Avery L7651 Barcodes

[Luddite]

Hi - We have to generate lots of our own barcodes, and chose the above option from the 'tickets' tab. When we first tried to scan them, none of them worked, so we phoned the helpdesk and were told that we needed a laserjet printer - which we bought. Now about 40% of these barcodes scan, but only after much shaking in front of the scanner. So it seems that the format is actually too small for barcodes. Is anyone else having problems?

Nick

[actinico]

... being nice!

Just a thought.
I have not tried it yet, but have you tried to reduce or raise the size of the printing to get in line with the reader?

[James M SellerDeck]

Hi there

Its sounds like the print quality of your printer is not good enough for the bar code scanner to read on these small labels, do you get the same problem if you print to larger labels?

[actinico]

It should be fine with any printer as soon as it is printed 'fine quality' and he also stated he has a laser printer.

That should be good enough even at 'draft quality' - if reader is old it may have lost focus possibly.

[Luddite]

No, the larger labels are fine - but the format is no good to us. As I said in my original post, Actinic previously advised me to go and buy a basic Laserjet printer as the quality of my inkjet printer might not have been good enough. They said that they themselves had bought one recently and it only cost £60 from PC world. My local PCW didn't have one, so I went and bought one elsewhere for about £100 (I know I could probably have shopped around to get it cheaper but our shop was opening the next day!). So we printed the same labels out on the LJ printer, and voila, it was virtually no different. Scanning rate about 50% on all this size of barcodes.

So - I hope its not a print quality issue, as we bought a printer recommended by Actinic.

Is there a way of enlarging the barcode on the same size label?

Nick

[actinico]

Hi
I have started a little bit of barcoding printing today and I am having the same problem! I am trying to find the best match, printer font, etc.

If I find a solution I will let you know - if ever.

=====================
Found this on the net:
The following issues can cause problems when reading printed barcodes:

1. Ink jet printers - Ink jet printers cannot usually print barcodes accurately when X is at .03CM (12 MILS) or less because the splattering ink distorts the barcode. For ink jet printers, increase X to .06 (24 MILS) to compensate for the splatter during printing and to get accurate barcodes. For barcode font users, this means printing at 20 points or more. Satisfactory output can sometimes be achieved by ink jet printers with the proper paper. However, experience has taught us that laser printers produce more consistent, accurate and dependable output. If there is a choice in printers, choose the laser.
2. Contrast and color problems - Check for proper contrast and proper barcode printing material. Normally, the barcode should be black and the background white. In most cases, using other colors will cause poor scanning conditions. Also, make sure the material is not too glossy or the scanner light will reflect and cause the barcode to improperly scan.
3. Low resolution and thermal printers - Problems can occur when printing barcodes on printers of 300 DPI or less.

[buspassjohn]

Problems with barcodes

Hi Nick, I remember when we first printed our own barcodes for the shop many years ago, we used this 65 to a sheet label and at first had problems with scanning, I simply increased the size of the barcode (still within the label width) and could then scan ok if printed on laser or inkjet.

Our epos system is Minipos and the scanners Metrologic, I am sure the Actinic Epos report that genererates the barcode must be changeable to increase the print to fill the width of the label, its just a question of finding out how to edit it.

On our Epos system the barcodes are printed from a Crystal report.

[actinico]

Hi again.

Did not have a lot of time lately.

Anyway, I needed also a labeller for other type of labels and at the end I have chosen the WASP Labeller and it makes your life easier - I do not have much time and this program helps a lot - not just barcoding.

Anyway, using this program I have been able to finally do it - I have not tried other barcodes only one.

I created my own 16 code long using the:
UCC/EAN 128
Bar width: 2.261601E-02
Char x cm: 4.019679
Bar height: 1.246
Barcode width: 3.958167
and although the labels are the 65 labels mentioned above and are slighlty smaller than 3.958167 it works fine and fits it (just!) with a spare of 1 or 2 mm. I used the 65x3.81x2.12 mm I already had in my office.
Eventually you can use the slightly larger - check Viking supplies because they have a few made for them and there are some intersting sizes in between!

It reads them well, even a badly printed one!

Hope this helps.

[Aquajoy]

Look on Google for ID Automation website, you can create youe own codes with your tel No and company name and also easily adjust the size of the codes

Good Luck
Roger
Aquajoy

[Luddite]

I am sure the Actinic Epos report that genererates the barcode must be changeable to increase the print to fill the width of the label, its just a question of finding out how to edit it.

John - this sounds like a sensible suggestion - can someone from Actinic confirm whether this is possible? Its been some time since I first posted this problem, and still no solution.

[James M SellerDeck]

Hi there

Avery L7651 uses a code39 barcode font, this is is limited to the number of characters it will accept, thats why you may notice that it prints the product code rather than the barcode - the product code usually being much shorter than the barcode, it could be it is over-running the width of the label.

You could try Avery L7651 EAN 13/8 Barcodes instead, which has a fixed width, but will only print EAN 8 or EAN 13 barcodes.

Code39 barcodes grow in width with each character printed, where as the EAN do not, EAN8/13 is the standard barcode type for UK products you should find that most of your barcodes are of this type.

Hope that helps