LX610e Color Label Printer FAQs

1. What's in the box?

The advantage of buying the LX610e from DTM is the bundle package that lets you start directly with printing once you receive the box.

Each LX610e Bundle (SKU 074542DTM) contains

• LX610e Colour Label Printer
• PTCreate Pro software
• Instruction sheet with the activation code
• One Dye Ink Tri-Colour Cartridge (053496)
• One roll of DTM Paper Semi Gloss (SG) with 46 m length
• One Genuine DTM Label Stock Sample Book
• One 45° knife
• One Cleaning Card

2. Using Contour Cut

Where does the cutline come from?

You can either use

1. PDF files that already include cutlines and are made with any graphic program of your choice that offers vector paths (e.g. Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, …),
2. use BarTender 2021 to add cutlines to a print design or
3. (automatically) create them with PTCreate Pro software

How to do that is explained in the hyperlinks above.

For contour creation of images with white edges in PTCreate Pro, check this article: https://customercare.primera.com/portal/en/kb/articles/trace-contour-an-image-with-white-edges-in-ptcreate-pro-lx610

PTCreate Pro – How and why

When opening our LX610e Bundle there’s a PTCreate Pro activation sheet with your activation code (license key) inside.
Everything for the cutting function is right there, no need to purchase it separately.

The LX610e installer contains PTCreate and PrintHub. When opening PTCreate for the first time it prompts you to activate your license.
Enter the activation code from the activation sheet and click ‘OK’.

Switching Computers?

You can deactivate the license key in the Help Menu > Deactivate.
Useful when switching computers or just activating it for a demo.
Remember, activation and deactivation requires internet access!

Do I need PTCreate Pro?

PTCreate Pro lets you create & process cutlines.
PTCreate (standard version) means read-only & process cutlines.

Import PTCreate Pro files (.scut5) that are already pre-set with cutline and print layer to the PTCreate standard version.
This way you can fully print & cut your prepared .scut5 files on computers without an activation code.

3. Knife Settings

Is there a table to rely on for the Knife Pressure setting?

It would take some more magic here to have one – but we do have a good guideline that guides you to the proper settings.

Knife Pressure (as well as stretch factor) depends on ambient temperature/humidity and many other additional factors such as life cycles and machine life of the LX610e.
Plus, knives slightly differ in length and sharpness. There’s a small tolerance of length in the knives and also the sharpness is not identical on all knives.
Our printer with its software makes the best out of it and most time little variations will go unnoticed.

How to achieve the proper Knife Pressure?

There’s one answer: testing.
Finding the correct setting for your media/knife combination will probably require a few test prints so that you can gradually adjust the Knife Pressure if the cut is too deep or too low.

1. We recommend starting with Knife Pressure -10 on a new knife.
2. Use the ‘Send HPGL Test Print’ button in PrintHub (PC) / LX610eConfig (Mac) to check the actual cut using those initial settings.
3. Peel off the matrix (label material around the cut label) to check if the cut is deep enough for the label layer, but not so deep that you cut through the backing paper/liner.
4. Adjust the Knife Pressure value moderately in one to two intervals to a positive (if the cut is not deep enough) or negative (if the cut is too deep) value.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until you’re satisfied with the cut depth.

A successful cut comes with a correctly inserted knife.

When installing the knife holder make sure it goes all the way down until you feel the ‘stop’.
More on that in the LX610e manual at https://dtm-print.eu/manuals-read/lx610e/lx610e-pages/page12.html

Why’s that?
The knife is magnetically controlled. A metal pin moves closer to the knife on the magnet parallely (like a pincer). If the knife is inserted too high (wrong), the pin needs to move deeper, which also means: closer to the magnet.
Think about approaching two magnets, one in each hand. The force gets exponentially stronger, so once they’re only millimetres apart you can’t hold them apart any longer.
It’s the same here: the force gets stronger and the knife cuts through the entire label (no matter the ‘Knife Pressure’ settings).

What else affects a proper cut?

We offer knives with different angles to choose for your LX610e system: 30°, 45° and 60°.

Our LX610e Bundle includes one 45° knife.

Generally spoken, everything works with a 45° knife in some way. But on some thicker or thinner materials or fine details a different knife angle may improve the cut.

There’s a two page PDF that explains the different knife angles and their benefits.
Click here: https://dtm-print.eu/downloads/supplies/LX610e-CutterKnives-Angles.pdf

This PDF also includes an overview which knife angle is recommended for each Genuine DTM Label Stock.
Nevertheless, if you’re not satisfied with the cut of your chosen knife angle, it’s always worth trying a different angle than listed and see if that improves your cut.

We also recommend using rounded corners instead of 90° edges as such will make your life easier when peeling off the labels!

4. Ink Choices

Which inks are available for LX610e?

• #053496 Dye – tri-colour cartridge (LX600e/LX610e)
• #053013 UltraDye – tri-colour cartridge for those who aren’t satisfied with the process black of #053496 (BTW, this is the same ink formula as already used in LX3000e)
• #053491 Pigment – tri-colour cartridge (same ink formula as with LX3000e)

What’s the best choice then?

Well, let’s first see what the demands are. Do you and your customer need UV resistance? Water resistance? Bright colours? Dark process black?

This overview is a small guidance and general comparison. It always depends on the used label stock.

How to store your ink cartridges best?

When switching from dye to pigment ink we recommend using the so-called ‘Ink Cartridge Garage’ so that they don’t dry (SKU #057380).

More important than where you store it, is the how: Store the ink cartridges with nozzles down.
If stored with nozzles up the ink likely flows to the opposite side. This causes a print without or less colour than usual.

Wrongly stored?
No worries. Store it at least 1 hour with nozzles down so the ink flows back again. Additionally, revive your cartridge with a damp kitchen paper or water bowl. Follow the instructions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3dp1T7tr4M
This applies to all tri-colour cartridges from Primera.

5. Colour Matching (applies to all LX-Series)

Matching an exact colour such as Pantone, RAL or any other specific colour is a trial and error with desktop inkjet printers. There’s no setup guide how to reach this or that exact colour value.

You have six colour matching choices:

Within the LX-Series settings the ‘Color Matching’ drop down menu offers 4 ‘ICC xx xx’ colour matching profiles and two profiles called ‘Vivid Photos’ and ‘Vivid Graphics’.

What’s the difference

Generally, Vivid Photos/Graphics gives a crisp, sharp and more brillant printout.
You can see the difference best in skin tones. When using one of the 4 ICC profiles you’ll get a more realistic skin tone than with Vivid Photos/Graphics.

The ICC profiles might seem “dull” directly compared to the Vivid Photos/Graphics printout, but in the end it’s a more realistic colouring.
A printed landscape photo looks more natural with ICC profiles.
Nevertheless, look at some TV settings – some actually want this ‘unnatural’ appearance that stands out and is so brilliant. No judgement at all!
So, as always when it comes to colour: It’s a very subjective topic.

That applies to all printers anywhere (not only label printers), ICC profiles give the most realistic appearance.

There’s a knowledge base article for further explanations for LX-Series: https://customercare.primera.com/portal/en/kb/articles/color-matching-is-off-colors-are-not-printing-the-same-as-they-appear-on-screen-or-do-not-match-pms-colors-all-products

Check out the colour profiles for the Genuine DTM Inkjet Label Stock we provide right in the middle of this page: https://dtm-print.eu/en/driver/lx610e.html

6. Material Choices

From natural to gold or durable, our Genuine DTM Label Stock covers many of the demands.
Let us know if any media is missing for your demand!

Just type it in: https://dtm-print.eu/en/form/statistic.html

Which material can I use with LX610e?

We have many continuous rolls of Genuine DTM Label Stock for LX610e, here’s the overview: https://dtm-print.eu/media/lx610e/LX610e-Overview-Materials.pdf
Those materials are thoroughly tested for printing and cutting with LX610e.

Continuous and Die-Cut Material
You’re able to use both continuous or die-cut materials with LX610e.
When using pre die-cut media, the green roll hub (without a chip) needs to be installed on the right sight of the roll. The XY Cutter is thereby deactivated.
LX610e prints the material as usual and the “Label Offset Settings in Print Hub” are available.
The contour cutting function can only be used with a chip.
That prevents users from using material that is not certified for the LX610e, which might damage the printer due to adhesive, certain paper jams, etc.

When using non-chipped material (with the green roll hub) your print width is 127 mm.
When using chipped media (with a chip that comes with each roll) your print width is 104 mm.
Where did the 23 mm go?
As the LX610e cuts the media it needs to hold it while cutting.
Therefore it needs the 11.5 mm on each side to hold the material securely in place, so that the cut matches the print properly.

That being said:
continuous material without chip = XY cutter: NO = 127 mm print width
continuous material with chip = XY cutter: YES = 104 mm print width

7. Lamination

Looking for a durable lamination?

There’s a lamination option with LX610e.
Watch this tutorial to learn how the lamination process works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yEC6H8NrI0

The lamination is recommended to matte and semi gloss label stock.
Those are the materials you want to have a glossy finish on anyway.
Polyester substrates are durable enough and don’t require an extra lamination most of the time.
If it comes to lamination we recommend testing the procedure before as the person in charge of laminating needs to be slightly skilled. Bubble-free lamination is a human factor here.

We rely on the lamination material DTM TT Poly Clear Gloss (UPCG), contact sales@dtm-print.eu for samples and orders.

8. Finishing

Finishing with foil imprinters

As the LX610e’s output is 121 mm (4.75”) you can use any foil imprinter that covers this width.
In our portfolio that’s the FX810e Foil Imprinter.

Why not the FX510e?
The FX510e has a maximum label width of 105.7 mm (4.16”).
Of course, when printing without the XY cutter you can use media that is smaller and therefore matches the 105.7 mm (4.16”) of the FX510e.


Sensor Setting Keep in mind that the FX810e needs a starting point to work. So you will need to peel off the matrix of the LX610e printed and cut media to gain a gap for the FX810e sensor.
Printing a blackmark with LX610e is not an option as each black mark/reflective sensor requires an IR black.

Printing Hack for Continuous Media without Blackmark
You can use the continuous media though, that’s no problem. But it’s a bit fizzy to get the right starting point.
If you print a pattern with the FX that shouldn’t be a problem as long as it’s alternating.
For example if you want a letter at a specific position that’s a bit trial & error.
It works, but as soon as an error happens you need to adjust that again.
You just set continuous and it starts to print. The label size on NiceLabel or whatever software you use stays the one you need (4x3“ for example).
If the position is not right you need to open the FX, roll the label a bit forward or backward to the point where it needs to start and then print.
There’s for sure a tolerance, because you actually can’t print precisely this way.

9. Further Processing

Using rewinders and applicators

Of course, you can rewind the output labels from the LX610e with our DTM Winders or other winders – just keep in mind: The matrix will remain where it is.
If you’d like to remove the matrix, a matrix remover is needed.
When using our AP360e/AP362e Label Applicators you’re safe to go because they have a mechanical and no optical sensor.
Meaning the matrix can remain on the label and the single label will apply nevertheless.
Just keep in mind that very sharp angles or other detailed shapes (that ‘embrace’ each other for example) are not ideal for this ‘automatic peeling’ process.