Source Technologies STP1120N Thermal Transfer Printer

I was invited to attend a kick-off meeting with a new thermal transfer bar code printer manufacturer in July 2011. My first response was, why do we need another printer? Being in the bar code labeling industry for over 23 years, I asked, “What can it do that is not already addressed in the market”. They gave me some information on why they thought this printer was relevant. I was interested in what they had to say so I hopped on a plane and spent an entire day with their engineers. Upon leaving, I was totally blown away.

It is the easiest to use, most up to date, most reliable, intelligent industrial 4″ thermal bar code label printer on the market today. This printer was developed from the ground up with no preconceived mandate as to what a printer had to be. It is totally different from what is currently available. The first model in the new ST Performance Series line is the STP1120N. Several different widths and options will be available in the coming months. The STP1120N is a 4″ wide, 8 ips (inches per second) 300 dpi bar code printer with a color touch screen display. There are many options and configurations that can be ordered with this model.

STP1120N data sheet.

Here are several of the unique features of this printer.

PCL5e printer language (Industry Standard)
Uses near edge print technology
Gear driven, (no belts or pulleys)
Ease of use by an auto load feature
Uses a 600M ribbon, either CSI or CSO
Automatic ribbon torque balancing
32 MB Flash (8MB User Space) 32 MB SDRAM
Touchscreen color display with warnings
Built in printhead cleaning routine
45 Resident scalable font
Double sided top of form sensors
Center Biased Printhead

Industry Standard Printer Language

According to Source Technologies, there were several key features missing in thermal transfer printers today that they wanted addressed. The first was connectivity to exiting software. They found that most companies, 98% of them, have laser printers using PCL5e as a printer language. They could not figure out why bar code printer manufacturers would force companies to use their proprietary printer language to drive their printers. Source Technologies decided to design and build a printer utilizing the industry standard of PCL5e. This is the first bar code printer to offer this. It will make integration simple and smooth to any business.

Near Edge Print Technology

They choose to use a near edge print technology for crisp rich graphics, bar code and text. The rotated bar codes are to die for, they really are exceptional. By using a near edge printhead, the printhead actually floats and automatically adjusts to the correct pressure when different thicknesses of labels are selected. By having the correct printhead pressure, text and graphics print their best. Another feature this technology offers is very clean rotated bar codes, text and graphics, much more than a flathead technology. The reason for this is because the printhead dots or pixels can be managed/controlled better.

Gear Driven

One of many things that impressed me about this printer is the label registration. It was dead-nuts accurate from label to label. All of the other printers have a drift when printing labels. Most of the time this is not an issue, but when you need accurate placement of variable text, this printer is spot-on. This is mainly accomplish by using gears and stepper motors, not belts and pulleys. To see a video of this printer printing small labels, click here STP1120N.

Auto Loading

The STP1120N features the worlds first auto loading of labels. This feature alone is worth price of the printer. All thermal bar code printers are difficult to load labels and ribbons. This printer automatically loads the labels for you. It is very simple and easy to use. I think once people see this feature, this will be the printer of choice.

600 Meter Ribbons

This printer is capable of using a 600M ribbon. What is nice about this is that you can print 4 rolls of labels per ribbon instead of 3 rolls. You can still use the 450M ribbons as well, but it gives you the option of using longer ribbons so there will be less change over and you will have to keep a smaller inventory of ribbons.

Automatic Torque Balancing

Another feature I love is the constant ribbon tension to eliminate ribbon wrinkle. This is not a wide spread problem that I have run across, but when it happens, it is a real problem to troubleshoot and correct. By this design, ribbon wrinkle is a thing of the past.

32MB Flash, 32MB SDRAM

It allows you to store large graphic files for faster printing.

Color Touch Screen

The industries first intuitive color touchscreen display! Everyone today knows how to use a smart phone. Source Technologies has taken that interface and applied it to their front panel display making it very easy to understand and use.

Built-in Printhead Cleaning Routine

Most poor print quality problems stem from a dirty printhead. Studies have shown, very few people clean their printheads on a regular basis. A dirty printhead causes premature failure and poor quality bar codes and text. The STP1120N has a built-in cleaning routine that will remind you when your printhead needs to be cleaned.

50 On-Board Resident Fonts

More than 4 times the number of standard printers. This makes

Double Sided Top Of Forms Sensors

More and more companies want to place a black mark for sensing on the front side of the labels. Most of the time this is done on the back. By providing a double sided top of form sensor, you can have the black mark on the top side of the label and have the entire back of the label for pre-printed graphics or text. It is a great feature that no one else offers.

Center Biased Printhead

Left biased printer put more pressure on the left side of the head and label when using less than 4″ width media. This requires users to make printhead pressure adjustments when changing labels and ribbons. By having a center biased printer, there is even pressure across the entire width of the printhead, no matter what the width of the media is. This drastically reduces ribbon wrinkle. By having even pressure, you have better print quality, label registration and tracking.

The result of this new printer line is that it will be easy to use, easy to integrate and produces unparalleled print quality and is built to perform in the harshest environments.

We would be happy to send you sample labels in paper, synthetic and tag stock to prove that this printer has the best print quality of any printer on the market today. You be the judge.