Adjust the Print Quality

Print quality is affected by the heat (density) setting of the printhead, the print speed, and the media in use. Experiment with these settings to find the optimal mix for your application. Print quality can be configured with the Zebra Setup Utility’s Configure Print Quality routine.

Media manufacturers may have specific recommendations for speed settings for your printer and the media. The recommended speed may be lower than your printer’s maximum speed setting!

The darkness (density) setting can be controlled by:

issuing the Set Darkness (look up the

~SD

) ZPL command in the ZPL Programming Guide).

adjusting the print darkness (see Manual Print Darkness Adjustment)..

adjusting the physical darkness control setting (see Darkness Control).

If you find that the print speed needs to be adjusted, use:

the Windows printer driver or application software such as ZebraDesigner.

the Print Rate or

^PR

) ZPL command (consult your ZPL Programming Guide)

Use the printer’s Print Quality Report (FEED Self Test) to print a range of labels that help you identify print darkness and speed settings for optimizing general print and barcode quality. See Printing a Print Quality Report (FEED Self-Test) for details.

To verify the printer’s media settings, print a Printer Configuration label following the instructions in Testing Printing with the Configuration Report.

The maximum distance the automatic media type detection and sensing checks can be reduced using the ZPL Maximum Label Length command (

^ML

). The minimum distance should be no less than two times the longest label being printed. If the largest label being printed was a 2 x 6 in. label, the maximum label (media) length detection distance can be reduced from the default distance of 39 in. down to 12 in.