LX2000-Full Bleed Color Label Printer

This week, we received our new LX2000 color label printer from Primera.

With up to 4,800 dpi, from .75” to 8” print width, durable pigment ink, built in cutter and BarTender driver, the LX2000 offers a great solution for those customers who want to print high quality, full bleed, relatively low volume labels. 

LX2000

Let me tell and show you why the LX2000 does a good job for this type of manufacturer.

To start using the LX2000, I download the instruction manual and driver here:  http://www.primeralabel.com/support/LX2000.html 

  

When I downloaded the driver, I learned of my biggest disappointment with the LX2000.  I was told by Primera that a Mac driver would be available.  Instead, I read this statement:

The LX2000 is not currently compatible with Macs.

This was disappointing as I had a customer waiting for the LX2000 specifically for the Mac driver.  Bummer.

Although no Mac driver, I did learn about the wireless option:

Wireless is a unique feature I believe.

And the BarTender driver:

As I use BarTender frequently, this feature as a real benefit.

After installing the driver, I loaded the ink cartridges.  The black is larger than the other three cartridges.

LX2000 Black Cartridge

LX2000 Cyan Cartridge

The cartridges seemed small given the manufacturing aspect of this printer.  Plus I find it interesting that Primera does not change the ink cartridge casing, just like VIP 495:   http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/05/495.html 

During setup of the driver, I realized that the printer required alignment of the printhead; just like many desktop inkjet printers do.  To align the printhead, you need to load A4 paper, provided by Primera, into the printer.

It took me 3 tries to get the alignment to work correctly.  I decided that I had not pushed in the paper sufficiently far.  Be sure the paper is gently pulled into the printer when loading.

After aligning the printhead, I “attempted” to print labels.  Frankly, I had a rough start.  First I had labels that were banding.

I have no idea why; or even why it stopped.  But it did.

Second, the printer “grasped” the skin on my hand and pull it into the roll arm.  Ouch!

Be careful when loading the labels; and make sure the lever is up on the Roll Guide

And third, some jobs would just not print:

By the end of the day, I decided all of these issues were operator error.  Specifically, you need to insure the paper is loaded correctly; and to understand the button push sequence.  It’s not obvious what the buttons and lights mean when flashing.  Be sure to read section 5H on buttons/LED lights.  And be careful of the rotating and unprotected arm.

Even with these issues, I was soon printing great looking labels full bleed on matte paper:

LX2000 Matte Paper Labels

Gloss paper:

LX2000 Gloss Paper Labels

Kimdura poly labels:

LX2000 Kimdura Poly Labels

And even clear polyester film:

LX2000 Clear Film Labels

Primera did a great job of explaining how to print full bleed labels in section 4E of the manual.  With BarTender, they have made full bleed printing easy to do.

In terms of waterfastness, I found both the Kimdura and clear film performed well.  However, alcohol removed some of the ink from the Kimdura label (see the slight red over the barcode):

LX200 Alcohol Effect

In addition, I printed die cut, blackmark and continuous labels. All printed correctly with the appropriate settings.

One nice feature was the ink cost analysis in the Status Monitor.  As a worst case, I printed 10 (according to the Status Monitor, 10 prints is the minimum required to print for an accurate cost analysis) 4” x 6” high gloss labels at the highest resolution. 

Ink for these labels cost $0.107 and took 26 seconds each.  $0.11 is a seemingly high ink cost.  But the label print quality was great!

LX2000 Ink Cost/Label

After discussions with Primera, I printed a second label, 4" x 6" matte poly at normal resolution with less than 100% coverage to see the ink cost.  The label printed really great!

LX2000 Print

And the cost per label was $0.10; about the same price.

LX2000 Cost Per Label

To purchase the LX2000, contact us or visit our store:  http://stores.colorlabelsolutions.com/lx2000-color-label-printer/

To purchase LX2000 ink: http://stores.colorlabelsolutions.com/lx2000-ink/

And don't forget to purchase 3 years of "Hot Swap" Extended Warranty:  http://stores.colorlabelsolutions.com/lx2000-hotswap-extended-warranty/

Overall, I believe the LX200 produced great looking, full bleed labels easily.  For manufacturers with relatively small volumes that want high resolution labels, the LX2000 seems like a good choice. Please remember:  no Mac driver currently and relatively high ink cost is a part of using this label printer. Contact us to learn more and to purchase the LX2000 printer, ink and labels.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels

Dust & Label Printers

Not all factories that need to print color labels on-demand are clean like this one:

C3400 Label Printers In Production

In fact, many factory locations that need to print labels are dusty.  In the TM-C3500 Technical Reference Guide, Epson states, “Do not use in locations subject to high humidity or dust levels. Excessive humidity and dust may cause equipment damage or fire.”

In addition, the Technical Reference Manual states: Do not place the printer in a dusty location.

The reason for this warning is that dust may plug or damage the inkjet nozzles.  Epson states the nozzles are reliable for up to 6 billion shots.  To keep the inkjet nozzles unplugged, both the C3500 and C7500 have “auto nozzle check systems” that detects missing dots or plugged nozzles.   

Once plugged, it is difficult to impossible to unplug an inkjet nozzle.  Plus the printer will waste ink attempting to unplug the nozzle.  And if a line starts showing in your prints, the printer may have a plugged nozzle. In many or most environments, I would recommend Disable the “Nozzle Verification” in either of these printers to save ink and time.

C7500 Nozzle Verification Setting

The number one means to keep dust out of your printer is by keeping the label media clean.  Be sure to keep all labels wrapped in plastic bags, preferably in the case in which they were shipped.

Labels In Protective Bag

The plastic bags keep the rolls clean; and probably dry. If you keep labels in an open environment, be sure to cut off the outside layer or page on top of the stack before running it through the printer.  This steps eliminates a large part of the dust that could be carried into the printer and thus the printhead.

If you have a very dusty environment, consider adding an enclosure for your printer.

C3500 Dust Protection Enclosure

We sell enclosures made with ABS plastic which is resistant to corrosion in damp or wet environments.  In addition, the enclosure we sell are printer specific; for the C3500, C7500 and the C831 printers.  Printer specific enclosures provide more protection; not just a box with a cut-out for the label to come out of the printer/enclosure.

Plus, the enclosures we sell come with a filter and fan to provide negative air pressure. 

The negative air pressure blows air out the front slot reducing the probability for dust to enter where the labels are ejected from the enclosure.

Finally, the enclosure we sell are affordable; making an additional small investment to keep your label printer assets running as required.  You don’t want to have your production shut down because of dust and a plugged inkjet nozzle.

And if you print labels in a wash down area, contact us as well.  We sell slightly different versions of these enclosures for where water is mandatory.

Although keeping labels in plastic bags, configuring your printers not to “check nozzles” and purchasing enclosures are not the perfect solutions for a dusty or wet environment, they do provide additional insurance and protection for your label printer assets.  Contact us if we can help you protect or configure your label printers.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

#colorlabels

"Special" Labels Required

Most every day or at least every week, we get requests for “special” labels.  Not Church Lady “Special” however:

What I mean by special are labels that are NOT matte paper, gloss paper or matte poly; the standard labels available for on demand color label printing.

Opaque Label

Here are four types of special labels we sell for specific applications.

First, we’re getting calls of “Opaque” labels.  These labels are required to cover up existing labels, eliminating the requirement to remove the previous labels.  We have companies using these labels on drums that are imported into the USA from 3^rd party companies.  To make these labels light proof, we have added an opaque adhesive:

Black Adhesive on Opaque Label

In the picture, you can see how the adhesive blocks the light to prevent the underling image to show through.  For this application, the opaque label works great.

Second and in addition to opaque, we’re selling “Removable” labels; labels that you can remove after applying.

Removable C3500 Label on Glass

Removable C3500 Label on Glass

These labels are made of poly so they don’t tear.  Plus they have an adhesive that is durable, yet will peel without leaving residue behind.   We’re selling these labels for companies who want to ship product to Europe using English/German GHS language; and then relabel in French for example.  For this application, the removable labels work perfect.

Third, we’re selling labels for the cryogenic storage of chemicals; down to -80 degrees F.

Cryogenic C3500 Labels

Again, these labels are made of poly; and have an adhesive that works down to the required -80F temperature.  On the picture above with the .625” tall label, the font is only 4 point.  We’re getting good print quality for such a small font and images on these labels.

Fourth, we have an eggshell paper. Wikipedia says eggshell is meant as a representation of the average color of a chicken egg.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggshell_(color)

Eggshell Color Paper Labels

Combined with the print quality from the C7500, the eggshell paper produced a beautiful label.  See the label from our customer, Hummingbird Market above.  You may find our earlier post on Hummingbird Market of interest:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2013/03/customizing-my-nectar.html.  We can also get this same paper in white.

You may be saying, “These types of labels are readily available for thermal transfer printers; they’re not special”.  However, we’re selling these labels for inkjet printers.  We’ve worked with our plant for some time to get these types of labels produced.

Two types of labels we’re still testing are inkjet coated film and gloss poly.  We’ve not really found materials that are sufficiently durable and affordable.  You might find our earlier post on this topic of interest:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2014/10/inkjet-coated-gloss-clear-labels.html

When you have a unique application or need “Special” labels, contact us here at Color Label Solutions.  We’ve find the labels you need.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com

#colorlabels