1. Maintenance
  2. Clean the Printer
  3. Cleaning and Replacing the Platen (Drive Roller)
Cleaning and Replacing the Platen (Drive Roller)

Cleaning and Replacing the Platen (Drive Roller)

The platen is the print surface and drive roller for your media. Contaminants on the platen roller can damage the printhead or cause the media to slip or stick when printing. Adhesive, dirt, general dust, oils and other contaminants should be cleaned immediately off the platen.
Clean the platen (and media path) whenever the printer has significantly poorer performance, print quality or media handling when compared to normal printing performance. If sticking or jamming of media continues even after cleaning the platen, you will need to replace the platen.
The platen can be cleaned with a fiber-free swab (such as a Texpad swab) or a lint-free, clean, damp cloth very lightly moistened with medical grade alcohol (99% pure or better).
  1. Open the cover (and dispenser door if the dispenser is installed).
  2. Remove media from the platen area.
  3. Pull the platen-bearing latch release tabs on the right and left sides towards the front of the printer and rotate them up.
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    Platen bearings
  4. Lift the platen out of the printer’s bottom frame.
  5. Slide the gear and the two bearings off the shaft of the platen roller.
  6. Clean the platen with the alcohol-moistened swab. Clean from the center out. Repeat this process until all of the roller surface has been cleaned. If there has been heavy adhesive build-up or a label jam, repeat with a new swab to remove residual contaminants. Adhesives and oils, for example, may be thinned by the initial cleaning but not completely removed.
  7. Discard the cleaning swabs after use. Reusing used cleaning swabs for cleaning may contaminate the platen surface.
  8. Make sure the bearings and drive gear are on the shaft of the platen roller.
  9. Align the platen with the gear to the left and lower it into the printer’s bottom frame.
  10. Rotate the platen-bearing latch release tabs down on the right and left sides towards the rear of the printer and snap them into place.
    Allow the printer to dry for one minute before closing the dispenser door and the media cover and loading new media.