Different types of media may require different darkness settings. Use this simple but effective method for determining the ideal darkness for printing barcodes that are within specifications.
During the FEED self-test, the printer prints a series of labels at different darkness settings at two different print speeds. The barcodes on these labels may be ANSI-graded to show print quality.
During this test, one set of labels is printed at low speed, and another set is printed at the high speed. The darkness value starts at three settings lower than the printer’s current darkness value (relative darkness of –3) and increase until the darkness is three settings higher than the current darkness value (relative darkness of +3).
Each label shows the relative darkness and the print speed.
The speed at which labels are printed during this print quality test depends on the dot density of the printhead.
300 dpi printers: Prints 7 labels at 51mm/sec (2 ips) and 102 mm/sec (4 ips) print speeds
203 dpi printers: Prints 7 labels at 51mm/sec (2 ips) and 152 mm/sec (6 ips) print speeds
