The last thing you want when printing your labels is to face printing issues and get unanticipated costs. Therefore, printer manufacturers recommend a regular printhead preventive maintenance to protect against poor print quality and premature printhead failure.

A clean printhead prevents many problems

Bad print quality
Dust and particles build-up can limit the heating capacity of the dots on the printhead. It will result in partial or no transfer of the ink altering the print and the read/scan capability.

Costly production downtime
If the elements of traceability on the label are not perfectly readable, it can stop a production line or result in the loss of a product/parcel which costs money. That’s when a deep printhead clean-up becomes a necessity… Regular printhead cleanup prevents an additional stop just to clean the printhead.
Costly printhead replacement
When dust and particles build up on the printhead, it will require an increase of printhead energy to ensure a quality ink transfer. This extra demand will progressively damage the heating dots and accelerate the printhead replacement which is the most expensive part of a thermal printer.
Preventive and regular cleaning will prolong the printhead lifetime and reduce replacement costs.

Clean Start + cleaning wipe: the strong power duo

To enhance the Thermal Transfer experience of every ribbon user, inkanto ribbons come with 2 complementary printhead cleaning features to help users prolong their printhead’s life and avoid print problems.
  • Clean Start®: a built-in ribbon feature that ensures regular printhead cleaning
  • Cleaning wipe: a free wipe in every box for a deeper printhead clean-up.

Each feature of this power duo has their own functions:
  • Clean Start cleans the surface covered by the ribbon width.
      The cleaning wipe can clean the entire width of the printhead, not just the printing width.
  • Clean Start cleans the line of heating dots that are in contact with the ribbon.
      The cleaning wipe will clean all the printhead ceramic, including the heating dots.
  • Clean Start ensures a regular cleaning with every ribbon change.
      The cleaning wipe complements with a deeper cleaning method for every new box of ribbons

Watch Clean Start in action