[Nhcoll-l] Thermal label problems

Wed Jun 1 09:49:01 EDT 2016

Hi Jon,

We too had a one-time issue with the ink having come off of a few labels in a loan return of specimens in 75% ethanol.

We never were able to pinpoint exactly the issue, as it only seemed to be these few vials, whereas the other vials in this loan return were completely unaffected.

However, there are solvent/surfactant products that will cause the ink to dissolve, disintegration, smear, fall off.

These are:

-        Industrial surfactants (Aerosol OT & Contrad) using in specimen rehydration. So if there is residue of these surfactants in/on the specimens, this may/will cause the label to fail. This might be avoided if specimens are rinsed well.

-        Methyl ethyl ketone (butanone) or MEK

-        Glacial Acetic Acid (3 mol)

-        DEET (so if you are in the field and have DEET on your hands, you might not want to handle the labels)

Make sure to use Thermal Transfer SDR ribbon (not SDRa). I am still using an old SATO M-84Pro printer and get the paper (polytag) and SDR ribbon from Alpha Systems, and outside these very few vials, we’ve not had a problem.

Chris

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From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Jon Fong
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2016 4:03 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Thermal label problems

We are having a label printer problem that supposedly no one else has, so I'm asking around to see if it really is only us, or whether that no one else has noticed.

The problem is that we are able to scrape off the ink with a fingernail from our thermal transfer labels after they've been soaked in ethanol for a few minutes. We're using a relatively new Datamax H-4408, with supposedly chemical-resistant resin ribbon, and polyester paper. This shouldn't happen, and I know that we've been able to successfully print labels where we couldn't scratch off the ink. With this printer.  But it keeps recurring, and we don't know whether it's the supplier (Alpha Systems), the manufacturer, our printer (lemon? doubtful, it's the second one), or us. Please answer this quick survey.

  1.  With a recently printed label, soaked in ethanol for a few minutes, are you able to scratch off ink with your fingernail?
  2.  What make/model of printer do you use?
  3.  What are the heat and print speed settings on the printer?
  4.  Which ribbon and paper do you use?
  5.  Who do you order your supplies from?
  6.  We've also had problems with fine white threads coming off the polyester paper and clogging the print head. Anyone else experience this?
Thanks for your time,
Jon

Jon D. Fong
Curatorial Assistant / Programmer
Dept. of Ichthyology
California Academy of Sciences
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