Thermal transfer printers have a flexible ribbon system that supports 74-meter and 300-meter ribbons manufactured by Zebra. Your printer ships with 300-meter ribbon adapters to support non-Zebra ribbon rolls.
The 74-meter ribbon used with non-Zebra printers does NOT require non-Zebra ribbon adapters to operate properly.
Transfer ribbons come in several varieties—and in some cases several colors—to match your application needs. Transfer ribbons manufactured by Zebra are specifically designed for use with your Zebra printer and Zebra brand media. For transfer ribbon rolls and other printing supplies, see zebra.com/supplies.
Using non-Zebra media or ribbons that are NOT approved for use with your Zebra printer may damage your printer or printhead.
Inner Diameter (I.D.) = 12.2 mm (0.5 in.)
I.D. = 25.4 mm (1.0 in.)
To ensure optimal print results, match the media and ribbon types.
To protect the printhead from wear, always use ribbon that is wider than the media.
To avoid ribbon wrinkling and other print problems, always use an empty ribbon core that matches your transfer ribbon roll’s inner diameter (I.D.).
Your printer requires ribbons manufactured by Zebra that have a ribbon-out trailer (reflector). When the printer senses this trailer, it recognizes that the transfer ribbon roll has been used up and it stops printing. In addition, ribbons and ribbon cores manufactured by Zebra include notches to help maintain ribbon-roll engagement and drive (without slipping) while printing.
Zebra-manufactured ribbons for your printer include:
Performance Wax
Premium Wax/Resin
Performance Resin for synthetics (6 inches per second or ips maximum speed) and coated paper (4 ips maximum speed)
Premium Resin for synthetics (4 ips maximum speed)
If using 74-meter ribbons, DO NOT pair them with early-model desktop printer ribbon cores! These older cores are too large. You can identify the older-style ribbon cores (and some Non-Zebra ribbons) by notches seen ONLY on one side of the ribbon core.
DO NOT use ribbon cores that have damaged notches (rounded, frayed, smashed, etc.) The core notches must be square to lock the core onto the spindle. Otherwise, the core may slip and cause ribbon wrinkle, poor end-of-ribbon sensing, or other intermittent failures.
