Pages

Monday, July 12, 2021

Higher Speed C6000

In the spring of 2020, Epson started shipping the C6000 series printers.

C6000 Series Printers
C6000 Series Printers

I wrote about the launch of these new printers during the fall prior.

And my first, out of the box, experience. 

Overall, I’ve found these printers to print high quality labels and be affordable.  But slow.

Epson has now released a driver change that, according to them, increases the speed of larger, batch printing by at least 20%.  That’s significant.

Let me explain the procedure you should use to realize this increase in speed.  First, I recommend you update the firmware in the printer.  It may NOT be required for this speed increase; but it’s a good thing to do before making any other changes.  Get the latest firmware here:



(I didn’t include the “P” versions as we’ve sold primarily “A” printers with a cutter.)


Second, update the driver to version 1.4 (or later if available).  Get the driver on the same link as listed above.  Don’t worry about updating the driver with the previous version installed. (FYI: I had to restart my computer after updating the driver to get this feature to work).

Third, select “High Speed Batch Printing” in Driver Preferences on the Driver Utilities tab of the driver.

C6000 High-Speed Batch Setting
C6000 High-Speed Batch Setting


And then print a minimum batch size of 60 cm or about 24”.  The time to print 10, 4x3” matte poly labels printed using NORMAL setting and the high-speed setting not selected was about 30 seconds (~1”/second).  To print the same amount with the High-Speed Batch Label selected was 21 seconds (~1.4”/second); a reduction in time of 30%. (FYI: I should have measured the time before updating the driver and firmware to see if it was different).  

Watch me print 10 here in the High-Speed Batch Mode at the NORMAL setting.



Notice how the LED shows only 2 pages printed.  From 10 labels to only 2.

One point: on my first try, I got a skipped label.  It occurred between page 1 and 2 of the batch.


As I normally set up the page size of a label .03” wider and longer than the actual label, I figured this .03” extra times 10 labels caused the printer to skip the gap.  Changing the page size to exactly 3” tall, eliminated this missed label.  Therefore, you may not be able to use this feature when printing full-bleed labels.

Completing the same test using the MAX SPEED setting, it took 14.5 seconds (2.15”/second) to print 10, 4 x 3” matte poly labels.  With the High-Speed Batch Label Printing selected, it took only 9.5 seconds (3.29”/second) to print the 10, 4 x 3” matte poly labels.

How This Feature Works:

Normally, the C6000 series printers send 1 label image down to the printer at a time.  10 labels would be 10 images.  In the High-Speed Batch Label Printing mode, the printer creates a batch of 60 cm and send it down as 1 image; thus speeding up the print.  It seems like a creative way to speed up printing.

Epson does list some restrictions to make this work correctly.  For most, the NO CUT option could be an issue for some operations.

C6000 High-Speed Restrictions
C6000 High-Speed Restrictions

To learn more about this setting, review page 112 in the Technical Reference manual.  Get the manuals on the same URL as the drivers; just select “MANUALS and WARRANTIES” tab on the Support page.

According to Dennis Moore, Epson Senior Technical Support Specialist, “This feature allows the printer to printed at the rated speed of 4.8 ips over a span of 24 inches and is especially advantageous when printing small labels.  I recall during the initial testing in March that multi-page labels could be printed using the high-speed batch setting as well.  Note that the page count on the printer panel is now defined in terms of 24” collections of labels instead of individual labels."

For many organizations, I believe this setting will help speed up their operation.  At a minimum, I encourage users of the C6000 series printer to test this new feature.  If you have issues using this new feature or help with your label printer in general, contact us so we can help.

Guy Mikel
855-962-7670

No comments:

Post a Comment