7
SPECIFICATIONS
FIGURE 2
BEARER RING
.008 - .010”
PRINTING DIE
DRUM COVER
FIGURE 3
RIBtype® PRINTING DIES
METRIC RIBtype® PRINTING DIES
Printing dies are manufactured to precision thickness
tolerances which are very critical to the performance of
these coders. When installed, the face of the printing
die should extend only .008” - .010” beyond the radius of
the Bearer Rings as shown in Figure 3. Using dies that
do not meet the design specifications will result in poor
print quality and possible damage to the transfer roll.
Although there are several competitive rib backed die
systems available, it is very important to note that they
are not all made to the same rib spacing or thickness
specifications and they are not interchangeable.
Universal also offers Metric RIBtype® die systems for use in countries where metric character sizes are the
standard. The Metric dies are thicker and the rib spacing differs slightly from the standard printing dies therefore
the two versions are not compatible. To accommodate the differences, the print drums for Metric dies are
machined to a slightly different diameter from the U.S. versions.
The coder model numbers on Metric coders will have a “-T” suffix and the Metric Drum Covers have a distinct
pink color.
Universal HPL Non-Porous Hand Printers are designed to use
RIBtype® printing dies which have a molded rib backing. The ribs on
the back of the die snap into mating ribs in the Drum Cover on the
print drum as shown in Figure 2.
The standard printing dies are available in sets with many sizes and
character styles. The sets are a combination of individual alphabetic
and numeric characters or in sets containing numeric characters
only. These character sets or “sorts” can be used to make up text
messages and code numbers as necessary.
Printing dies are also available in “logo” form in which a complete text message, company logos or trademarks
are produced on a single piece of rib backed rubber. These “logo” dies are photographically reproduced from
black and white art work. Due to their unitized construction, these dies generally produce better print quality and
are much faster to change in the field. For details on ordering custom logo dies, please contact our Customer
Service Department.
