RaccoonFace Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Good afternoon, I have to send a drawing with specs for code dimensions and I'm having trouble. From what I can find my code should not be readable... But it is. What I would like to know is how to calculate code dimensions, mil length, and quiet zones. Is there a minimum dimension that I can use to work with? Is there a standard relationship between code size and quiet zone length? Height to width...? I'm really struggling and I can't find real info anywhere. Are there any standards to reference other than GS1? What I did find with GS1-128: GS1-128 specifications- the height of the barcode should be 15% of the length or 0.50 inch (1.3 CM), whichever is greater. The X dimension may range from 10 mils (.025 cm) to 40 mils (.1 cm). When the X dimension used is between 10 and 16 mils, the symbol should be 0.50" tall. When the X dimension used is between 16 and 40 mils, the symbol should be 1.25" tall. The X dimension of 10 mils (0.10") is recommended for use with most handheld scanners. My 16 char code (not including start/end/check chars) is readable at 16.5mm in length and is approximately 3.7mm in height... how do I spec that? A dirty calculation would be ~3 mils. Any insight? Should this be posted in "Fonts"? Thank you, TMRF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaccoonFace Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Woah! Almost got bumped out of the first spot. Ok, here's what I've found: The "minimum" size for readable Code 39 is 5mils for the Motorola LS1203 that I'm using. I contacted Motorola and they said that it is possible for the 1203HD to read smaller than 5mills, but they don't expect it will. The code I am using now is calculated to be 2.299mils (down from the 2.7 I was reading earlier), but let's call it 2.3mils. When I told him what I was reading the rep at Motorola basically called me a liar. I figured if I'm playing with fire I may as well get burned good. So, what I have found experimentally is that a good printer on some of its lowest quality settings will print CODE-128 at 2.3mils and still be readable by this scanner. I've fiddled with a couple other printers around the teepee and found that even the mediocre units with a label created on old software is printing readable code at this size. Yes it is about half the spec-ed size, but it works. The printers are all thermal printers printing on glossy white stock. Recap: CODE: 128 Label size: 6.4mm x 19.0mm Code length: spec-ed less than 17mm Code height: Variable Characters: 16 + start + end + check Code size: 2.299mils -> 2.3mils Paper stock: Glossy white Print method: Thermal Readable text: 4p Arial Other: These are being read at a distance of ~1.5" off a PCA board. This is important because it adds a bit of quiet space around the code. ON ORDER...: 500k I feel like Evil Knievel at Caesars! Making it over the fountains is only half the battle... I'll let you know what the landing looks like. okbye TMRF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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