Deja Vu

Have you ever had a deja vu experience?  This week I remember something concerning the GP-C831 printer; but only a portion.  The problem was, I forgot the most important part of the memory.  Let me explain.

For those of you who don’t know, the GP-C831 has quickly become the standard for printing GHS drum labels.  With extremely durable (BS5609) ink and available label media (http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/10/ghs-label-comparison.html), the most cost effective ink prices (http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/12/trust-me.html), and the lowest cost (http://stores.colorlabelsolutions.com/gp-c831-8-4-color-label-printer/), the C831 is the best choice for producing GHS labels wider than 4.25”. 

You might find this recent post covering one company’s experience starting to use the C831 of interest:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/01/dyeing-for-ghs.html.  Or the first post covering this printer on our blog just before launch: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2012/10/gp-c831.html.  

This memory started when a customer purchased one of our labels for the GP-C831 printer; an 8.3125” x 5.75”.  Two A5 labels per fold.  

After purchasing the labels, the customer asked me about configuring the printer.  You may remember from my recent post about the new GP-C831 driver (http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2014/11/gp-c831-surprise.html), you need to set the size of the label using the width of the actual label by the length perforation to perforation.

The problem is the GP-C831 driver shows only the length up to two decimal places.

However, I “remember” that Epson had changed the driver to enable up to 3 decimal places.  What compounded my issue configuring the driver was the plant said the 2 labels were 11.625”, making the each label 5.8125; requiring 4 decimal places.  Suddenly, I had no idea how to configure the driver.

So I had to call first the plant.  Then I learned the perf to perf measurement was really 11.75” and not 11.625”; making each label 5.875”.  Second, I had to call Epson, who reminded me that the driver now allows for settings up to 3 decimal places only at 1/8” of an inch.

If the paper height is .12 to .13, the driver will use .125; and so on for all of the paper heights above.  As the driver does not enable 3 decimal places for every setting, Epson could not make the overall change showing the 3 decimals.  With the capability to set 1/8^th inches, now you can use labels that are 5.875” tall perforation to perforation:

This 1/8” is critical to prevent label “creep”.  With only a minor incorrect setting, the label print will begin printing incorrectly; and not at the top of form.  If your image seems to move off of center after printing a few labels with the GP-C831, you probably have the incorrect page size set in the driver.

As soon as I was told about the settings for 1/8^th, I “remembered” the details of the change from some time ago.  It was deja vu all over again.  Then, I could support our customers using this specific label size.

If you want to use labels for the GP-C831 that are approximately 8” x 5.75”or one of our other standard sizes, visit our store http://stores.colorlabelsolutions.com/gp-c831-pin-fed-labels/ or contact us.  We’ll be glad to help you get the labels you need; and the support you deserve; again and again. Kinda like déjà vu!

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com