This internship focused on researching and developing a new back coat for thermal transfer ribbons. The intern performed testing on prototype ribbons, including print quality testing, sensitivity data collection, and evaluating age effects. Challenges included developing an effective system for inline scanning of sensitivity data. Improvements were made to the scanning guide, such as adding wings to rollers. Testing procedures were expanded and refined over the course of the internship. While the overall project goal was not reached, significant progress was made in collecting data to evaluate ribbons in the early testing phases.
2. Final Report:
Project Overview:
IIMAK is a large thermal transfer ribbon manufacturer and this internship focused on an
ongoing project involving in researching and developing a new back coat. The existing
back coat on IIMAK’s thermal transfer ribbons plays a large factor on the overall ribbon
and the prints because it can affect the quality of the print as well as the print head itself
if its residue builds up too much. Over this summer many production and pilot trials
consisting of many lots of ribbons have been developed and an intern’s role is to perform
multiple kinds of testing and data analysis on these ribbons. Some of this testing includes
buildup testing, print quality testing, capturing sensitivity data, fiction testing, and
evaluate the age effects. The overall impact of this project strives to improve and support
the product development involved in making and distributing ribbons. It will also give
consumers a better product and more options when deciding what kind of ribbon they
need for their businesses.
Figure 1: Wings were added to the first roller
Project Challenges:
There were many side challenges that were as valuable learning experiences as the
overall project itself. One of the projects I worked on for the company was to develop a
full proof technique for the inline scanners to capture sensitivity and to build one using
ordered parts myself. This could be done a variety of ways: the stand could be built an
entirely new way, there could be adjustments made, a template of some sort could be
created that would help guide the media. This is necessary to begin with because inline
scanning is a new process for IIMAK as a whole. Typically when generating prints, the
rotated barcode (RBC) is scanned by hand which can take up to 30 minutes per one strip.
This time was cut down to less than 5 minutes after implementing the inline scanning
system. The only problem is that media has a tendency to glide around or the stand itself
3. would be crooked, therefore not being able to take the barcode reading. This summer I
added makeshift wings to the rollers and these acted as guides for the media. As seen in
Figure 1, the roller on the bottom has paper circles that act as guidelines to keep the print
from moving. Additionally the feet were removed from the original stand so that the
media would build more tension when actually being loaded into the stand. This way
there would be an easier time reading the barcode with a flat straight paper. Figure 2
shows an example of when a ribbon is fully loaded into the stand for the sensitivity
scanning process.
Figure 2: The full set up of capturing sensitivity data
Other challenges consisted of learning a new programming language in order to generate
prints at different speeds. ZPL is the language and format that the Zebra 110xi III and
Zebra 140xi III printers use in order to generates prints and it dictates what energy level
and speed the transfer ribbon should be run at.
Employer Involvement:
The best way to effectively communicate what work needed to be done and what is
already completed is through the Print Lab Test Request sheet, which is frequently
updated according to progress of the task. This sheet lists various tasks and who is
responsible for completing which phase of testing. Daily morning meetings are held for
the supervisors and engineers leading the project and afternoon meetings are held for
smaller subdivisions of the project. In these smaller afternoon meetings, the work
completed for the day is usually discussed so that it can be reviewed in the morning to the
experts and engineers. In this way project goals are clearly defined as well as
expectations and deliverables.
Project Deliverables and Outcomes:
Throughout this internship, the deliverable and outcomes have varied a great deal from
the beginning of the summer. Often the chart will be re updated in what process to follow
in performing the first phase of testing. To start with, in the beginning there was a lack of
4. emphasis on print quality testing. Standard heat wrinkle testing was fair enough in
capturing the results in what energy setting the ribbon heat wrinkled. However, there are
many problems that come with capturing only the heat wrinkle data and not actually
evaluating the rest of the print. One problem was that capturing just heat wrinkle was not
good enough. It was observed from some prints with high wrinkle that the rest of the
print using the same ribbon actually turned out extremely poor print attributes.
Additionally, although ribbons may pass the heat wrinkle test, it may not pass other forms
of testing and through examining the rest of the print, this is a good way of essentially
weeding out which ribbons should make the next step of testing. Currently the standard
heat wrinkle testing is no longer in use and print quality testing is highly emphasized
because this allows users to examine all print attributes.
So far we have only faced Phase 1 of testing but this is due to the added amount of testing
and that if a ribbon fails any part of testing in Phase 1, we must start from the very
beginning of it. The additional testing that as been added on to Phase 1 testing consists
of: PQ grading, capturing sensitivity data and examining natural age effects of the ribbon.
The tests before this that are still in use now are the build up and friction testing. The
most recent trial was able to pass almost every phase of basic testing in stage 1 and
because of this, many build up tests were run this week in evaluating which ribbons can
move on the Phase 2. Figure 3 below is an example of the RJS scans software used in
capturing the sensitivity data.
Figure 3: RJS Inline Scanner to capture sensitivity
The newest addition to the testing procedure consists of using ribbons and testing their
natural age effects. This study was done earlier in July, but because every ribbon has a
different chemistry, the goal of this test is to see how fast the ribbon ages. From past
results, generally the heat wrinkle does not change but the print attributes such as the
RBC changes so this kind of testing in necessary in plotting the sensitivity as well.
5. Conclusion:
Unfortunately the goal of this project was not achieved in the timeframe of this
internship, but it was highly expected not to considering this project was already ongoing
for over a year now. The progress made as a team has been phenomenal this entire
summer I have been here and I look forward to continuing this work for the remainder of
the summer. Although the overall project itself is not completed, it is fair to say that the
work done this summer has made a huge impact on collecting data for the first Phase of
testing. This may sound simple enough but as mentioned earlier, when a ribbon does not
make it through one of the many tests, it gets scratched and we must started from the
beginning again. Additionally with all the new testing that has been generated, my role in
the company has given current work a more efficient way of doing things. The scanning
process has become fully functional and the way data is viewed and stored is much more
cleaned up. My personal progress with the company is that I have learned a great deal
involved thermal transfer ribbons. There is much more science and engineering involved
in the process that I would have never expected until I was able to see it for myself both
in discussion, the results, and on the manufacturing floor itself. Lastly this internship was
an incredibly rewarding learning experience in working with a real company and diving
into the work that goes into producing a product with so much chemistry involved.
Figure 4: Zebra printer with inline scanning system to left and cores of ribbon to right
