Brother Label Printers
ProxyBox supports Brother label printers over USB using the open-source printer-driver-ptouch CUPS driver. Plug the printer in, and it is auto-discovered and ready to print — but these printers have one hard requirement that is different from every other printer type: your PDF’s page size must match the tape or label loaded in the printer.
Supported models
Section titled “Supported models”| Model | Type | Media |
|---|---|---|
| PT-P900W (incl. PT-P900Wc) | P-touch tape | TZe tape, 3.5–36mm; HSe heat-shrink tube |
| PT-P950NW | P-touch tape | TZe tape, 3.5–36mm; HSe heat-shrink tube |
| QL-810W | QL label | DK rolls — continuous and die-cut |
| QL-820NWB | QL label | DK rolls — continuous and die-cut |
USB connection only.
The page size is the label size
Section titled “The page size is the label size”Brother label printers reject any job whose width doesn’t match the loaded cassette — the printer stops with a red error light and prints nothing. To prevent that, ProxyBox reads the page size of every PDF you submit and selects the matching media automatically. There is no separate media setting or job parameter:
- Format your PDF page to the physical label, in the sizes listed below. Either orientation works (a 24mm × 100mm label can be a 100mm × 24mm page).
- ProxyBox accepts only PDFs for these printers, and rejects any PDF whose page doesn’t match a supported media size with an HTTP 400 listing the valid sizes — before anything reaches the printer.
- PDF page sizes are measured in points: 1mm = 2.835pt (72pt = 1 inch).
For example, a label for 24mm tape is a page 68pt wide (24mm), by however long you want the label to be.
P-touch tape sizes (PT-P900W, PT-P950NW)
Section titled “P-touch tape sizes (PT-P900W, PT-P950NW)”| Tape | Page width | Custom length? |
|---|---|---|
| TZe 36mm | 102pt | Yes — any length from 12.7mm (36pt) |
| TZe 24mm | 68pt | Yes |
| TZe 18mm | 51pt | Yes |
| TZe 12mm | 34pt | No — fixed 100mm (284pt) pages only |
| TZe 9mm | 26pt | No |
| TZe 6mm | 17pt | No |
| TZe 3.5mm | 10pt | No |
| HSe 23.6mm heat-shrink | 67pt | Yes |
| HSe 17.7mm heat-shrink | 50pt | Yes |
| HSe 11.7mm heat-shrink | 33pt | No |
| HSe 8.8mm heat-shrink | 25pt | No |
| HSe 5.8mm heat-shrink | 16pt | No |
Tape is continuous, so you control the label length with your page length — a 68 × 400pt page prints a 24mm × 141mm label, cut automatically. The exception is the narrow tapes (12mm and below): the driver only accepts custom lengths down to 12.7mm width, so narrower tapes always print fixed 100mm-long labels.
QL label sizes (QL-810W, QL-820NWB)
Section titled “QL label sizes (QL-810W, QL-820NWB)”Continuous rolls (you control the length via page length, except 12mm):
| Roll | Page width |
|---|---|
| DK 62mm | 176pt |
| DK 54mm | 153pt |
| DK 50mm | 142pt |
| DK 38mm | 108pt |
| DK 29mm | 82pt |
| DK 12mm | 34pt (fixed 100mm length only) |
Die-cut labels (page must match the label exactly):
| Label | Page size |
|---|---|
| 62 × 100mm | 176 × 283pt |
| 62 × 29mm | 176 × 82pt |
| 38 × 90mm | 108 × 255pt |
| 29 × 90mm | 82 × 255pt |
| 23 × 23mm | 65 × 65pt |
| 17 × 87mm | 48 × 246pt |
| 17 × 54mm | 48 × 153pt |
| 58mm circular (CD/DVD) | 165 × 165pt |
| 24mm circular | 68 × 68pt |
| 12mm circular | 34 × 34pt |
Test prints
Section titled “Test prints”Because a test print has no PDF to read the size from, the dashboard shows a media size selector next to the Test Print button for these printers. Pick the size of the cassette that’s actually loaded, then click Test Print. On continuous tape 18mm and wider, the test label is automatically cut to fit its content instead of using a full 100mm of tape.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”Red error light, nothing prints (but the job reported success)
Section titled “Red error light, nothing prints (but the job reported success)”The job’s width didn’t match the loaded cassette. The most common cause is a test print with the wrong size selected — the size picker tells ProxyBox what’s loaded, and it can’t verify your choice against the physical cassette. Brother printers reject mismatched jobs after accepting the data, so the job reports success while the printer sits with a red light.
Press the printer’s power button once to clear the error, then resend with the correct size. Print jobs whose PDF page matches a supported size but not the loaded cassette (say, a 36mm-formatted PDF sent while 24mm tape is loaded) fail the same way — swap the cassette or reformat the PDF.
- TZe vs HSe: heat-shrink tube sizes are slightly narrower than the similarly-named tape (23.6mm vs 24mm). ProxyBox tells them apart by the exact page width — use the point values from the tables above.
- Long labels: for cable flags, name tags, or anything longer than 100mm, just make the page longer. Continuous tape accepts any length.
- Colors: these are monochrome thermal printers. Content prints in black; use bold, high-contrast designs.
ProxyBox Docs v1.0.6