How to convert Avery6404 barcode printer into a single tag printer for printing clothing hang tag

About Avery 6404 barcode printer

Avery 6404 barcode printer is a industrial barcode printer that belongs to the Avery Dennison AP-640x series. It is a industrial barcode printer capable of both direct thermal and thermal transfer printing methods. With a maximum print width of 4.2 inches and a print resolution of 300 dpi, it is a reliable choice for various labeling applications.

Avery6404 barcode printer

A friend asked me whether an Avery6404 barcode printer could be modified into a single tag clothing tag printer. We had a chat about it. It turned out that one of his friends works for a clothing company, and they have multiple Avery6404 barcode printers in their factory used for printing clothing tags in rolls. These printers are all equipped with automatic cutters that cut the tags into individual pieces after printing.

These barcode printers work fine for common clothing tags, but issues arise when it comes to delicate fabrics like chiffon. After the rolled tags are cut by the automatic cutter, the corners are too sharp and can poke through the fabric threads. Therefore, his friend wants to modify the machines into single tag tag printers, using die-cut tags for printing, because die-cut tags have rounded corners that can avoid this problem.

After discussing this with my friend, I searched for the user manual and maintenance manual for the Avery6404 online. My friend and I went to the clothing factory to see Avery6404 barcode printers, and we brought back an Avery6404 barcode printer. After a few days of research, we identified the following key points for the modification:

1. Mechanical Structure

In terms of mechanical structure, a tag feeder needs to be added to hold the stacked tags and feed them one by one to the printing module. After carefully examining the Avery6404 printer, we assessed that there is enough space at the back of the printer to accommodate the tag feeder.

2. Circuitry

The tag feeder needs power to drive it. According to the maintenance manual, the communication between the motors and the control board in the Avery6404 printer uses the I2C protocol. The printer comes with three stepper motors and four motor drivers. The extra motor driver is used for peripherals (rewinder, despenser or automatic cutter). When printing single tags, the automatic cutter is not needed, so the extra motor driver can be used to provide drive signals to the motor in the tag feeder. However, the settings for this driver need to be the same as those for the printing motor.

Once the plan was finalized, we spent some time designing the mechanical structure of the tag feeder.

After some time, all the parts were ready, and I began assembly......

The following is a picture of the assembled tag feeder(The pulleys are not covered with cover.):

We set the device address of the fourth motor driver to be the same as the printing motor driver (so they output the same pulse signals) by adding a jumper cap. This allowed us to output pulse signals to the tag feeder motor through this motor driver.

The following is a picture of Avery6404 single tag printer for printing clothing hang tag