Link Labels

Polyimide labels are rated to withstand high process temperatures.
Although Polyimide labels are high temperature labels they are rated for 270°c for 5 minutes.
It would be more accurate to describe the polyimide labels as high temperature process labels as they are not designed to withstand high temperatures long term.

The main application for polyimide labels is for PCB barcode indentification, to be attached to the PCB before reflow.
High temperature labels are sometimes referred to as Kapton® labels.
Kapton® is a polyimide film developed by DuPont in the late 1960s, various high temperature products are made from Kapton®, Kapton® tape, Kapton® masking dots and Kapton® is sometimes used to insulate during processing or part of the design of a product.

Marking the PCB at the start of the process ensures traceability is possible for the whole manufacturing process, invaluable when using a reflow oven monitoring system such as the KIC RPI, as the PCB enters the reflow oven a barcode scanner reads the PCB barcode label, the KIC software registers the reflow oven temperature that the PCB experiences.

The PCB barcode label can be scanned at each stage of the manufacturing process if required, this can be linked to batches of components, solder paste and even operators.

This information can then be looked up at a later date for traceability purposes.

Do your labels cope with your production process?
Do you need a reliable and durable solution for your High Temperature Labels?

Link Hamson has earned a reputation for our expertise in supplying labels that can withstand the harshest of environments.

With our Expertise and our Labels & Printer Ribbons, most problems can be solved:

• Labels deformed by heat
• Print missing or blurred process
• Unreadable barcodes
• Labels become unstuck during/after process
• Labels are effected by PCB Cleaning processes

So why use Link Hamson to supply your labels?

We have the ability to supply high temperature labels, name plates, packaging labels, overlays, removable labels in virtually any printable size required.

We can supply labels for almost any application including stock, pre-printed, blank and custom labels.

If you are a current customer or are considering becoming one soon, you can be assured that Link Hamson is the place for all your label needs. The most advanced equipment on the market is used to produce the labels using only the best materials for manufacturing.

Link Hamson have been supplying labels to the UK since 1991 and our customers can expect our work to be accurate and the service we provide to be of the highest quality.

We believe that a label is not "just a label" but part of an identification system which sets us apart from our competitors and offers our customers the assurance they are getting only the best service in finding the label that meets their needs.

You are buying more than labels from Link Hamson, we pride ourselves in providing a service, ensuring that your production continues as smoothly as possible, we want you to benefit from our years of experience supplying the UK electronics manufacturing industry.

We can support your production in many other ways, visit our website to learn more www.linkhamson.com

Photo, "is your production process too fierce", is a derivative of: USAG-Humphreys via VisualHunt / CC BY by S.Hailstone

Setting up a new thermal label document with Bartender label design software is easy.
This tutorial by Seagull Scientific shows you how to create your new thermal label document.

Seagull Scientific's Bartender thermal label design software has many features to create print and manage thermal transfer label printing.
The bartender thermal label design software enables you to create barcode labels with a large selection of barcode symbologies to select from.

Contact us if you need help selecting the best version of Bartender's thermal label design software to suit your needs.

EA	= Enterprise Automation
A	= Automation
PRO	= Professional
BSC	= Basic

	=	Feature is fully supported
	=	Partially supported
	=	Supports shareable centralized databases
	=	Supports local databases only
	=	Supports all printers and print jobs on the network
	=	Works for local and network printers (and print jobs) that have drivers installed on the local PC

	EDITIONS:		EA	A	PRO	BSC
	GENERAL
	Licensed based on the number of printers used
	Licensed based on the number of PCs used
	Free phone and e-mail technical support for properly-registered users
	HTML-based context-sensitive help
	User interface translated into 20+ languages
	COMPANION APPLICATIONS
	Commander. (Controls BarTender in response to triggers from other programs)
	Security Center. (Provides security features for other applications in the suite, such as user permissions and document encryption)
	Printer Maestro. (Administers to printers and print queues on the network)
	Librarian. (Controls access, manages workflow, and tracks revisions to BarTender documents and other files within a secure database)
	History Explorer. (Views the logs stored in the BarTender System Database)
	Reprint Console. (Reprints previously printed jobs)
	Print Station. (Provides a simple "single-click" interface for selecting and printing BarTender documents)
	Batch Maker. (Defines and prints "batches" of multiple BarTender documents)
	TEMPLATE DESIGN
	True WYSIWYG template design
	New Document Wizard ensures proper printer selection and allows maximum printing speed
	Two-sided (“duplex”) design and printing
	Point and click creation of all objects, including text, barcodes, lines, boxes, shapes, and graphic images
	To simplify conversion from legacy systems, import and lighten photographs of old labels, cards, or tags for use as a design aid
	Unlimited undo / redo command
	Resize and reposition objects using a choice of methods: Mouse, arrow keys, typed in values
	Functions for automatic alignment of multiple objects
	Programmatically modify template objects during print jobs
	One-tenth degree rotation of lines, shapes, text, and graphics
	"Move to Front" and "Send to Back"
	Group and Ungroup multiple objects
	Live database view in objects in template design area
	Export barcodes to other programs
	Full color, pattern, and gradient support for all template objects
	Optional automatic borders for text, barcodes and graphics
	Combine multiple template objects into reusable components
	Library of "ready-to-print" label, card, and tag templates
	Thumbnail previews of saved BarTender documents, viewable both in BarTender and Windows explorer
	Metric and US measurements
	LABEL STOCK AND OTHER MEDIA
	Design templates up to 128 inches (3.25 m) long and/or wide (subject to limits of printer and driver)
	Any number of labels, cards, or tags, arranged in any number of rows and/or columns per sheet
	Page Setup Wizard assists with properly specifying media dimensions
	Database of thousands of name brand label, card, and tag sizes
	Rectangular, circular and elliptical media supported
	TEXT
	Versatile font support: OpenType, TrueType, Adobe, PostScript, downloadable, and built-in printer fonts
	On-screen text editing and sizing
	Powerful Rich Text formatting using on-screen WYSIWYG editor
	Stretch text horizontally or vertically
	Automatic on-the-fly resizing of text to fit within predefined height and width
	Paragraph Formatting: Multiple alignment methods, line spacing control, indenting, and inter-paragraph spacing
	Kerning and inter-character spacing control
	Outline fonts
	Arc and circular text
	User-definable tab stops
	White-on-black text printing (specified with a single mouse click)
	Support for RTF, HTML, and XAML
	BARCODES
	Numerous 1 and 2 dimensional symbologies
	Extensive library of industry-standard barcode formats
	Option to display start / stop characters
	Variable and unlimited width and height
	Minimum width limited only by printer resolution
	GS1 (formerly UCC/EAN) Application Identifier Data Source Wizard
	Automatic check digit capability
	Sequentially numbered barcodes
	Place "human readable" text anywhere in relation to barcodes
	Customizable "human readable" character template
	Independently suppress or display characters from different sub-fields
	GRAPHICS, IMAGES AND SYMBOLS
	Draw lines, circles, ellipses, rectangles, rounded rectangles, triangles, polygons, arrows, arcs, stars, and many other shapes
	Multiple dashed line styles and compound line styles
	Fill options for lines and shapes include solid color, multi-point gradient, pattern, and bitmap
	Import more than 70 graphic formats, including BMP, DCX, DIB, DXF, EPS, GIF, IMG, JPG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF, WMF, WPG, PDF, and more
	Integrated, online clip-art search and import
	TWAIN and WIA support for image scanners and cameras
	Basic image processing: Adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, sharpness, smoothing, cropping and more
	Industry-specific graphic symbol font libraries
	Linked graphics allow external graphics to change dynamically
	Specify background images and colors for templates
	PRINTING
	More than 3,000 industrial printers supported
	True Windows drivers, can be used by other programs
	Seagull drivers with status monitor display printer status in the standard Windows spooler
	Two-sided (“duplex”) design and printing
	Multiple templates per document
	Integrated job separator templates
	Batch Maker defines and prints "batches" of multiple BarTender documents
	Print Station supports "single-click" document selection and printing
	Conditional printing of templates
	Export printer code templates to XML enabled printers
	Advanced on-screen print preview
	Advanced cutter control
	Set starting position on pages of partially used labels, cards or tags
	Supports printer-based barcodes, serial numbers, time, date, and copies
	Speed optimization reuses repeating data instead of resending it
	Local and network printer support
	Print quantity can be set from keyboard or data source
	CARD PRINTING & ENCODING
	Print-time image capture, supporting WIA and VFW webcams
	Automatic face detection and cropping
	Magnetic stripe encoding
	Encoding of smart cards (both contact and non-contact)
	SERIALIZATION
	Basic serialization: Numeric (base 10), alphabetic (base 26), and concatenated numeric and alphabetic sequences with increment / decrement by any interval
	Advanced serialization: Alphanumeric (base 36), hexadecimal (base 16), and custom base serialization
	Separate rollover / rollunder and value reset options
	Preserve or expand field length when rolling over
	DATA SOURCING
	Design print-time data entry forms for keyboard and barcode scanner data
	Data from weighing scales supported by data entry forms
	Microsoft OLE DB and ODBC support, including drivers for:  Access, AS/400, Btrieve, dBase, Excel, Informix, Interbase, MySQL, Oracle database, Pervasive.SQL, PostgreSQL, Progress, SQL Server, Sybase, and more
	Read Excel files
	Read ASCII & Unicode text files (quote & comma, fixed width, and user-defined delimitation)
	SAP-certified interface to AII (Auto ID Infrastructure) XML documents
	Read data from SAP IDocs
	Oracle-certified interface to XML print requests
	Drag and drop data linking
	Versatile multiple-table data access
	Import variable graphics from databases
	Data query wizard and custom SQL assistant
	Individual record-picking at print time
	DATA PROCESSING
	Full-system Unicode support (field names, files, servers, printers, etc.)
	Visual Basic scripting for custom data processing
	Visual Basic scripting for document open, close, save, and print-time events
	Print-time search and replace function
	User-definable min and max field lengths
	Use and/or exclude select portions of database fields
	Customizable data-entry filters and error checking
	Custom configure the handling of individual messages and alerts
	Multiple data sources concatenated per template object
	Source data with keyboard, time and date (from PC or printer)
	Easy entry of special and "unprintable" control characters
	Shareable data fields
	Data type support, including: text, date, time, number, currency, percentage, and fraction
	STANDARD INTEGRATION
	Can be run as "background" application
	Control from other programs using ActiveX
	Control from other programs using command lines
	Commander Integration Utility: senses incoming data, then starts print jobs and logs results
	Specify both the BarTender document and the data to print from within other programs
	Automated printer selection
	Log to file: Errors and events
	Log to database: Errors and events, plus BarTender print job details
	Custom error, event and status e-mails
	Export printer code templates for SAPscript-ITF, keypads, printers that accept XML, and more
	SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION AND SECURITY
	Security Center manages user permissions and encrypts documents
	Security Center supports electronic signatures and logs permission requests
	Lock down documents with passwords
	Lock down BarTender into a password-protected "print-only" mode
	History Explorer audits past print jobs and other events
	Log images of all printed output
	Log revision number and change descriptions into the document file
	Librarian manages document publishing, revision tracking, and rollback within a secure database
	ADVANCED INTEGRATION
	SAP Certified for AII
	Read data from SAP IDocs
	Oracle certified for WMS and MSCA
	Oracle XML integration using a TCP/IP socket
	Supports IBM WebSphere Sensor Events
	Commander processes file, e-mail and serial port triggers
	Enhanced version of Commander supports TCP/IP triggers and data transmission
	Commander optimized to receive, launch, and monitor new print jobs without waiting for existing jobs to finish
	Commander can return XML status response as a file or through a TCP/IP port
	Detailed print job status available to other programs using ActiveX
	.NET SDK to control one BarTender at a time. (C# & VB.NET examples included)
	.NET SDK to control multiple instances of BarTender at once
	.NET SDK for BarTender System Database allows automated review and reprinting of past print jobs
	.NET SDK for Librarian allows automated file add, remove, rename, check in and out, etc.
	ASP.NET sample application for customizable web browser printing
	Automated conversion of different XML formats using XSL style sheets
	BarTender XML Command Scripts speed up automation and simplify remote control
	RFID SUPPORT
	Full-featured native RFID objects
	Encode EPC Gen2, EPC Class 1, ISO 18000-6b, ISO 15693, Tag-It, I-CODE, TagSys, My-d, and Picotag tag types
	Supports DoD, Wal-Mart, and other EPC data formats, including SGTIN, SSCC, GIAI, GID, GRAI, SGLN
	Support for many single and double-byte codepages, including Asian languages, UTF-8 and UTF-16
	Able to duplicate either the text or hexadecimal representation of the RFID data in text and barcode form
	Supports optional write protection
	Segment and Start Block support, including writing to multiple blocks
	Able to configure printer's RFID options (e.g., Transponder Offset and Maximum Retries)
	Display antenna, chip, and substrate on label. Select predefined or specify custom antenna bitmaps
	ENTERPRISE PRINT MANAGEMENT
	Optimized for high-volume label requests from numerous network users to one or more servers
	Browser-based network and internet printing
	Windows Cluster Server supported
	Reprint Console lets you search for and reprint previous jobs
	Configure security, spooler and other selected driver settings for multiple printers at once.
	Printer Maestro displays status of all Windows print jobs in one window
	Printer Maestro tracks printer media usage and inventory of printer parts. Generates custom alerts.
	Log printer events for Windows print jobs other than just those from BarTender
	Specify custom alerts for printer events and low inventory levels

For any durable label application, both print quality and resistance of the printed image when exposed to chemicals and abrasion is essential.  In most cases the base label material is identified first as it needs to fulfil its key objective, e.g. a Polyimide material for PCB serial number labels, required to withstand the SMT reflow or direct wave processes.

The ribbon choice however is more complex and the range of thermal transfer ribbons is vast therefore in order to achieve the best printed label result it’s important to select an optimum thermal transfer ribbon suitable for the label material, the application and for the thermal transfer label printer itself. Given that a typical manufactured product could be using any or all the label types listed below we also need to consider ribbons that can provide flexibility by offering high quality printing across a wide range of materials and applications.

For this reason Link Hamson has selected some key performance ribbons ideal for the electronics manufacturing industry:-

For versatility our RHT40 is a clear winner and our most popular resin ribbon. It’s suitable for use with all our polyimide, polyester and vinyl label materials and offers good performance on our standard paper label materials. Available to suit all the major thermal transfer printers such as SATO, Zebra, Datamax and TEC it’s simply the most cost effective single ribbon solution for thermal transfer printing.

For maximum solvent resistance our 140 or 104 ribbons can be used with polyimide and polyester label materials for use through the PCB cleaning process even with high density barcodes, we recommend testing to find the best solution for you own application.

For high quality printing on polyester, rating and product labels use our high performance RR113.

For maximum durability our 181 ribbon combined with our high durability white or metallised polyester label materials offers an ultra-high durable label solution for very harsh environments.

 

Applications	Materials	Durability and Cost
		Low	Med		High		V. High
		Premium Wax	RR113	RHT40	104	140	181
PCB Serial, Barcode Label	Polyimide, Polyester	○	○	●	●	●	○
Component Label	Polyimide, Polyester	○	○	●	●	●	○
Rating Label	Polyester	○	●	●	●	●	●
Product Labelling	Polyester	○	●	●	●	●	○
Harsh Environment Label	High Durability Polyester	○	○	○	○	○	●
CSA Approval, UL/MIL also	Polyester	○	○	●	○	○	○
Tamper Evident Label	Vinyl	○	○	●	○	○	○
Cable Marking Label	Vinyl	○	○	●	○	○	○
Packing and Carton Label	Paper	●	○	●	○	○	○
Packing and Carton Label	Polypropylene	●	○	●	●	●	○

 
All our ribbons offer excellent print contrast against our thermal transfer label materials which makes them perfect for both standard barcode applications (e.g. Code39 or Code128) and also 2D barcodes (e.g. Data Matrix or Micro PDF417).

 

 Thermal Transfer Ribbons – Application Guide

For any durable label application, both print quality and resistance of the printed image when exposed to chemicals and abrasion is essential.  In most cases the base label material is identified first as it needs to fulfil its key objective, e.g. a Polyimide material for PCB serial number labels, required to withstand the SMT reflow or direct wave processes.

The ribbon choice however is more complex and the range of thermal transfer ribbons is vast therefore in order to achieve the best printed label result it’s important to select an optimum thermal transfer ribbon suitable for the label material, the application and for the thermal transfer label printer itself. Given that a typical manufactured product could be using any or all the label types listed below we also need to consider ribbons that can provide flexibility by offering high quality printing across a wide range of materials and applications.

For this reason Link Hamson has selected some key performance ribbons ideal for the electronics manufacturing industry:-

For versatility our RHT40 is a clear winner and our most popular resin ribbon. It’s suitable for use with all our polyimide labels, polyester labels and vinyl label materials and offers good performance on our standard paper label materials. Available to suit all the major thermal transfer printers such as SATO, Zebra, Datamax and TEC it’s simply the most cost effective single ribbon solution for thermal transfer printing.

For maximum solvent resistance our 140 ribbon can be used with polyimide and polyester label materials for use through the PCB cleaning process even with high density barcodes.

For maximum durability our 181 ribbon combined with our high durability white or metallised polyester label materials offers an ultra-high durable label solution for very harsh environments.

 

 

Applications	Materials	Durability and Cost
		Low	Med	High	V. High
		Premium Wax	RHT40	140	181
PCB Serial, Barcode Label	Polyimide, Polyester	○	●	●	○
Component Label	Polyimide, Polyester	○	●	●	○
Rating Label	Polyester	○	●	●	●
Harsh Environment Label	High Durability Polyester	○	○	○	●
CSA Approval, UL/MIL also	Polyester	○	●	○	○
Tamper Evident Label	Vinyl	○	●	○	○
Cable Marking Label	Vinyl	○	●	○	○
Packing and Carton Label	Paper	●	●	○	○
Packing and Carton Label	Polypropylene	●	●	●	○

 

All our ribbons offer excellent print contrast against our thermal transfer label materials which makes them perfect for both standard barcode applications (e.g. Code39 or Code128) and also 2D barcodes (e.g. Data Matrix or Micro PDF417).

 

Component Identification Labels

Programmable memory devices such as NAND Flash are common place and used in all areas of electronics manufacturing however as the trend towards smaller packaging continues how can the information about the software version, date or batch be clearly marked for future reference i.e. once it’s in production or beyond in to the field.

Laser marking is common place for large programming centres where the sheer volume of programmed parts requires a certain level of automation and the high costs can be justified. Laser marking of small components is very simple but not so easy to read for the end-user as there’s often information already marked/printed on the device. The black/grey component body and the light grey laser marking provides a low contrast marking which is also hard to read manually and also for image readers.

 

Labelling is still the most common method for component identification and provides an excellent contrast of white background to black text that makes reading even miniature labels easy.
The labels need to survive all the manufacturing processes therefore  these will be a polyimide label, a high temperature label material designed for PCB and component marking applications.


 
2D Data Matrix or Micro QR codes can be printed on to device labels down to 4x4mm therefore reading of this data by automated barcode systems later is easily achievable. As with manual reading the contrast ratio between the white background and the black print provides a much better readability for the scanners and therefore a better solution for automated systems where an extremely high read yield is expected.

Printable Rating Labels

Rating plates have been used for a long time to permanently mark electronic and industrial equipment. Originally made from sheet aluminum and riveted to the hardware, hence the name ‘plate’ these identifiers contained key equipment data for the end-user:

Voltage and power ratings
Model number
Serial number
Manufacturing date
Company details and even a logo
Approvals
Place of manufacture

Some of this information is crucial for the end-user during installation or in the case of service, to correctly identify the product.

Plates however were expensive to produce and slow to mark, often done with stamps or etching machines manually, and do not lend themselves well to modern high volume manufacturing.

For some time now metallised or silver polyester labels have been used to provide the same information in a format that’s much easier to apply to the product…even though they’re still often referred to as rating plates.

Example of a rating plate label on a Monitor

 

This example is a metallised polyester label showing product code, all power requirements, serial number, model number, build date and FCC ID number.

You can also see the relevant approval and compliance logos (CE, WEEE and other country specific approvals) as well as the company information and location of manufacture.

UL, CSA & MIL approved materials are available.

During the busy day the priority is to get the barcode labels printed and stuck on the products or boxes, stopping to clean the printhead each time the roll of labels is changed, as recommended by most Thermal Transfer Printer manufactures, is just not realist is it?

In the perfect world you would do just that, it is realistic to say that sometimes we just haven't got the time, the customer is demanding the urgent order or the boss needs productivity to be up.

But then do you maintain your printhead at all?
What are the benefits? How can the printhead get that dirty anyway?

The Thermal Transfer Printer applies the print by heating up area's of the printhead which then melts the printer ribbon onto the label material.
Over time this process can leave residue from the process on the printhead, which can then build up on the printhead, effecting the quality of the print.

If remove periodically the printhead is maintained in good condition and this residue is easy to remove, if left and the print quality deteriorates, it maybe impossible to remove the residue, resulting in the need to replace the printhead prematurely, an expensive repair which could have been avoided with a good maintenance program.

So although cleaning the print head every time you change a roll of labels may not be achievable, creating a maintenance schedule which can be achieved,  say at the end of every day/shift or depending on the quantity of labels printed, every friday afternoon, will extend the life of your Thermal Transfer Printhead.

Print head Cleaning

Daily (if used constantly)
Wipe with a Printhead cleaning cloth

Periodically use a print head cleaning sheet the maintain the print head printing quality.
First, clean the print head  with a cleaning cloth to remove any surface debris.
The print head cleaning sheet will last for the normal life of a print head.

1. Turn the printer power off with the main switch.

2. Place the print head lock lever in the open position.

3. Remove label stock and ribbon from the area of the print head.

4. Place the Cleaning sheet ‘dull’ side up (towards the print head) between the print head and
        the platen roller, with approx 1 inch extending beyond the print head.

5. Place the print head lock lever in the closed position.

6. Firmly grasp the portion of the sheet extending beyond the print head with both hands and
        gently pull the sheet from the printer. Use a smooth, steady force. In severe cases, multiple
        passes of the cleaning sheet may be required.

7. Place the print head lock lever in the open position. Remove all remaining dust from the
        print head and platen roller.

8. Install a new thermal transfer ribbon and reload the label stock. The printer is now ready to use.

To remove a label jam

If a label becomes stuck to the Print head, remove as much of the label as possible first.

Only try to peel the label off, DO NOT try scratching the label off as this could damage the Print head.

Remove the remaining label by applying some label off to a cloth, then hold this over the remaining label.
Allow the label to soften the glue, a couple of minutes and/or applications may be required, the label and/or remaining glue should then be easily removed.

Once the label and label glue has largely been removed with the label off, clean the Print head with a Print head cleaning cloth, pass the Print head cleaning pen over the Print head a couple of times, then clean with the Print head wipe again.

Sourcing a label printer probably seems like an easy task until you start searching, you then find there are so many type and prices!

 

For quality durable labels a Thermal Label Printer, is the most suitable.

Obviously labels can be printed off your bubble jet or laser printer, but for certain jobs, that style of printing is not suitable.
To print the odd address label or for files in the office, an A4 sheet of paper labels would be fine.

To print a despatch label for your product with barcode, a dedicated Thermal Transfer Label Printer would possibly be better.
This type of printer has a roll of labels a tear of strip and prints the label at high speed, whilst dispatching good, the product can be scanned and the appropriate label printed ready to be slapped on the box, goods out is always a rush at the end of the day!

A Thermal Transfer Label Printer can also handle the many other types of label materials such as Polyester Labels and High Temperature Polyimide Labels

So a standard office printer is fine for the odd paper label, but for more specialised label printing requiring accuracy and speed, a thermal transfer label printer is more suitable.

The type of label and the application mainly decides which is the best label printer to use.
For printing many different types of high quality labels at high speed an industrial label printer would be best.
To print an occasional individual product I.D label a desktop label printer would be best.

Our range of label printers are all from well known and proven manufacturers of label printers.
The best label printer from the range we supply is the most suitable to your application.

Click on the link below which more closely suits your application to see the best label printer for the job.
Or give us a call and we can help find the best label printer for you. 

PCB Barcode Labels
SATO CL4NX
Zebra ZT230
Zebra 110Xi4

Single packaging and product ID labels, low volume
Zebra GX420d
Zebra GX430t