What is the difference between direct thermal and thermal transfer printing?
Why should I use direct thermal or thermal transfer label printing technology versus laser technology?
Why is direct thermal used more than thermal transfer?
Do you sell custom labels?
How long before I get my order?
Do the printers you sell emulate laser, dot matrix or ink jet printers?
Can Zebra and Eltron printers print in color?
Do I need software?
How do I hook up a Zebra or Eltron printer?
Can I print bar codes with Zebra or Eltron printers?
Can I print my logo or some other graphic using Zebra or Eltron printers?
Will Zebra or Eltron printers work with a Windows PC?
Will Zebra or Eltron printers work with a Unix system?
Will Zebra or Eltron printers work with a MacIntosh?
Can I use my Eltron or Zebra printer as a network printer?
Can Zebra and Eltron printers be used in an IBM AS/400 and IBM Co-ax environment?
What is a good source of information about UPC codes?
Can I use my labels as soon as I get them?
Is there anything special about storing my labels and ribbons?

Direct thermal printers use a thermal printhead that applies heat to a chemically treated paper that turns dark as a result of the heat thus creating lines, text and graphics. Direct thermal printing produces a tag or label that fades with age and will turn black if exposed to heat or strong sunlight.

Thermal transfer printers use the same thermal printheads as direct thermal printers, but heat is applied to a ribbon which transfers the image to a substrate (label or tag) creating lines, text and graphics. There are more choices of face materials available with thermal transfer printing. The ribbon acts as a buffer between the substrate and the printhead, extending the printhead life. For this reason, the ribbon should always be wider than the width of the tag or label.

Eltron and Zebra printers offer a better label printing solution for on demand printing. Laser printers work on the concept of standard 8 1/2 x 11 or A4 size sheets. If you require one label that is smaller than a standard or A4 sheet size, this is a very inefficient solution. Thermal printers are roll fed, not sheet fed, and print out only the number of tags or labels you want.

In addition, many Zebra and Eltron printers are built for industrial environments in which it is difficult for a laser printer to function.

There is no ribbon required for direct thermal printing resulting in a lower cost of each printed label. Many restaurant and grocery store receipts are direct thermal technology.

However, direct thermal printing produces a tag or label that fades with age and will turn black if exposed to heat or strong sunlight.

Yes, E-Labeling sells sizes and shapes other that those on the web site. Please e-mail customerservice@elabeling.com for a custom quote.

Most of our orders are shipped directly from the manufacturer, and many orders ship within one or two business days. Giving two or three business days on average for ground delivery, you should normally receive your order within four or five business days.

However, the time of day the order is processed, whether the order is for printers, labels or ribbons, and delivery method all affect the amount of time before you receive your order.

Orders processed after 1:00 PM Eastern time add a day to the delivery time.

Zebra's Xi and S series printers as well as printers with special configurations such as non-U.S. plug can add up to 8 additional business days.

Ground delivery across the country can take up to 5 business days.

No. You must either use design software that outputs to the printer you will use or write programs yourself to send output to the printer. Zebra and Eltron printers, like other thermal printers, have their own programming languages. Zebra uses ZPL, which stands for Zebra Programming Language. Eltron printer languages are EPL1 and EPL2. EPL1 is an escape sequence based language used to talk to the older LP2022/LP2042 printers. EPL2 is a text based language using all keyboard accessible characters to communicate with all other Eltron label printers.

Windows drivers are available for both company's printers. You can get them by clicking here.

Yes. Colored ribbons are available as stock items for Zebra printers, except portable and personal printers. Colored ribbons are available as custom orders for Eltron printers.

Yes. Either custom written software or a labeling design software package. Software packages are available on our web site. You can get them by clicking here.

Normally, with a serial or parallel cable. Many of printers we sell have both connections on the back. However, check to be sure. With some printers you have to specify which communications connection you want.

Networking connections are also available internally on some model printers. All printers can be connected to a 10BaseT network with the serial or parallel connector using a print server.

Yes. Zebra and Eltron printers print good bar codes at 203 dots per inch and excellent bar codes at 300 dots per inch.

Yes. You can load images into the printer and use them on tags or labels that you print. If the resolution of the image is important, the quality is better on printers that print at 300 or 600 dots per inch.

Yes, and Windows drivers are available for either Zebra or Eltron printers. You can get them by clicking here

Yes. Generally they would be hooked up either as a serial printer or to a print server to act as a network printer.

Yes

Yes. Networking connections are available internally on some model printers. All printers can be connected to a 10BaseT network with the serial or parallel connector using a print server. See below for twinax or coax connections.

Yes. However, it is necessary to use a twin-ax protocol converter when in an AS/400 environment or a co-ax converter when operating in a co-ax environment.

Links to good sources for information about UPC codes can be found by clicking here to go to http://barcodebarcode.com/upc.htm .

You should not bring your labels directly off a hot or cold delivery vehicle into your office or warehouse and expect them to work smoothly immediately. They need a chance to get used to your environment. Ideally, you should let them acclimate to your environment for at least 2 days before using them.

Some of the factors to consider are:

Don't stack your cartons of labels or ribbons too high. No more than five cartons high is recommended.

Labels and ribbons should not be stored in hot or cold conditions. Otherwise, their life will be significantly shortened and they will eventually become unusable. Temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 50% will ensure at least a one year shelf life.

• First calculate the number of inches per ribbon by multiplying the number of feet per ribbon times 12
• Divide that by the distance in inches between the top on one label to the top of the next label - you now have the number of labels per ribbon
• Finally, divide the number of labels you will be printing by the number of labels per ribbon calculated above and round up to the next whole number

Example: You want to print 20,000 3"W X 2"L labels and the ribbons are 1,476 feet long

• 1476 X 12 = 17712 inches per ribbon
• 17712 / 2.125 = 8335.06 labels per ribbon (Note that the distance between the top of one label to the top of the next label is the 2 inches of label length plus the 1/8 inch space between labels)
• 20000 / 8333.06 = 2.4 which rounded up is 3 rolls of ribbon

NOTE: Often, the intercharacter gap is equal to the width of the narrow bars
              Maximum value of intercharacter gap depends on the size of the narrow bars
              If narrow bars are less than 10 mils, it is 5.3 times the width of the narrow bars
              If narrow bars are 10 mils or more, it is 53 mils or 3 times the width of the narrows bars, whichever is greater

NOTE: Bar height must be at least .15 times the length or .25 inches, whichever is larger.