Question

My Star thermal printer feeds paper but is not printing at all.

Answer

The cause could be that the paper is not thermal-coated or it was loaded upside down. To verify that the roll is thermal-coated, scratch the surface of the paper with a coin or nail. If the top coat shows a gray mark where the scratch was made, the paper was thermal-coated. Next, verify the thermal paper was loaded correctly and try printing again (see illustration).

For additional assistance with or finding the right Star printer for your needs, contact us at Barcodes Inc.

Citizen, a leading manufacturer of world-class printing technology has announced 2 new thermal barcode printers to expand their already wide range of printer options with the CL-S300 and CL-S321 desktop models.

Value in the desktop class has become even easier to find with the functional and simple to use CL-S300 andCL-S321 label printers!

The CL-S300 offers direct thermal printing in a compact and ultra simple-to-use printer. With no external power supply, the efficiency of desktop space usage has gotten better! This, along with the easy WINDOWS GDI (Graphical Device Interface) utilizing a USB connection, makes labeling even simpler and more cost effective.

The CL-S321 is compact and affordable, making thermal transfer printing easy and friendly. Fully EPL2 compatible, the CL-S321 is very easy to use, and easily replaces & integrates into legacy printer applications.

For more details on the new Citizen printers, contact us at Barcodes Inc.

Unfortunately, no barcode printer lasts forever but with the right care and maintenance you can get the most out of your investment.

Two of the most common elements of a printer that will wear down and need to be replaced are the printhead and the platen roller.  The printhead is the main component of the printer that does the actual printing. It is composed of a series of small ceramic dots that heat up in the pattern of what you want to print.  With constant use, printheads do go bad and you can tell by faded printing or, when dots burn out, sections that will not print at all. The platen roller is the main mechanism that pulls the label through the printer as it is being printed. Being a moving part it gets constant use and will eventually wear down providing less pressure on the printhead resulting in printing issues and errors.

Luckily, when these parts go bad it does not mean we need to get a new printer. With all Datamax-O’Neil printers, including their popular E-Class Mark III series, it only takes a few minutes to remove and replace printhead and platen roller to bring a new lease of life to your printer.  This video is a great step-by-step illustration of how easy it really is.

In continuing with its Always-Leading-Always Innovative corporate philosophy, Star Micronics is proud to announce the release of its latest thermal receipt printer, the TSP650II, which is replacing the TSP650.

Updated to exceed and further enhance one of Star’s most popular printers, the TSP650II boasts a lightning fast print speed of 60RPM (receipts per minute) (300mm/second). The TSP650II also features an improved Guillotine Cutter (2 million cuts), easy “drop in and print” paper loading and a small footprint.

The TSP650II ships with Installation CD (printer driver/ manuals), setup guide, wall mount bracket, vertical mount pads, 58mm paper guide, power switch cover, start-up paper roll and external power supply included in the box. Interface options available include Serial, Parallel, USB, Ethernet and the recently released iOS compatible Bluetooth printer. In addition, the TSP650II comes with Star’s 3-year Limited Warranty.

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Datamax-O’Neil has acquired the thermal printer assets of Source Technologies, a leading provider in specialized printing solutions based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Established in 1986, Source Technologies has specialized in secure MICR printing solutions, and will remain a strong entity in this market under new ownership. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“The addition of these new products into our already strong stationary printer portfolio positions us and our channel partners around the world to be more competitive and achieve greater market share,” said Paul Sindoni, president of Datamax-O’Neil. “This acquisition represents another step in our strategy to position ourselves as a global market and technology leader and clearly reflects our continued commitment to grow our strength within the industry and our partner community.”

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Writing prescriptions for patients is a complicated endeavor these days. While some orders for medication and devices may be conveyed to pharmacies by telephone, federal regulations stipulate that controlled substance prescriptions be presented at pharmacies before they are dispensed. Stringent regulations issued recently by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to combat the estimated $5 billion in annual prescription fraud committed throughout the U.S. also come into play; these regulations call for secure prescriptions that cannot be copied, altered or counterfeited.

Bob Norman, director of IT at Mankato Clinic, had such challenges in mind as he shopped the aisles of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference & Exhibition three years ago. One of Minnesota’s largest physician-owned, multi-specialty regional group practices, Mankato Clinic operates eight sites in and around Mankato; its staff includes 80 physicians.

At the time of Norman’s visit to the HIMSS meeting, Mankato Clinic management had already decided to migrate from a manual (handwritten) prescription-issuance system to a printer-based one. “We thought it would be better all around in terms of compliance with all regulations, as well as to make the job a little easier for the doctors,” Norman said. Management had also concluded that using dedicated prescription printers, rather than all-purpose laser jet printers fitted with prescription-generating software, would be their best bet because the latter are more expensive and print prescriptions on 8 ½” X 11” paper instead of standard prescription form.

“We didn’t want to pay more for ‘all-purpose’ printers when all we were going to do was to generate prescriptions,” Norman explained. “We also needed very solid, secure dedicated units with a convenient small footprint, and that would even hang on a wall if we wanted them to.”

In perusing the HIMMS exhibits, Norman found exactly what he sought in Star Micronics’ TSP800Rx thermal printer. “It fit all our criteria,” he noted. In addition to being designed specifically for the medical industry, it offers durability, a small footprint, and a wall-mounting option.” Even more importantly, Norman said, the TSP800Rx is the only printer available for the medical industry to boast a locking mechanism that deters unauthorized removal of prescription media from the paper chamber.

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