LabelTac 6 User manual

LabelTac®6 Reference Guide

powered by Creative Safety Supply
phone [phone]
web labeltac.com
email [email protected]

Contents
Contents 1
Unboxing
What’s in the box 3
Your printer 4
Setup & Install
Before you continue... 6
Connecting LabelTac®7
Installing LabelTac®drivers 10
Installing templates & symbols
11
Using LabelTac®
Loading print ribbon 12
Loading tape supply 14
How to make labels 16
LED & button functions 20
Ribbon tension 21
Troubleshooting 22
When using die-cut labels... 24
Cleaning your printer 25
Warranty & Support 26

LabelTac®Printers are professional thermal transfer
printing systems, designed for creating custom vinyl labels
and signs, in-house, for a variety of applications including:
Pipe Marking, Safety, Arc Flash, OSHA, Racks/Warehouses,
Tool Identification, Lean & 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, Hazmat,
ANSI/ASME & more.
We’re here to help!
Please give us a call or email if you need any help with
installing or operating your LabelTac®Printer:
phone [phone]
web www.labeltac.com
email [email protected]
2

What’s in the box
Unboxing What’s in the box 3
Included
•LabelTac 6 Printer
•USB Cable
•Power Cable
* Print ribbon ships pre-installed for convenience
•Install CD
•Setup Guide & Lit
•1 Black Print Ribbon*

Unboxing Your Printer4
Your Printer
Ribbon Rewind
Spindle
Parallel Port SD Card Slot
Ethernet Port
PS/2 Port
Power Switch
USB 2.0 Port
RS-232C Port
Power Jack Socket
Ribbon Supply
Spindle
Ribbon Guide Bar
Gap Sensor
(green square)
Media Sensor
(green fork)
Print Head Pressure
Adjustment Knobs
Print Head Release
Lever
Media Guide Bar
Supply Alignment
Wing
Label Supply
Spindle
Alignment
Guide
Not Pictured / Not Visible: Ribbon Sensor (black fork), Platen Roller (black roller)
Rear Panel

ERRORPOWER ON-LINE
MENU UP
DOWN
SELECT
PAUSE
FEED
Unboxing Your Printer 5
Your Printer (cont’d)
LCD Display and
Control Panel
Printer Cover
Power LED Up Button
On-line LED Down Button
Error LED Select Button
LCD Screen
Menu Button
Pause Button
Feed Button
Mouth and Cutter
Mechanism
1
1 8
2 9
3
4
5
6
7
2 3
4
5 8
6 9
710
10
LCD Display / Control Panel

Setup & Install Before you continue...6
BEFORE INSTALLING DRIVERS...
Please connect your LabelTac®Printer to both
your computer and to power, and make sure
the printer is turned on.
See pages 7-9 for connection instructions.
IMPORTANT
Let us install LabelTac®for you, for free!
We offer a quick 5-minute remote installation- Go ahead, let us do the work while
you grab a cup of coffee! Call us at 1-877-356-6584. Mon-Fri, 6am-3:30pm (PST)
. . .
Before you continue...

Setup & Install Connecting LabelTac®7
Connecting LabelTac®
Step 1: Connect to PC
USB 2.0
1 Connect one end of the USB cable to an available USB 2.0
port on the back of your computer.
2 Connect the other end of the cable to the USB port on your
LabelTac 6 printer.

8
Connecting LabelTac®
Step 2: Connect to Power
Setup & Install Connecting LabelTac®
1 Connect one end of the power cord to the power port on the
back of the LabelTac®.
2 Connect the other end of the cable to a power outlet.

9
Connecting LabelTac®(cont’d)
Step 3: Turn on your printer
Setup & Install Connecting LabelTac®
1 Flip power switch from ‘off’ position (O) to ‘on’ position ( I ).
The LCD screen and Power LED will come on, indicating that
the LabelTac®is powered on and ready.

10
Installing LabelTac®drivers
Setup & Install Installing LabelTac®drivers
Need a hand with installation?
Our representatives are available Mon-Fri, 6am-3:30pm (PST) to assist in a
variety of ways with installing your printer. Call us toll free at 1-877-356-6584.
1 Insert LabelTac®Install CD. The install menu should auto
load. If it doesn’t, open the CD and run setup.exe manually.
2 Select ‘Install Printer Drivers’ and click ‘Next’. (If a pop-up
appears about making changes to your computer, select ‘Yes’
and continue)
3 Select how your printer will be connected and click ‘Next’.
(USB, ethernet, other)
4 Select ‘Install a driver for a Plug and Play printer’ (you should
see LabelTac 6 listed) and click ‘Next’.
5 If desired, change printer’s name and sharing options or
leave everything else as-is, and click ‘Next’.
6 Click ‘Finish’ to start the installation. (If a pop-up appears
about driver software publishers, select ‘Install this driver
software anyway’ and continue) Click ‘Close’ when
complete.

11
Installing templates and symbols
Setup & Install Installing templates and symbols
LabelTac®Printers include hundreds of templates and symbols to help you make
professional signs and labels quickly and easily.
Once installed, you will see two folders named ‘Templates’ and ‘Symbols’.
The Templates folder contains customizable industrial templates in MS Word and
OpenOffice formats, and is divided into subfolders based on application as well
as by size/width.
The Symbols folder contains useful symbols often found on industrial labels in a
resizable PNG format. The folder is also divided into subfolders by application,
and all also appear together in an ‘(ALL SYMBOLS)’ folder.
. . .
1 From the LabelTac®Install CD menu, select ‘Install
Templates & Symbols’.
2 Choose the folder you would like to install the templates
and symbols, and then click ‘Install’. (We recommend
installing to your desktop for easy access when creating
signs and labels)
Click ‘Close’ when complete.

12
Loading print ribbon
Using LabelTac®Loading print ribbon
1 Lift printer cover open. Push print head release lever to open
print head mechanism. (a)
2 Insert the ribbon onto the ribbon supply spindle (rear),
and the blank cardboard core onto the ribbon rewind
spindle (front). (b)
3 Route the ribbon through the ribbon sensor slot and up and
over the print head. (c) Stick the ribbon onto the ribbon
rewind cardboard core with tape or a piece of LabelTac®
supply, being sure to keep the ribbon as flat and wrinkle-free
as possible.
4 Wind the ribbon rewind spindle by hand until the ribbon is
smooth, properly stretched and wrinkle-free.
5 Close print head mechanism by pressing down on both
sides, making sure the latches are engaged properly. (d)
Close the printer cover.

13
Loading print ribbon (cont’d)
Using LabelTac®Loading print ribbon
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

14
Loading tape supply
Using LabelTac®Loading tape supply
1 Lift printer cover open. Remove the green media retainer
from the media supply spindle.
2 Place a roll of supply on the spindle. (a) Replace the media
retainer so that it sits snug against the loaded supply.
3 Push print head release lever to open print head mechanism. (b)
4 Route the supply over the silver media guide bar, under the
spring loaded damper, between the green media alignment
guides and then out through the mouth of the printer. (c)
5 Press down to unlock and move the sliding alignment guide
until it meets the edge of the supply. (d)
6 Close print head mechanism by pressing down on both
sides, making sure the latches are engaged properly. Close
the printer cover.

15
Loading tape supply (cont’d)
Using LabelTac®Loading tape supply
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

16
How to make labels
Using LabelTac®How to make labels
How LabelTac®works
Getting started
LabelTac®Printers are designed to work with PC’s running
Microsoft Windows XP or later.
The printer interfaces into your system like a normal printer,
allowing virtually any program to print to it, including:
We find Microsoft Word to be the easiest program to design
labels and signs, but if you don’t have access to Word on
your computer, we include LabelDirect software on the install
CD. OpenOffice or Bartender are also great free alternatives.
The majority of the templates that we include with your
LabelTac® are in Word format.
Creating labels and signs with LabelTac®is easy-
• Microsoft Word (preferred)
• LabelDirect
• Apache OpenOffice
• Seagull Bartender
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Google Docs
OR
. . .
1 Start with one of our pre-made templates (see page 11 for
information on installing templates) and customize to fit your
needs & application...
2 Start from scratch in any word or image processing program.

17
How to make labels (cont’d)
Using LabelTac®How to make labels
Setting up your document (label size)
Designing your label
The size of the label or sign that will print is determined by the
page size in your word/image processing program.
For example- if you want to print a 6”x9” sign, simply set your
page size in the program’s settings to 6” height and to 9”
width.
Once you’ve set your document to the size you want to print your
label, you can start placing whatever you want into the label- text,
images/logos, borders- and what you see on your screen is what will
print on your label.
The LabelTac 6 is a monochrome thermal transfer printer, so when
you print your label, the areas of your label that are black (or dark) on-
screen will print to the ribbon, while the areas that are white (or light)
will not print, allowing the color of the tape you use to remain visible.
For example- if you have yellow vinyl material loaded, and a blue print
ribbon- the elements on screen that are black will print to the blue
ribbon, and the elements that are white will not print- resulting in a
blue on yellow final label.
Be sure to load appropriate width material for your job- for the above example,
you would want to load 6” wide material.
Designing your label in black and white or grayscale will produce the best results.

18
How to make labels
Adding: Text
Adding: Images & logos
Adding: Borders
Adding: Industrial symbols
Adding: Arrows
The ideal way to add text in labels designed in word processing
programs is through the use of “text boxes”. Text boxes are
easily resizable and are able to be moved independently of other
elements in your label.
You can add images and logos to your labels by “inserting” them
(typically done through your program’s menu bar:
Insert > Image > From File) or by copying and pasting them in.
We find that using PNG images produces the highest quality
results, though most image file types are supported.
Text boxes can also be used to create borders. In the text box
options you can usually add a “stroke” or border to the text box and
adjust the thickness, style, etc.
You can add industrial symbols (hazard pictograms, warning
symbols, NFPA symbols, etc.) to your labels the same way as you
would add other images. We include hundreds of free symbols
in the LabelTac®‘Symbols’ folder. (See page 11 for installation
instructions for LabelTac®templates & symbols)
Arrows for marking directions or for use with pipe marking labels
can also be found in the LabelTac®‘Symbols’ folder in the ‘Arrows’
sub-folder. You can also insert or paste your own arrows in most
image formats into your label.
Using LabelTac®How to make labels