Does a Clover Kitchen Printer Use Ink?
, by RH Now, 1 min reading time
Clover built-in receipt printers are thermal, but external Star SP700/SP742 kitchen printers use inked ribbon cartridges.
Does a Clover Kitchen Printer Use Ink?
Quick answer: Clover's built-in receipt printers are thermal, so they do not use ink or ribbon cartridges. But a Clover setup can also use an external impact kitchen printer such as the Star Micronics SP742ML. That type of printer uses an inked ribbon.
The phrase “Clover printer ink” can mean two very different things. The first question is not “which ink do I need?” It is which printer are you looking at?
Clover built-in receipt printers: no ink
Clover Station, Clover Mini, Clover Flex and similar built-in receipt printers use thermal printing. Heat reacts with thermal receipt paper, so there is no ribbon or liquid ink cartridge to replace.
Clover kitchen printer: sometimes a ribbon
Clover lists the Star Micronics SP742ML as a supported kitchen printer. The SP742 is an impact printer in the SP700 family, and impact printing uses an inked ribbon cartridge.
| Printer | Consumable |
|---|---|
| Clover Station / Mini / Flex built-in printer | Thermal receipt paper — no ink ribbon |
| Star SP700 / SP712 / SP742 impact kitchen printer | RC700-family ink ribbon + bond/carbonless paper |
How to identify which printer you have
Look for the model label on the physical printer. If the label says Star SP700, SP712 or SP742, you are dealing with an impact printer. If you are loading paper directly into a Clover Station, Mini or Flex device, you are dealing with a thermal receipt printer.
Which ribbon does the Star SP742 use?
Star lists RC700B for black printing and RC700BR for black/red printing across the SP700 impact-printer family. The SP742 can use black/red when the application is configured for two-color printing.