Sato - More Information

Sample of Supported Fonts

The following list represents only a small portion of the fonts available for Sato Printers.  Consult Sato's manual or their web site for further information.

*       5x9

Dot Font

*       8x15

Dot Font

*       13x20

Dot Font

*       OCR-A

Dot Font

*       OCR-B

Dot Font

*       18x30

Smooth Dot Font

*       28x52

Smooth Dot Font

*       Vector Font

Vector / Scalable Font

Dot Fonts can be magnified up to 9X horizontally and 9X vertically.  The Vector font can be scaled to any size between .05" to 4.88" high.

Printer Capabilities and Limits

Maximum Number of Fields

These printers have no set limit on the number of fields a label may have.  However, the size of the entire print job, (excluding image or graphic data), cannot exceed the size of the printer's receive buffer of approximately 8k.

If the printer reports a “receive buffer overflow,” you have to reduce the number of fields on the label.  The best way to assure that your label does not exceed the printer's buffer size is to do test printing while you are designing the label.  When you test print, variable data fields are printed at their maximum length.  If you are able to test print a label, it should to fit in the printer's receive buffer.

If your label becomes too large to print, you must reduce the number of fields on the label.

Model

Min Print Length

Max Print Length

8400 200 dpi

0.25"

14.0"

8400 150 dpi

0.25"

14.0"

8450 300 dpi

0.25"

7.0"

8450 150 dpi

0.25"

14.0"

8450 100 dpi

0.25"

14.0"

Image Fields Size Limitations - Up to ten images or logos can be used on a label.  The maximum image sizes that the printer can handle are shown below.  The actual size of the images that your printer can handle may be smaller depending on the available memory in the printer.

Model

Maximum Image Size in Pixels

8400 200 dpi

832 x 832

8400 150 dpi

768 x 768

8450 300 dpi

1536 x 1536

8450 150 dpi

768 x 768

8450 100 dpi

512x512

Performance Considerations

Vector Fonts
(also called “Scaleable” Fonts)

The LLM supports all of the Proportional Vector fonts available on the SATO M-84XX printers.  These fonts can be scaled to any size between .05” to 4.88”.  The quality of these fonts is excellent; however, vector fonts must be “imaged” in the printer before the label is printed, and that process can slow down printing times.  It is not uncommon for a label with several sizes of vector fonts to encounter a 3 to 15 second delay per label.  Obviously, there is a trade off between font quality and print speed. In addition, Proportional Fonts do not center properly; see the Advanced Techniques chapter for information on centering fonts.

Images

When an image is downloaded to the printer, any “white space” surrounding the actual image is also downloaded to the printer.  This wastes printer RAM and increases the amount of time required to download the image.  Always crop your images as “tightly” as possible.