The platen is the print surface and drive roller for your media. It normally does not require cleaning. Print operations tolerate some accumulation of paper and liner dust on the platen roller.
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 off the platen immediately.
Clean the platen (and the media path) whenever the printer has significantly poorer performance, print quality or media handling. If sticking or jamming continues even after cleaning, you must replace the platen.
The platen can be cleaned with a fiber-free swab (such as a Texpad swab) or a lint-free and clean, damp cloth very lightly moistened with medical grade alcohol (90% pure or better) as described in this procedure.
To remove the platen roller:
Open the cover (and dispenser door, if the dispenser is installed). Remove media from platen area.
Pull the platen-bearing latch-release tabs on the right and left sides towards the front of the printer and rotate them up. (The images with the arrows below show the latches in their closed and open positions respectively.)
Lift the platen out of the printer’s bottom frame. (The arrows in this image point to the platen bearings.)
Slide the gear and the two bearings off the shaft of the platen roller.
Perform this step for cleaning only:
Clean the platen with the alcohol-moistened swab. Clean from the center out.
Repeat the above step until all roller surface has been cleaned thoroughly. While adhesives and oils, for example, may be thinned by the initial cleaning, they may not have been completely removed.
If there has been heavy adhesive build-up or a label jam, repeat with a new swab to remove any residual contaminants.
Discard the cleaning swabs after use. Do not reuse them.
Make sure the bearings and drive gear are on the shaft of the platen roller.
Align the platen with the gear to the left and lower it into the printer’s bottom frame.
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 or media cover and before loading the media.
