A system and method for advancing sticky media through printers includes one or more feed rollers comprised of a grit roller. The grit roller contacts an adhesive side of liner-less label stock removed from a roll or stack for printing. The grit roller works cooperatively with an opposing, counter-rotating roller to remove the label stock from the roll and feed it to a printer.

A system and method for advancing sticky media through printers includes one or more feed rollers comprised of a grit roller. The grit roller contacts an adhesive side of liner-less label stock removed from a roll or stack for printing. The grit roller works cooperatively with an opposing, counter-rotating roller to remove the label stock from the roll and feed it to a printer.

A system and method for feeding a ribbon of un-lined label stock to a printer includes first and second, abutting rollers that cooperatively remove label stock from a roll. An optical sensor is disposed in a ribbon path between the rollers and the printer. The optical sensor determines a slackness level of the ribbon between rollers and the printer. Speed of a drive roller drive motor is increased when the slackness level is below a prescribed threshold. Speed of the drive roller motor is decreased when the slackness level is above a prescribed threshold.

A printer includes a platen on which a recording medium is placed, an ink head including a nozzle that discharges ink onto the recording medium placed on the platen and that moves in a main scanning direction, an upstream guide located on an upstream side of the platen in a secondary scanning direction and that guides the recording medium, the upstream guide including an upper surface tilted obliquely downward from a downstream side to the upstream side in the secondary scanning direction, and grit rollers provided in the platen and that move the recording medium in the secondary scanning direction. The upstream guide is recessed from the upper surface of the upstream guide, and includes a concave recess that indicates a position of each of the grit rollers in the main scanning direction so that a position of the grit roller is easily acknowledged when the recording medium is placed on the platen.

A printer includes a platen on which a recording medium is placed, an ink head including a nozzle that discharges ink onto the recording medium placed on the platen and that moves in a main scanning direction, an upstream guide located on an upstream side of the platen in a secondary scanning direction and that guides the recording medium, the upstream guide including an upper surface tilted obliquely downward from a downstream side to the upstream side in the secondary scanning direction, and grit rollers provided in the platen and that move the recording medium in the secondary scanning direction. The upstream guide is recessed from the upper surface of the upstream guide, and includes a concave recess that indicates a position of each of the grit rollers in the main scanning direction so that a position of the grit roller is easily acknowledged when the recording medium is placed on the platen.

A guide roller and a method for manufacturing a guide roller combines a cost-efficient manufacture and hard, wear-resistant webs for contact with a substrate. An at least one web consists of a second material which differs from a first material of a base body. The webs or the at least one web is applied to the base body by means of a deposition welding process, a thermal spraying process, a plasma transferred arc spraying process, a laser deposition welding process, or by means of an additive manufacturing process. Guide rollers of this type are used on machines that process substrate webs or substrate strands, such as web-fed printing presses, systems for processing already printed substrate webs or similar systems.