Thermal Printers

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QuickScrip can integrate with Cognitive CXD4-1330-RX Thermal Printers. These printers differ from laser printers in may respects.

Link to user guide for support purposes can be found here.

Cognitive CXD4-1330-RX Thermal Printer
Cognitive CXD4-1330-RX Thermal Printer

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

  • Thermal Printers are 10” in length, 6 ½ “ in width, and 7” high, giving them a much smaller footprint.
  • Thermal printers apply heat to specialized paper. The images are burned onto the label. This means that thermal printers do not require ink or toner.
  • Thermal Printers have very few moving parts and do not require as much maintenance.
  • Thermal Printers have a lower cost of ownership. The price of thermal printers and laser printers are equivalent. The price of thermal labels and laser labels are equivalent. (Thermal paper costs more, but thermal labels are smaller.) Thermal printers save money by requiring no ink or toner. (The savings will be reduced if you print monographs to your report printer.) Thermal printer print heads have to be replaced approximately every 1 million inches. 1 million inches is around 300,000 8 inch labels. Replacing these must be done by the manufacturer.

Disadvantages

  • Due to the smaller print area, thermal labels do not have sufficient room to print a patient monograph. Monographs can be redirected to your report printer.
  • It is necessary to have two thermal label printers in your store in order to avoid down-time due to a printer failure. Another solution to this issue is to keep laser labels in stock. This would allow labels to be moved to the report print until the thermal printer is replaced.

Setup Process

If you are interested in migrating to thermal labels, consult your label provider. They will help you select a design that best fits your needs. Once you have chosen a label design, mail a roll of the labels to Cost Effective. We will use the roll to assist you in formatting the information on the label. The installation process will be smoother for the pharmacy if we have the label formatting ready beforehand. Mail labels to:

Cost Effective Computers
2995-C Cleveland Hwy
Dalton GA, 30720

Below is a sample sheet of label forms that we are compatible with. The most common forms are bordered in red.

Thermal Label Samples
Thermal Label Samples

Cleaning and Maintenance

It is recommended that you perform basic cleaning on your Cognitive Thermal printer. This can improve the accuracy of print, and resolve label spooling issues. You will want to take cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol and clean both the Thermal Print Head (black strip on the inside edge of the printer)and the Label Sensor (adjustable sensor on the bottom inside of the unit). Both of these components can be accessed by lifting the tabs on the front of the printer.

Thermal printer Tabs Thermal Print Head Label Sensor

The Label Sensor can also be adjusted left or right for reading bars, gaps, or perforations in your labels.