Printing Issues: Industrial Printer (MB240)

How do I fix issues like off-center, faint printing, lines or other problems

First, make sure your paper and ribbon are installed correctly and the printer is calibrated.  Those steps will solve most issues.  Below are other troubleshooting options. 

Issue: Print job is too far to the right on the printed sheet

First make sure the paper is snug in between the metal guide towards the interior of the machine and the green guide on the other side.

If that doesn't work, you can adjust the horizontal offset on the printer so nudge the print job over. To adjust the offset, Tap Menu > Settings> from the list displayed find "Shift X" and adjust this to be about 10 or 20. Tap back to get to the main menu. Try reprinting 1 tag. You may have to try a values under "Shift X" to nudge the print job over to where you want it.

Issue: Print job is too light/faint. 

Adjust the pressure of the print head: Make sure the ribbon is flat and the use the green knob to control the pressure. It should be on 3-4" (that's the width of the paper) and move +1/0/-1 (see the picture below) to control pressure. +1 on the left means more pressure.

Adjust the Printer's Density: Also, in the printer settings, you can adjust the print density. On the printer tap Menu > Settings > Density > increase the density, then tap back to get to the main screen.

Issue: White marks on your print job.

Issue: Media Out

Calibration: Most often this error is caused by a calibration issue. See the calibration steps.

Adjust the paper guides: There are a few guides which keep the paper in place. The first is a green guide which should be against the outside edge of the paper. The other is metal and attached to the back of the machine. Finally, there's a black arm that moves over the top of the paper - that's the sensor.

Paper is not against the roller:  open the print head, make sure the roller can catch the paper to feed it forward and out of the printer, close the print head, tap FEED on the printer.

Issue: Trouble with Calibrating

There's a setting on the MB240 that seemingly can accidentally be changed. When this happens, it's changing the language the printer is looking for and you should confirm it's correct in the event that you're having trouble calibrating and it's not being resolved by adjustments to the sensors or the guides. 

On the printer navigate to the following screen and confirm the "Command set" = TSPL.  

Menu> Settings > command set > TSPL (and NOT ZPL2)

TSC MB240 Manual

Here is a link to the manual where there are more photos and details: https://fs.tscprinters.com/system/files/mb240-series_user-maunal_new_en.pdf