Toshiba BA420T label printer

The Toshiba BA420T is a 4-inch thermal transfer and direct thermal printer with a 12kg plastic body. Its head plugs in, so 203dpi (GS12) and 300dpi (TS12) heads can be swapped. The name BA420T is not in the GoodLabel Designer v3.3.22 model list, so choose another Toshiba entry with the same resolution and print through the Windows driver.

How Toshiba printers print through the driver in the designer

The languages for which designer v3.3.22 builds and sends commands directly are three: ZPL, TSPL and EZPL. TPCL, the command language of the 21 Toshiba entries, is always handled by Windows driver printing. The designer draws the label as an image at the chosen resolution (DPI/25.4 dots per mm), then passes it to the Toshiba driver with the label width and height in mm as the paper size. So the fields shown on screen also differ from Zebra, TSC and Godex entries in the 4 places below.

Five settings are set in the Toshiba driver properties: direct thermal or thermal transfer, sensor, gap between labels, speed and density. On the English screens described in the Toshiba driver manual (27th edition, 2024), these are Print Method, Sensor and Label Gap on the Stock tab, Print Speed on the same tab, Print Density Adjustment on the Options tab, and Dithering on the Graphics tab. The driver is the Toshiba printer universal driver (2023.3), which the Toshiba button in the designer's Printer settings window opens.

Choosing an entry to substitute for the unlisted BA420T

For Toshiba entries, two pieces of information affect the print result: the command language is TPCL, so it goes to driver printing, and the DPI chosen with the resolution button becomes the dot spacing of the image. The model name itself is not passed to the driver, so any Toshiba entry with a DPI button matching the head gives the same result.

• In the printer field, choose the BA420T queue, then enter BV420 in the printer model search and choose the BV420D entry. This entry has both 203 and 300 DPI buttons.
• Click 203 DPI for a GS12 (203dpi) printer and 300 DPI for a TS12 (300dpi) printer. If you click "Finish setup" in the Printer settings window without choosing a list entry, the warning "Select a printer model." appears and the settings are not saved.
• If you later change the head to another resolution, just click the DPI button again in Printer settings. Barcode widths and module sizes are recalculated for the new resolution.

The same principle applies to other Toshiba models not in the list. For the BV420T, B-FV4 family models with different names, and newly released models, choose a Toshiba entry that has the head's DPI as a button.

First FEED errors and PAPER JAM causes

On a BA420T connected for the first time, first enter Sensor and Print Method on the Stock tab of the Toshiba driver and the label size for the actual roll. If you press FEED with a roll loaded that differs from the printer's initial conditions (gap sensor, thermal transfer, pitch 76.2mm), an error occurs; send the conditions, then clear it with the RESTART key. PAPER JAM on the LCD has the six causes below.

BA420T roll and ribbon requirements

Label width is 22-105mm for thermal transfer and 25-118mm for direct thermal by the Toshiba BA400 spec sheet (2021), and width including liner is 25-114mm for thermal transfer and 25-118mm for direct thermal by the BA420T user manual. Rolls can be up to 152.4mm in outer diameter, with 38mm and 76.2mm cores. The maximum length per label is 58.9 inches (about 1,496mm), but the designer Height field stops at 1000mm.

Ribbons are rolls with the ink side out (CSO), 60-110mm wide, up to 450m. Of GoodLabel wax ribbon 300M, the 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 and 110mm widths fall within this range, and the 40 and 50mm widths are outside the BA420T ribbon range.