Intermec EasyCoder F4 Installation Instructions Manual page 3

Why does the printhead wear out?
Simple precautions
Printhead for EasyCoder F4 & F4 Compact Industrial, Installation Instructions
EasyCoder F4-Series—Printhead Replacement
The EasyCoder F4 and F4 Compact Industrial are fi tted with8
dots/mm high-performance thermal printheads. When the
media is fed past the printhead, small resistor elements (dots) on
the printhead are electrically charged and thereby heated. The
heat from the dots is transferred to the direct thermal paper or
the thermal transfer ribbon so as to form the dot pattern which
makes up the text, images, or bar codes.
Printhead wear-out is an inevitable process which applies to all
thermal printers regardless of brand. During printing, the dots
must be heated and cooled off very rapidly, which in combina-
tion with mechanical abrasion sooner or later will wear out the
printhead, making the printout gradually weaker. Some dots may
even cease to produce any imprint.
Some simple measures can be taken by the user to prevent pre-
mature wear-out:
• Clean the printhead regularly, as described in the User's
Guide. Not only will a dirty printhead produce an inferior
printout, but any residue on the dots will prevent heat to dis-
sipate through the media.
• Follow the recommendations regarding Paper Type setup in
the User's Guide. Too much energy to the printhead will wear
it out rapidly.
• Do not use higher Print Speed setting than necessary.
• Low ambient temperature requires more energy to the print-
head dots than room temperatures and will therefore cause
more wear to the printhead. High print speed accelerates the
wear. Thus, at low temperatures, select as low a print speed as
acceptable.
• Do not use a higher Contrast setting than necessary, espe-
cially not in combination with the highest Label Constant or
Ribbon Constant settings.
• Do not use a higher printhead pressure than necessary.
• Never print outside the media path. Dots that are not in
contact with the media will not be cooled properly.
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