I removed that large pin from the top right of my PT-D400 machine. The TZ tape would still not seat fully. Upon closer inspection I noticed that along the back of the tape cavity right dead in the middle of the floor there is a raised triangle shaped piece of plastic. If you look at a TZe tape there is a recess in the tape cartridge for this triangle to fit into, allowing it to lay flat. The TZ cartridge does NOT have this indentation so it won't seat all the way. Being an engineer I took my dremmel tool and carefully" (not to damage roll of tape) ground that area off of a TZ tape so that it would lie flat. It did lie flat BUT it still would not work. I then noticed that in the rear left hand corner there is a small pin. That fits into a slot on back side of the TZe cartridge. The TZ cartridge does have that clearance slot. So its not just that large pin. There are at least 3 modifications that would need to be made. It does work without the large pin. Ill just have to use TZ tapes on my older machines! +
I ended up opening the cartridge of TZ and TZe. I then moved everything from inside the TZ, to the TZe, put it back together, and it worked. It took a couple of tries, and I ruined a 1/4” tape, but moving from TZ-231 to TZe-231 worked ok.
I just converted 7 old TZ tapes to work in my P-Touch H100LB. There were exactly 4 physical features that deliberately prevented proper insertion of the TZ cartridge in the first place. Then there's 3 microswitches next to the printhead that contact the cart when the lid is closed (probably for auto detection of tape width). There has to be a hole in the cart so that the upper one of the switches (closer to the lid) is not triggered. Finally, there's a plastic nose on the lid that has to be cut off. All TZ tapes print just fine. Big middle finger to Brother for deliberately creating waste.
Thanks for the explanation. I didn't know there was actual differences and always thought it was just the plastic and packaging. Thanks for showing the differences.
I'm guessing Brother did this to force the consumer to buy new tapes if their old machine dies and they still have old tapes left. This is counter to the "eco" forward direction since buying new tapes and discarding the old ones that would still be usable is very wasteful, functionally, economically, and ecologically. Can the old tapes be drilled out in the needed place to fit into the new machines?
Any TZ tapes would be over 12 years old at this point and I don't think that was their goal....I've heard of people modifying them but don't have any information on that.
It's not a question of old tapes. They have a patent on the tape cartage design. Once the patent is lapsed they need to change the design to discourage others from making them and undercutting them on price. It's the same way on inkjet printer cartilages..They change them from time to time to discourage competition.
I have the unfortunate situation of having numerous brand new TZ tapes. The only difference I can see is the plastic pin on the top right side. That pin appears to me to "lock Out" older TZ tapes - theres no hole in TZ tape. Has anyone tried to remove that pin?
I have have a PT-1890 and from the looks of it it will take either tape though it is marked for TZe tape. Huh? I wonder if the change had anything to do with Brothers relationship with Kroy? Kroy used to sell TZ tapes and I think the laminated label idea was theirs to start with. Many years ago I had a P-Touch machine which was, except for the name on it, identical to the Brother machine, but it was a Kroy. Our stationary stores would send us Brother TZ or Kroy TZ tapes, depending on what they had.
hello, I would like to use TZe ribbons to make labels for climbing gear in my climbing club. This means it would be applieds on curved, metal surfaces and subject to rock stripes, for exemple : on ice-axe handle or on a carabiner. Would you recommend this type of labels? specially regarding the rock stripe abrasion.
whats annoying is brother could have made the change without making the old tapes incompatible. It's a cheezy way of making a bunch of old UNUSED tapes head to landfill.
I tried drilling a hole but it looks like the new rolls might have a slightly smaller diameter supply reel up in that zone and the peg on the machine interferes with the reel of the TZ cartridges. I didn't want to cut the peg off my brand new cube and try that. Others on here said that didn't work.
it's not just the stud. there is the triangular feature in the middle "top". and I read earlier there's another smaller stud that would have to be removed. This clip is a great way to see the differences side by side and Dremel the new machine to remove the differences. I have a bag of tz tapes, I'm on the fence as to whether I'll dremmel the new features out to gain compatibility with my older tapes (edit...I just realized the tape machine I just tossed was really really old. The one I pulled from it was a TZ, the others are TZe. No problem!)
So... Brother puts in a plastic post to stop you using your old tapes. Easy fix.. file off that plastic post and you can use your old tapes. Functionally it does nothing except prevent you from using your old stock.... a typical Brother hack to make you spend more moolah on their products. 🤦🏻♀️
