LabelTac LT4 User manual

LabelTac®4 Reference Guide

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

Contents
Unboxing
What’s in the box
Your printer
Setup & Install
Before you continue...
Connecting LabelTac®
Installing LabelTac®drivers
Installing templates & symbols
Using LabelTac®
Loading print ribbon
Loading tape supply
How to make labels
LED & button functions
Ribbon tension
Troubleshooting
When using die-cut labels...
Cleaning your printer
Warranty & Support
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Contents 1

LabelTac®Printers are professional thermal transfer
printing systems, designed for creating custom 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 labeltac.com
email [email protected]
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What’s in the box
Unboxing What’s in the box 3
Included
•LabelTac®4 Printer
•USB Cable
•Power Cable
•2 Cleaning Swabs
* Print ribbon ships pre-installed for convenience
•Install CD
•Reference Guide & Lit
•1 Black Print Ribbon*

Unboxing Your Printer4
Your Printer
Ribbon Rewind Hub
Ribbon Supply Hub
Cover Support Release
Media Holder
Platen Roller
Cutter
Alignment Guide
Adjustment Wheel
Print Head
Alignment Guides
Black Mark Sensor
Mouth
Media Holder
Lock Switch
Ribbon Rewind Gear

Unboxing Your Printer 5
Your Printer (cont’d)
LED Indicator
Multi-Function Action Button
Ribbon Access Cover
Cover Releases
Ethernet Port
USB 2.0 Port
Parallel Port
RS-232C Port
Power Jack Socket
Power Switch

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
Connect one end of the USB cable to an available USB 2.0
port on the back of your computer.
Connect the other end of the cable to the USB port on your
LabelTac®4 printer.
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USB 2.0

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

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Connecting LabelTac®(cont’d)
Step 3: Turn on your printer
Flip power switch from ‘off’ position (O) to ‘on’ position ( I ).
The LED indicator on the top side of the printer will turn green,
signaling that the LabelTac®is powered on and ready.
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Setup & Install Connecting LabelTac®

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Installing LabelTac®drivers
Setup & Install Installing LabelTac®drivers
Insert LabelTac®Install CD. The install menu should auto-
load. If it doesn’t, open the CD and run setup.exe manually.
Select ‘Install LabelTac Drivers’. (If a pop-up appears about
making changes to your computer, select ‘Yes’ and continue)
Click ‘Install printer drivers’, and then click ‘Next’.
Select ‘Install a driver for a Plug and Play printer’ (this should
be already selected by default) and click ‘Next’.
In the Printer name field, change the name to LabelTac®4.
Leave everything else as-is, and click ‘Next’.
Click ‘Finish’ to start the installation. (If a pop-up appears
about driver software publishers, select ‘Install this driver
software anyways’ and continue) Click ‘Close’ when
complete.
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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.
Note: You must have Admin Rights for your account in Windows to be able to
install LabelTac drivers. (Unsure? Give us a call at 1-877-356-6584)

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Installing templates and symbols
Setup & Install Installing templates and symbols
From the LabelTac®Install CD menu, select ‘Install Templates
& Symbols’.
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.
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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.
. . .

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Loading print ribbon
Using LabelTac®Loading print ribbon
Open cover by pulling both green cover release tabs straight
towards you, then lift up on the ribbon access cover to open.
Remove outer plastic bag from the ribbon, and unstick the
white ribbon ‘leader’ or ‘tail’ from the roll. (For new rolls)
With the ribbon leader hanging from behind/under the roll,
insert the ribbon right-side first onto the ribbon supply hub. (a)
Insert the left side of the ribbon onto the other hub and rotate
the ribbon until you feel the notches on the cardboard core
lock into the hub spokes.
Insert an empty cardboard core into the ribbon rewind hub,
then take the hanging ribbon up and over the print head and
stick the ribbon to the core with scotch tape or the leader
adhesive. (b)
With your finger, turn the green ribbon rewind gear until the
leader is wound around the core, and the ribbon is exposed
and fully covers the print head.
Close the ribbon access cover, push the green cover support
to the left to disengage and close the top cover gently.
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Loading print ribbon (cont’d)
Using LabelTac®Loading print ribbon
(a)
(b)
A full print ribbon loading video is available online at www.labeltac.com/support.
If installed correctly, the dull side of the ribbon should be exposed and facing you.

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Loading tape supply
Using LabelTac®Loading tape supply
Open cover by pulling both green cover release tabs straight
towards you.
Separate the green media holders so they are wider than
the roll of material you are loading. (a) (If media holders are
locked, unlock them by clicking up the lock switch on the left
holder) (b)
Place the supply roll in between the holders, close them onto
the core, and lock the holders into place by clicking down on
the lock switch on the left media holder.
Using the green guide adjustment wheel, adjust the media
guides wider than the width of the material, feed the material
through the guides, and then re-adjust the guides so they fit
up against the material while still allowing free movement. (c)
Feed the material through the cutter and out the mouth of the
printer. Push the green cover support to the left to disengage
and close the top cover gently.
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Loading tape supply (cont’d)
Using LabelTac®Loading tape supply
A full tape supply loading video is available online at www.labeltac.com/support.
UNLOCK
LOCK
(a)
(b)
(c)

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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:
Creating labels and signs with LabelTac®is easy-
• Microsoft Word (preferred)
• LabelDirect
• Apache OpenOffice
• Seagull Bartender
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Google Docs
Start with one of our pre-made templates (see page 11 for
information on installing templates) and customize to fit your
needs & application...
Start from scratch in any word or image processing program.
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OR
. . .
We find Microsoft Word to be the easiest program to design labels and signs in
(the majority of the templates that we include with your LabelTac®are in Word
format), but if you don’t have access to Word on your computer, we include
LabelDirect software on the install CD.
If you would like to use LabelDirect, we recommend visiting our LabelDirect
support page at labeltac.com/support/labeldirect.

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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 4”x6” sign, simply set your
page size in the program’s settings to 4” height and to 6”
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®4 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 4” wide material.
Designing your label in black and white or grayscale will produce the best results.

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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