Techniques to Ensure Your Thermal Receipt Printer is Functioning Properly 

In this busy world we often find ourselves rushing to get the little things done such as loading our thermal receipt printers. This could be the difference between a functional printer and a non-functional one. When loading your thermal printer you may run into the problem that it feeds roll paper but it does not print. The cause could be that it's not thermal-coated paper or it was loaded upside down. There are three simple steps you can follow to fix the problem. 

1) To verify that the roll is thermal coated paper, scratch the surface of the paper with a coin or nail. 
2) Make sure the top coat shows a black mark where the scratch was made to ensure the paper is thermal-coated. 
3) Finally, verify the thermal paper was loaded correctly and try printing again. 

Example of proper paper loading: 














Please let us know if you have any questions, thoughts or comments 

What is the Difference Between Paper Basis Weight, Caliper and Equivalent Weight for Paper Rolls?

We are often asked about the differences between paper basis weight, caliper and equivalent weight. So we thought a blog post was in order to explain the differences as it relates to paper rolls, thermal paper rolls, and wide format paper rolls. 

Basis Weight: The basis weight of a paper is the designated fixed weight of 500 sheets, measured in pounds, in that paper's basic sheet size. It is important to note that the "basic sheet size" is not the same for all types of paper.

Caliper: Refers to the thickness of a sheet of paper expressed in thousandths of an inch. This measurement is take with a micro meter. Normally, paper caliper should not have more than a + or - 5% variance within a sheet. Generally, the relation between caliper and basis weight- the greater the caliper (the thicker the paper) the greater the paper weight.

Equivalent Weight: While different paper types have different basic sizes, papers can still be compared by using equivalent weight.

Basis Weight ("Category") Table

Type of Paper	Basic Size – 500 Sheets
"Bond" Ledger Mimeo Duplicator Rag Paper	17" x 22"
"Offset" Book Text Coated Paper	25" x 38"
"Cover"	20" x 26"
"Tag Stock"	24" x 36"
"Index"	25-1/2" x 30-1/2"

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