ttj - Tom Jones

Mr TJ of Tirol writes: How many code128 barcode 6-character asset labels can you get from a typical 8m TZ tape? Great question. Let's start with a fresh TZe-221 label cartridge: I started at tj1783 on a PT7600 machine, and chose number 99 (this is the max). It displayed 45.0 at the bottom of the display, and this is the length in mm.  I measured a label with a ruler to confirm: it was 45mm.  This indicated length did not change during the print run, implying that the lengths of these labels were not affected by character widths in the font. Then, I chose another 99.  It finally ran out having done tj1968.  When a TZ tape runs out, you get this black and white barring effect: If you care about not having gaps in the sequence, you have to work out which one was printed successfully last.  The barring is usually too heavy to read off the id that failed.  The easiest way is to lay the labels out in order as you cut them, as depicted, instead of allowing them to...

My favourite label printer is the Brother PT-7600.  Newer models seem engineered to waste tape, and to waste time. The PT-7600 is still pretty good at wasting tape.   The TZ tape cartridges are taken by many Brother label printers.  They come in widths from 6mm (or 3.5mm, sort of) to 24mm.  Some machines accept up to 18mm. In 2017, in Japan, I bought a couple of Brother TZ label printers.  They wasted tape in crazy ways, like reverting to annoying defaults of wasting tape at the slightest excuse.  I should have done a detailed look, but they were annoying enough that they had to go in the electronic waste box, and on and away from there.  Every so often I buy a second-hand PT-7600 on ebay. Small offcuts of wastage are produced by the feed thing, which seems to be a limitation of the cartridge format.  You can get your label now by feeding, but then an offcut is produced before the next print.  Or you can minimise label wastage, but you d...