Alignment issues on round labels

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chingborden

#1 Posted : 8/28/2018 3:21:11 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 3

Location: HI

I am having soooo many problems with round label alignment. Not just slightly off but way off- like 1/8-1/4 inch. So many wasted sheets and in many sizes- currently I've blown through a number of 2.5". I 'm not sure what is going wrong or how to fix this but I can't get a professional look. I have plenty of bleed bordering and it still aligns way off. Plus- it's not consistent throughout the page. It's like the template needs adjusting. Some labels are mostly centered but others are more off on the same page.

Please help. I've probably wasted 20 sheets of different sized circles trying to find an answer to labeling my circular products.

Thank you

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Josh

#2 Posted : 8/29/2018 12:08:03 PM(EST)

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chingborden -

I'm sorry to hear about the alignment issues you're experiencing and I'll be happy to offer any assistance that I can.

Before going any further, I'd like to establish that the issue isn't related to page scaling when printing. Is the alignment only off horizontally or is it off vertically as well? Can you confirm that the page scaling setting within Adobe Reader is set to "Actual Size" when printing?

Can you measure the margins on the label sheet? I'd like to make sure that the sheet is cut correctly and within our quality tolerances. The left/right margins should be 0.343" and the top/bottom margins should be 0.579".

If the page scaling is set correctly and the sheets are cut to the proper dimensions then we can begin taking a deeper look into what may be causing the issue. You'll find a link to our printer alignment guide at the link below. It features a variety of troubleshooting tips and techniques specific to printer alignment.

https://www.onlinelabels...nter-alignment-guide.htm

We also have a printer alignment questionnaire that will walk you through some of the common issues and give you with opportunity to provide detailed information on the exact type of alignment problems you're experiencing.

https://secure.onlinelab...com/alignment-wizard.htm

Once we have additional details from you we should be able to properly troubleshoot the alignment problems that you're experiencing.

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chingborden

#3 Posted : 8/29/2018 1:38:20 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 3

Location: HI

Hi- Printer is set to actual size. l/r margins are slightly over 1/4 inch- .3125" and t/b margins are 1/2 inch- .5625". I completed the questionnaire.

Edited by user Wednesday, August 29, 2018 2:02:15 PM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

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Josh

#4 Posted : 8/29/2018 3:11:39 PM(EST)

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Thanks for getting back to us so quickly with the details. One of our representatives will be reaching out to you shortly to assist with your alignment problems. Once we've resolved the issue we'll be happy to send out some replacement sheets for you.

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chingborden

#5 Posted : 8/31/2018 11:50:25 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 3

Location: HI

Thank you. No one has reached out yet but I made a number of changes to my labels to try to help accommodate for the misalignment issues. If online labels would consider replacements that would be much appreciated. It took about 20 sheets to get to where I am now. White inkjet waterproof 2.5" OL350WI

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dcarmany

#6 Posted : 9/2/2018 6:00:28 PM(EST)

Rank: Label King

Posts: 732

Location: Sanford

Was thanked: 39 time(s) in 39 post(s)

Originally Posted by: chingborden

Thank you. No one has reached out yet but I made a number of changes to my labels to try to help accommodate for the misalignment issues. If online labels would consider replacements that would be much appreciated. It took about 20 sheets to get to where I am now. White inkjet waterproof 2.5" OL350WI

I am glad to hear that you able to resolve some of the alignment issues that you were experiencing. I show Jessica in our customer service department sent an email to you on 8/29/2018 at 3:06 PM EST. I don't see that you responded to the email. Hopefully, you received it. If not, maybe check your SPAM folder.

I have gone ahead and worked with our customer service department to have some replacement sheets sent out to make up for the sheets you lost in the troubleshooting process. The sheets will go out on Tuesday (9/4) and I have sent a confirmation to your email.

Thanks for your business.

Dave C.
OnlineLabels.com

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Premium

#7 Posted : 4/17/2019 10:04:20 PM(EST)

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Posts: 1

I am having a lot of alignment issues too on 1.5" gloss labels, also have wasted so many sheets I checked all my alignment and everything with Avery my labels print perfectly but through your maestro and ms word its all going wrong! I have wasted about 14 sheets so far. I need my refund as well

Josh

#8 Posted : 4/18/2019 8:54:57 AM(EST)

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Originally Posted by: Premium

I am having a lot of alignment issues too on 1.5" gloss labels, also have wasted so many sheets I checked all my alignment and everything with Avery my labels print perfectly but through your maestro and ms word its all going wrong! I have wasted about 14 sheets so far. I need my refund as well

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you've experienced. I do show that we received your RMA request and will be issuing a refund as soon as the product arrives back at our facility.

If you haven't shipped the product back to us yet and want to continue troubleshooting the alignment issues, we do have a detailed alignment guide available at the link below:

https://www.onlinelabels.com/articles/printer-alignment-guide.htm

Between the suggestions provided in the alignment guide and the advice provided in the previous posts on this thread you may find the solution to your problem, but if you do decide to proceed with the return we'll be more than happy to assist you with a refund.

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mimtass

#9 Posted : 4/22/2019 9:13:54 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 1

Location: Florida

Glad to see it's not just me having trouble getting text to align in 1.75" circles. My 2" designed lables with bleed not aligning on 5375LP either, so frustrating. Is there a tutorial for this? Someone mentioned Avery templates work and sure enough I got my label to print aligned using their template. Alot less fun than Maestro, but less wasteful also. There must be a solution using onlinelabels products in their label designer.

Josh

#10 Posted : 4/22/2019 9:39:05 AM(EST)

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Originally Posted by: mimtass

Glad to see it's not just me having trouble getting text to align in 1.75" circles. My 2" designed lables with bleed not aligning on 5375LP either, so frustrating. Is there a tutorial for this? Someone mentioned Avery templates work and sure enough I got my label to print aligned using their template. Alot less fun than Maestro, but less wasteful also. There must be a solution using onlinelabels products in their label designer.

I'm sorry to hear about the alignment issues that you're experiencing. We'll be happy to assist however we can.

The Printer Alignment Guide provided in my previous response would be the closest thing we have to a formal tutorial related to resolving alignment issues. You can access the guide at the link below:

https://www.onlinelabels...nter-alignment-guide.htm

When printing from Maestro Label Designer, the most common source of alignment issues is typically related to the Page Scaling settings. This is covered in Alignment Guide in the section titled "Issue 1: Page Scaling". Certain PDF readers have a tendency to default to the "Fit To Page" option when printing. The first thing you'll want to check for is that the Page Scaling option is set to "None" or "Actual Size". We typically recommend using Adobe Reader for the best results when printing PDF files from Maestro Label Designer. If you're using a different PDF viewer, you may want to download and install Adobe Reader and try opening the file and printing from there.

If you've gone through each of the issues and troubleshooting techniques listed in the Printer Alignment Guide we do have a Printer Alignment Questionnaire available at the link below:

https://secure.onlinelab...com/alignment-wizard.htm

Completing this questionnaire will provide our customer service team with specific details regarding the alignment problems you're experiencing. Once it has been submitted, one of our customer service representatives will reach out to assist you in resolving the issue.

I hope this helps. If you need any additional information please just let us know.

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GFOrg

#11 Posted : 4/29/2019 2:08:54 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 1

I had this problem as well, but I extended the all the way out of bleed zone. Only cut off about an 1/8 of an inch. I will try to work in between them see what happens. Fast shipping. Great product OL171WX.

tjstjs

#12 Posted : 7/3/2020 11:05:41 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 2

Location: Atlanta GA

Hi,
I found this post because I am printing 3.75" circle labels, polyester / weatherproof for laser printers.
I am having all the same problems and wasted a ton of sheets trying to figure out what the problem is.
I am printing with Adobe Acrobat, Actual Size (no scaling), no custom weird settings whatsoever
I tried going through the Maestro alignment wizard and it did not help. The upper left label is the most aligned but all the others are misaligned.
I generated labels from Maestro and they are still misaligned. They are not offset by the same amount, it's like the printed version is slightly twisted.
I also tried to just print the template straight from the PDF download and it also doesn't come out right.

Has anyone ACTUALLY got the polyester laser printer labels working with a large-ish circle? 2" or greater? What laser printers have you tested with and what settings were used?
In particular I am interested in knowing:
- have people used these in the regular paper tray or manual feed with success? Manual feed seems to not work so well because the polyester stock is slippery and thus doesn't get pulled in right
- what mode to use - Glossy print ? Thick? Regular? My printer manual says nothing about this.
- Do the Matte labels work better for alignment? Maybe I should just use those and spray. I am really really disappointed in these polyester laser labels. So frustrated with wasting my sheets and messing with the wizard

Secondly, the "bleed" zone does not work because where the edge of the sticker is, the laser printer drum can't apply the ink, so it stays on the drum and gets printed as a ghost outline down the page on top of the 2nd label. Bleed zone appears to be a really bad idea for laser printers.

Based on my tests I feel like the issue is mostly the polyester stock. It gets shifted in the printer because of the material, but the Maestro alignment is also just slightly off and this is made worse. I don't think my printer is to blame for this. It is a brand new Brother MFC laser and prints everything else just fine.

Edited by user Friday, July 3, 2020 11:13:28 PM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

Josh

#13 Posted : 7/6/2020 2:12:03 PM(EST)

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tjstjs -

I'm sorry to hear about the alignment issues you're experiencing. I've tested the weatherproof polyester material in a wide variety of different laser printer models, including a couple of different Brother color laser printers. In terms of consistency from print to print I've probably had the most success using the HP Color LaserJet Pro series of printers, but I've definitely had success using my Brother MFC-9130CW and Brother HL-3170CDW models as well.

Print alignment can be a bit more challenging with round labels compared to rectangular labels, but there are some additional suggestions I can make that may improve your print results. The media type setting can definitely play a part. Heavier media type settings typically slow down the printer feed, which can help resolve alignment issues that are caused by the material shifting as it feeds through the printer. When using the two Brother models referenced above I tend to use the Glossy Paper setting with our weatherproof polyester material, but the Label, Thick Paper, and Thicker Paper options may be worth trying as well. I typically load the material into the drawer tray on my Brother printers, and will only use the manual feed tray for media type options that require it.

Choosing a heavier media type setting should also improve toner fusion, so that may help resolve the ghosting issue you mentioned. Most Brother laser printer models have an option called "Improve Toner Fixing" tucked away in the advanced/other print settings as well. Enabling this option may help with the ghosting issue too.

Some trial and error may be required with issues like this. I was able to locate your account in our system, and I'm going to have an additional 15 sheets sent out for you this afternoon to help cover some of the sheets you've lost and to provide some additional material for testing.

If you have any questions when printing your labels our customer service team would be happy to walk through the alignment process with you as well. You can reach them directly by dialing 1-888-575-2235. If you decide you're unable to use the material for any reason they can also assist you in setting up a return and refund.

I hope this helps. If you need any additional information please just let us know.

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tjstjs

#14 Posted : 7/7/2020 9:30:01 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 2

Location: Atlanta GA

I improved the alignment by manually feeding it in the MP tray and using the back output, and being very VERY careful of inserting the page into the MP tray.
However, there's still the problem of the circular "ghosts" of toner on the page which ruin the other labels. I know this isn't my printer because I've now printed the square polyester labels with the same setup and this does not happen. The ghost circles are the same as the edge between the sticker and the rest of the page, but offset further down the page.
It seems like the edge being a circle and the toner getting picked up where it shouldn't

I tried this with both a bleed zone going past the sticker edge, and I tried it with no bleed and a smaller circle so there's no toner on the edge. It still happens.

I cleaned the toner cartridge wires and tested the drum and printer and there are no issues with these. It ONLY happens with the circular labels.

Edited by user Tuesday, July 7, 2020 9:30:51 AM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

Josh

#15 Posted : 7/7/2020 10:17:52 AM(EST)

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I'm sorry to hear you're still experiencing the ghosting issue. Have you tried adjusting to a heavier paper type setting or using the "Improve Toner Fixing" option within the printer settings? I understand that the issue is only occurring with the round labels, but making these adjustments could potentially help with the issue.

If you've made those adjustments and are still experiencing the ghosting issue then I'd recommend waiting for the replacement sheets to arrive and trying with the new sheets. These sheets are from a different production lot, so if there is a manufacturing defect contributing to the issue the new lot may improve results too. If that's the case I'll be happy to send out additional sheets to cover the rest of your order.

If the suggested settings adjustments and the replacement sheets do not resolve the issue then we'll be happy to assist you in setting up a refund for the item.

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