC for image rasterisation. Therefore, the “time to first label”, defined as the time from pressing the print button on the PC until the label is printed, depends on the PC's processor speed, memory and network bandwidth and configuration. Under normal network traffic conditions (outside peak hours), the difference in “time to first label” should be negligible compared with peer-to-peer printing via USB.

Yes. Please refer to the technical specifications of the corresponding colour label printer. Memjet also periodically publishes compatible media types. See the Compatible Media section for more information.

Yes. Printhead maintenance can be triggered manually from the control panel.
In single-label printing, how much time must pass between labels before the printer requires maintenance?
Printhead maintenance will be triggered after 10 seconds when the printhead is uncapped. A 10-second interval is considered adequate to prevent the printhead nozzles from drying out (the drying rate varies depending on ambient humidity and temperature). Bear in mind that a dry nozzle causes streaks or degraded print quality.

The ink level is updated and displayed in real time on the LCD screen (front panel). The printer will display a warning about the colour cartridge running low as a reminder to replace it soon. In addition, a pop-up window will appear on the host computer when the ink is about to run out or has run out. Likewise, the ink level status can also be checked in the EWS.

The printer will warn (via the control panel, the EWS and a pop-up window on the host PC) when ink is low (5% remaining). Current Memjet technology indirectly tracks ink usage using a virtual ink counting method, which assumes an average ink volume is used each time the nozzle fires. Since ink volume per drop is a complex function of temperature, print speed and the age of the firing electronics, it is not considered a reliable mechanism for calculating the ink volume remaining in the cartridge. Therefore, instead of showing the exact number of labels remaining in a print job, the low ink warning is used.

The driver has been extensively tested with NiceLabel and BarTender. However, the driver should work well with any MS Windows application.

No. The print driver is only compatible with Windows.

No.

All our colour label printers feature a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet interface. The printer can be connected to a Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure, but it will not be able to take full advantage of this network's higher data transfer speed.

One year from the date of manufacture, under storage conditions of 0-45 °C and 0-90% relative humidity.

Typically several years in a dry, cool environment.

Yes, our printers have a universal AC power supply.

Ink recirculates between the ink tank and the printhead via a peristaltic pump.

It is normal for there to be bubbles in the ink tube. However, this need not be a problem: you will notice that in most cases the bubbles stay in position within the tube and, if they move, they do so extremely slowly. If a vacuum ever forms in the tube causing cavitation in one of the inlet tubes to the printhead (left side of the printhead as seen from the front of the printer), this can cause streaks on the label. The problem can be resolved by running an extreme cleaning sequence triggered from the front panel and gently tapping the tube to help the ink flow.

Ask your label manufacturer how they maintain web cleanliness during production and what their quality standards are regarding cleanliness. Quality-conscious label manufacturers typically convert their labels:

1. Using a separate enclosed room, apart from label printing and post-printing operations, to minimise contamination from dirt or dust from those operations.
2. Vacuuming or brushing (with antistatic material) debris off the web after the conversion process.
3. Carrying out regular quality control audits to guarantee the media meets internal cleanliness standards.

Therefore, the best approach is to work with a quality-conscious label manufacturer that already applies two or more of the measures mentioned above. Some label manufacturers may take these additional steps, especially vacuuming the web before conversion, for a nominal cost.

Our commercial colour label printers in the VP600, VP700 and VP750 series use Advanced Memjet printheads and inks. The Memjet printhead solution is an ultra-fast, single-pass thermal inkjet printing technology. Combined with Memjet's unique dye ink formula, the result is high-quality prints that can rival those of high-end digital presses such as HP Indigo, but with a much lower investment. Download more information about Memjet technologies.

Please check the appropriate storage conditions.