Repair VS Replace
On the left is a Toshiba B-EX4T1 with lots of dead printhead elements.
Below you’ll find the questions you should be asking yourself when deciding to repair or replace a thermal label printer.
Is the printer in question end of service life?
End of service life is similar to a death certificate for some label printers it signifies that spare parts will no longer be manufactured from the OEM leaving you with what’s left in the supply chain before they are no longer available. This a common and good reason to consider a brand new thermal label printer, nobody wants to be left with equipment that can’t be repaired as it would cause an operational nightmare when it eventually breaks down.
It is important to stress there are compatible parts manufactured by third parties available for the most popular printers as well as used parts making end of service life a less scary prospect and sometimes a viable option. I know of customers still using Zebra ZM400 label printers which went end of service and support on December 30, 2019 almost 6 years later.
What is the value proposition for repairing the label printer?
A label printer repair could save you a ridiculous amount of money over purchasing a replacement providing that repair is available.
For example a Zebra ZM400 203DPI with straight vertical lines through the print damaging the barcode, this label printer only needs a replacement printhead to solve that problem a good quality compatible printhead is £250 and our labour price is £90 + mileage(lets say 50 miles) £22.50 which totals £362.50 excluding VAT.
MSRP for the Zebra ZT411 which is the current replacement for the ZM400 is £2183.84 in this case the repair cost is less than 20% of the replacement and a saving of over £1000 which is hard to pass by if you aren’t interested in any of the new features of the Zebra ZT411 label printer.
Does your label printer share components with the up to date replacement?
End of service life label printers may share components with the replacement, this is found on the Zebra ZT410/ZT411 where most of the drive system and physical components are actually the same but the electronics and sensor assemblies have been updated for use with new software features.
If this is the case and you are happy with your ZT410 it can quite confidently be repaired as long as the Zebra ZT411 label printer is in service making you think twice about replacing it.
Does your current label printer have all the features you want for your application?
A good reason to upgrade would be wanting a feature available on another thermal label printer or an up to date model that is not provided by your current label printer. For example the Zebra ZT411 has a printhead test feature where it can be programmed to test the printhead for dead elements every x amount of labels printed and throw up an error if there is a problem. The older Zebra ZT410 doesn’t have this feature and when head elements fail they are quite small so operators may not notice the defects; With an on screen warning displayed after the test on the Zebra ZT411 it would lead to action and prevent unreadable text/barcodes down the line.
Example of the Zebra ZT411 Label printer printhead test error message.
Conclusion
The service life status, cost, parts availability and feature set should be heavily considered when deciding between replacing or repairing your thermal label printers.