Hi this is Travis with POSGuys.com. Today we're doing a receipt printer primer. There
are two main types of receipt printers. There is the older impact receipt printer which
uses ribbon and the newer high speed thermal receipt printers that uses thermal transfer
instead of using ribbon. Both of these can do duel colors though thermal is primarily
just a single color black. You need a very special paper to do duel colors and you also
need a printer capable of doing duel colors.
This is the impact receipt printer. This was your older type of receipt printer. These
two are older receipt printers themselves. Instead of using the more common drop in loading
it uses a take-up section so you actually have to mount the paper into this holder and
then feed it into the printer. This is set up in the same way.
Newer receipt printers use drop in loading, you pop in the top, drop in the receipt paper,
close it and you are ready to go.
Ribbons come in a few different colors. This is the red black option. There are also straight
black and straight purple depending on your color needs. The disadvantage to impact printers
is the sound on it.
They are quite loud.
If I run a print test on this guy.
Um so they make a lot of noise but these are still the most common printers in the kitchen
as that the paper isn't affected by heat. If you put a thermal paper under a heat lamp
sometimes it can turn black making it a little hard to read. This won't be affected in the
same way.
Here are thermal receipt printers. This is the budget Epson TM-T20 ReadyPrint. It prints
at 6 inches per second
and has an auto cut.
This is the faster Epson TM-T88V. It prints at about 12 inches per second
and again has an auto cut.
A couple other models. This is the POS-X HiSpeed and this is the Seiko Qaliber.
The Seiko Qaliber is a bit smaller than the other models. It's five inch square. This
is your more traditional sized printer.
The speed on the Qaliber is comparable to the 88V or the POS-X HiSpeed, it's just a
smaller shell.
Looking at the interface for printers the budget receipt printers tend to be wired in.
So, like this is a serial printer and all it can be is a serial printer, there is the
serial port and that's how it is.
If you look at the 88V or the POS-X HiSpeed the interface card is mounted by a couple
of screws. This card can pop out and then you can switch from being in this case a USB
interface to being a serial or a parallel.
The POS-X is the same way. This card can be replaced so you can switch it to a different
interface.
Additionally there is a USB port built into both the POS-X HiSpeed and the 88V so even
if you bought a parallel today and you want to go to USB you don't have to change out
the card you can just plug in a USB cable.
So these are the two most common types of receipt printers. Your impact receipt printer
which uses ribbon and your thermal receipt printer which uses thermal paper. They're
available in USB, Serial and Parallel.
Impact receipt printers are normally available with an Ethernet interface as well if you're
going to be using it in your kitchen that will give you a longer range and you can put
it away from your point of sale system.
USB is typically the most common in thermal since it is right next to your point of sale
system.
For more information on all of our receipt printers or to purchase please visit www.POSGuys.com.