Transfer ribbons come in several varieties—and in some cases colors—to match your application needs. Genuine Zebra transfer ribbons are specifically designed for your printer and Zebra brand media.
Using non-Zebra media or ribbons not approved for use in your Zebra printer may damage your printer or printhead.
The media and ribbon types should be matched for optimal print results.
Always use a ribbon that is wider than the media to protect the printhead from wear.
For direct thermal printing, do NOT load ribbon in the printer.
Your printer needs Zebra Uni-Ribbon (universal ribbon) to print. Uni-Ribbons have a ribbon-out trailer (reflector) to stop printing when empty. Zebra Uni-Ribbons can also be used on older-model Zebra desktop printers.
Uni-Ribbons are identified with a color-coded leader.
DO NOT USE early-model desktop printer ribbon cores! The older ribbon cores can be identified by notches on only one side of the ribbon core. These older cores are too large and will cause the take-up spool to bind.
DO NOT USE ribbon cores with damaged notches (rounded, frayed, smashed, etc.) The core notches should be square to lock the core on the spindle or else the core may slip causing ribbon wrinkle, poor end of ribbon sensing, or other intermittent failures.
With the printer open, thread the ribbon through the ribbon carriage. Press the right side onto the spring-loaded supply hub. Align the left side of the ribbon core notches to the left supply (spindle) hub spokes. Rotate the roll until the notches align and lock into the left side of the supply hub.
Place an empty ribbon core on the printer’s take-up spindles. Rotate the ribbon core until the notches align and lock into the left side of the take-up hub.
You can find your first ribbon take-up core in the packing box. Subsequently, use the empty supply core to take up the next roll of ribbon.
Attach the ribbon to the take-up core. Use the adhesive strip or tape on new rolls. Align the ribbon when you are attaching it to the core so that it will be taken straight onto the core and line up with the supply.
Turn the ribbon take-up gear counterclockwise (top moves toward the rear) to remove slack from the ribbon.
Verify that the media is loaded and ready to print, then close the printer cover by releasing the cover lock, lowering the top cover, and pressing down until the latches snap into place.
Switch printer power ON if it is not already on, then press the
Feed
button to have the printer feed a minimum of 10 cm (4 inches) of media to remove slack and ribbon wrinkle, and align the ribbon on the spindles.
Change the Print Mode setting from Direct Thermal printing to Thermal Transfer to set the printer’s temperature profiles for thermal transfer media. This can be done with the printer driver, application software, or printer programming commands.
When controlling printer operations with ZPL programming, refer to the Media Type (^MT) ZPL II command. (Follow the instructions in the ZPL Programming Guide.).
When controlling printer operations with EPL Page Mode, refer to the Options (O) EPL command. (Follow the instructions in the EPL Page Mode Programmer’s Guide.).
