Edges of individual (laser, waterproof) labels are mottled

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OnlineLabels.com Forum » All About Labels » Label Printing Tips » Edges of individual (laser, waterproof) labels are mottled

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efenley

#1 Posted : 7/5/2015 8:02:49 AM(EST)

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Location: Virginia

I'm using a Brother HL-L8530CDW laser printer with laser waterproof labels. I use the highest setting (glossy) and that gives me the darkest black, but on all setting there is a poor printing at the vertical edge of the labels. The ink does not adhere at all. This shows on the vertical edge only (as it feeds into the printer) not the horizontal edges.

See the photo attached. See vertical edge of each label

Josh

#2 Posted : 7/6/2015 12:06:30 PM(EST)

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I'm sorry to hear about the issue that you've experienced and I'll be happy to offer any assistance that I can.

Looking at your order history it appears that you ordered four different sizes in the same weatherproof polyester material for laser printing. Have you tried printing any of the other sizes yet? If so, has the problem occurred with any of the other sizes?

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efenley

#3 Posted : 7/6/2015 2:33:15 PM(EST)

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Location: Virginia

Yes. I get similar results on other shapes.

Josh

#4 Posted : 7/6/2015 4:09:33 PM(EST)

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Thank you for your response. I pulled sample sheets of each of the four products that you ordered so that I could run test prints on my end. I was able to successfully print a black border on each of the products using a HP LaserJet Pro 200 printer model. When running my test prints, I found that using the "Labels" setting for material type provided the best print quality and the most solid black print.

Have you tried using any other material settings on your Brother laser printer? I know that you mentioned using the glossy material setting, but we usually recommend using Labels or Transparencies in the event of toner fusion problems when printing.

Do you have access to another laser printer? Printing to another printer would allow us to determine if the issue persists across multiple printer models or if it's isolated to just the one. I'd be happy to send a few additional sample sheets of each product if you need them for testing purposes.

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Washington Lavender

#5 Posted : 7/8/2015 1:01:57 AM(EST)

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I've had a similar problem when using the Glossy Paper media type. I'll try using the Labels media type as you've suggested.

efenley

#6 Posted : 7/8/2015 8:29:17 AM(EST)

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Posts: 4

Location: Virginia

I used heavy paper settings, labels setting and glossy setting and get similar results with all. I tried the same label stock in a Dell 1320c Color laser printer and the labels print as expected using the label setting. This suggests the problem is the Brother printer I'm using.

Do you have any history on the Brother HL-L8350 printers? Has anyone else complained about them or reported good results with this printer?

Edited by user Wednesday, July 8, 2015 8:56:18 PM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

Josh

#7 Posted : 7/9/2015 9:38:06 AM(EST)

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We've received three printer feedback surveys from customers who have used the Brother HL-L8350CDW with our labels in the past. The results on all three were very positive, but they were all using basic matte finish label material. Unfortunately, there were no completed surveys by customers using the printer with our weatherproof polyester laser material.

I was able to locate the user manual for the Brother HL-L8350CDW online, and there is a printer setting that could potentially impact the way the black toner appears when printed. In the manual, the setting is listed as:

"Enhance Black Printing
If a black graphic does not print correctly, choose this setting."

I don't have a Brother printer on hand so I'm unable to test this setting myself, but it may improve your printing results. If you have a chance to try it please let me know how it works for you.

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stinafaye

#8 Posted : 3/18/2016 4:02:12 PM(EST)

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I am having this same exact problem with my Brother - HL-3170CDW color laser printer. I have been trying to print colored labels on OL475LP Weatherproof Polyester labels and set the printer to the label setting. The edges and coloring comes out all smudged. Any suggestions to remedy this?

Josh

#9 Posted : 3/21/2016 2:01:24 PM(EST)

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Originally Posted by: stinafaye

I am having this same exact problem with my Brother - HL-3170CDW color laser printer. I have been trying to print colored labels on OL475LP Weatherproof Polyester labels and set the printer to the label setting. The edges and coloring comes out all smudged. Any suggestions to remedy this?

stinafaye -

We don't have many completed printer feedback surveys for customers using the Brother HL-3170CDW with our Weatherproof Polyester laser labels. Based on the feedback that we have received it seems that this printer model has some trouble printing full color backgrounds and borders on the white Weatherproof Polyester material. Customer that have used this printer model to print labels with text and simple images have reported excellent results, but there have also been reports of similar issues relating to smudging and mottling when attempting to print background colors and borders that go all the way to the edge of the labels.

I was able to locate the user manual for the Brother HL-3170CDW and there are a couple of settings you could potentially alter in an effort to improve printing results.

- You mentioned trying the label material setting. It may be worthwhile to try other similar material type settings - gloss, semi-gloss, and transparencies would all be worth trying if they are available.

- Make sure toner saver mode is turned off.

- Clean the drum unit of the printer (instructions on page 147 of the manual).

- If black print isn't appearing correctly, select the "Print Text In Black" checkbox in the printer settings.

- If the print quality is poor, deselect the "Improve Gray Color" checkbox in the printer settings.

- Choose the "Improve Toner Fixing" mode in the printer settings.

Hopefully some combination of these troubleshooting tips will help improve your printing results. All of these tips were pulled directly from the user manual, which I have linked to below:

http://download.brother.com/welcome/doc003061/cv_hl3140cw_use_usr.pdf

Edited by user Monday, March 21, 2016 2:02:00 PM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

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ErinMarie

#10 Posted : 3/26/2016 6:34:18 PM(EST)

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Posts: 1
Location: Kansas

I am also printing with a Brother Color Laser priner HL-3140 and am having this same issue! Did you ever resolve this with the setting adjustments? I keep wasting all my sheets :(

pasionteas

#11 Posted : 5/20/2016 4:45:36 PM(EST)

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Posts: 2

Has anyone been able to resolve this issue? I have a Brother MFC-9130CW laser printer. Most of my labels print beautifully with the exception of the OL1061 polyester waterproof labels and the OL350CL. The edges come out all mottled, like the user at the top of this post. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Josh

#12 Posted : 5/23/2016 12:19:13 PM(EST)

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We brought in a Brother laser printer to look into some of the problems reported on this thread - the mottling and discoloration at the edge of labels is definitely an issue, especially when using the default printer settings with film-based and weatherproof stocks. This problem only occurs when using Brother's line of laser printers - the same designs can be printed without issue when using printer models from other manufacturers (HP, Lexmark, Samsung, etc).

While not an ideal solution, the best way to avoid the issue altogether is to create a design that does not print all the way to the edge of the label. The mottling and discoloration appears to be totally isolated to the area directly bordering the die-cuts, so designing without a full background color or border means you shouldn't experience the issue.

I have spent some time playing with advanced printer settings and options to see if I'm able to improve the printing results for designs that do print to the edge of the label. After a lot of tinkering, I was able to improve the printing results pretty significantly. It's important to note that the results were somewhat inconsistent, and the extent to which the issue is resolve can depend on the specific design being printed, but the most important settings I found to adjust are detailed below:

- The Media Type setting should be set to something heavier than plain: Thicker Paper, Label, or Glossy Paper are all good options. Some of the heavier Media Type settings may force you to manual feed the label sheets one at a time, but it's still definitely worth trying to see if it improves your printing results.

- The setting that impacted my print results the most was definitely "Improve Toner Fixing". You should be able to find this setting by first navigating to the Advanced tab in your Printer options, clicking on the button titled "Other Print Options", and then navigating to the section titled "Improve Print Output". Selecting "Improve Toner Fixing" had a significant impact on the printing results that I was able to achieve when using a few different test designs.

The combination of these printer settings will hopefully result in improved print quality for your labels too. If you're still experiencing the mottling issue after making these adjustments you may want to consider altering the design so that you are not printing all the way to the edge of the label, or potentially trying a different laser printer model if you have one available to you.

I hope this helps. If you should require any additional information please just let me know.

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