Epson TM-U220B 9-Pin Impact Receipt and Kitchen Printer Serial RS-232C Autocutter Dark Gray with Power Supply C31C514653

End of life. This configuration is flagged end of life in the Epson channel, with the TM-U220IIB serial part C31CL27002 named as its replacement; Epson's own TM-U220 series page still shows no discontinued label, so the manufacturer and the channel disagree on presentation. Barcode Printer Shop does not currently stock the TM-U220II. Remaining TM-U220B stock is sold for fleet matching, replacement units and validated workflows where requalifying a new printer is not practical.

Key Features

• This part number is a TM-U220B with an autocutter fitted. Epson's own ordering table reads U220B w/Serial EDG against it.
• The fitted interface is serial RS-232C on a UB-S01 board. There is no Ethernet, no parallel port and no wireless on this configuration.
• Nine-pin serial impact printing, so the mark is struck into the paper and survives heat, steam and grease that would fade a thermal receipt.
• Type B mechanism: autocutter yes, wall-hanging yes, take-up device no.
• Two-colour black and red printing when the ERC-38BR ribbon is fitted; black only on the ERC-38B.
• Prints one original and one carbon copy, which is what puts a ticket on the line and a ticket with the expo.
• Print width is 2.50 in (63.4 mm) on 76 mm paper. The 2.99 in figure widely republished is the paper width.
• Takes 58, 70 or 76 mm paper on a roll up to 83 mm in diameter.
• 4.7 lines per second at 40 columns, 6.0 lines per second at 30 columns, both at 16 cpi.
• MTBF of 180,000 hours and MCBF of 18,000,000 lines.
• The power supply is in the box. The interface cable is not.
• The UB-R05 wireless interface card fits the TM-U220 family, so this printer can be moved onto Wi-Fi later.

Key Specifications

• Interface: Serial RS-232C on a UB-S01 interface board. No Ethernet, no parallel, no wireless on this part number
• Print method: 9-pin serial impact dot matrix
• Mechanism type: Type B: autocutter fitted, wall-hanging supported, no take-up device
• Print speed: 4.7 lines per second at 40 columns and 16 cpi; 6.0 lines per second at 30 columns and 16 cpi
• Print width: 63.4 mm (2.50 in) on 76 mm paper; 57 mm (2.24 in) on 69.5 mm paper; 47.5 mm (1.87 in) on 57.5 mm paper
• Paper: 58, 70 or 76 mm wide, 83 mm maximum roll diameter, 0.06 to 0.085 mm thick
• Copy capacity: One original and one copy
• Ribbon: ERC-38 cassette. Black gives 3,000,000 characters; black/red gives 1,500,000 black and 750,000 red
• Buffer and reliability: 40 bytes or 4 KB data buffer; MTBF 180,000 hours, MCBF 18,000,000 lines
• Case colour: Epson Dark Gray
• Warranty: Two-year limited warranty (Epson TM-U220 datasheet, family level)
• In the box: Printer, user manual, ribbon cassette, power switch cover, paper roll, Adaptor C with AC cord. No interface cable

What this printer is

This is a TM-U220B, not a plain TM-U220, and it has an autocutter. Epson's web page for it is titled TM-U220 Receipt/Kitchen Printer, which is a series page rather than a product name, and that title has misled a good deal of copy including our own. Epson's ordering table in the TM-U220 datasheet settles it: the row reads U220B w/Serial EDG against this part number. Decoded, that is the Type B paper-handling mechanism, a UB-S01 serial interface board and the Epson Dark Gray housing. Its only sibling in our range, C31C514767, is the same printer in the same colour with the same cutter and the same mechanism, differing solely in that its interface board is Ethernet.

The interface fitted

The board in this printer is a UB-S01, giving an RS-232C serial connection, and that is the whole interface story for this part number. Epson's product page carries a connectivity row listing serial, parallel, powered USB and several wireless options, but that row is a series-wide list of everything available somewhere in the TM-U220 line and applying it to a part number would be a misrepresentation. This unit has serial and nothing else. Serial is why the printer still sells: kitchen display controllers, older till systems and back-office hosts frequently speak RS-232 and nothing newer. If the requirement is a network drop instead, the Ethernet sibling C31C514767 is the part number to price.

Impact and mechanism

This is a nine-pin serial impact printer, which is a deliberate specification rather than an old one. An impact head strikes an inked ribbon, so the mark is physically in the paper: it does not fade in a hot kitchen, over a grill, next to a steamer or in a file kept for years, and thermal paper does all four. The B in TM-U220B is the paper-handling mechanism and it means an autocutter is fitted, the printer can be hung on a wall, and there is no take-up spool. Epson's own model table sets out the alternatives: Type A has the cutter and a take-up device but cannot be wall-hung, and Type D has no cutter at all. The letter says nothing about the interface, which is a separate part of the order code.

Paper and print width

The printer takes 58, 70 or 76 mm paper on a roll up to 83 mm in diameter, from 0.06 to 0.085 mm thick, and it will carry one original and one carbon copy. That copy capability is the second reason kitchens buy impact printers: the expo keeps a ticket and the line keeps a ticket from one print. Print width deserves care, because the figure republished across the trade for this printer is 2.99 inches and that is the PAPER width, not the print width. Epson's own Technical Reference Guide gives printing width as 63.4 mm, which is 2.50 inches, on 76 mm paper, falling to 2.24 inches on 69.5 mm paper and 1.87 inches on 57.5 mm. Anyone laying out a ticket to 2.99 inches will lose the edges of it.

Ribbons and yields

The consumable is the ERC-38 ribbon cassette and it comes in two forms. ERC-38B is black only and Epson rates it at 3,000,000 characters. ERC-38BR is the black and red cassette that makes two-colour printing possible, and it is rated at 1,500,000 characters in black plus 750,000 in red, so the red half of a two-colour cassette costs half the black yield of a plain one. That is worth knowing before a kitchen standardises on red highlighting for allergen alerts or rush orders: the ribbon spend roughly doubles. Two-colour printing is a property of the ribbon fitted rather than of the printer, so the same unit runs black-only whenever the red is not earning its keep.

In the box

Epson's box list for this printer is the printer, a user manual, a ribbon cassette, a power switch cover, a paper roll and Adaptor C with its AC cord. Read the last item carefully, because it is the one that generates support calls on point-of-sale printers: the power supply IS included on this part number and does not need a separate line on the order. What is not included is the interface cable. Epson's own description string ends with the words interface cables sold separately, and that applies to this configuration as much as to any other, so the cable to reach the host has to be ordered alongside the printer or found on the bench. Two figures are deliberately absent from this listing: Epson publishes no dpi rating for the TM-U220 at all, and it gives dimensions and weight per mechanism type rather than per part number, so neither is guessed at here.

Adding wireless later

One upgrade path is genuinely available on this printer. The interface board sits in a Connect-It slot, and Epson's UB-R05 wireless interface card lists the TM-U220 among the printers it supports, so a serial unit can be converted to dual-band Wi-Fi by swapping the board. What it is not is an addition: the card occupies the slot the UB-S01 is in, so the serial connection goes away when the wireless card goes in. One caution for anyone planning that route. The UB-R05 supports WPA-PSK with AES, WPA2-PSK and WPA2-Enterprise, and Epson lists no WPA3 support at all, so a site running a WPA3-only network cannot use it without a mixed-mode SSID.

Discontinued status

The lifecycle position on this part number needs stating carefully because the sources disagree. Epson's own TM-U220 series page carries no discontinued label and Epson's site does display such labels elsewhere, as the ColorWorks C3500 page shows. Against that, the channel flags this configuration as end of life and names the TM-U220IIB serial part C31CL27002 as its replacement, a like-for-like build with the same serial board, the same power supply and the same dark gray housing. We do not currently stock the TM-U220II. Buying the TM-U220B now is sound where an estate already runs them and one spare should cover every station, and where ribbons and mounting are already standardised.

Barcode Printer Shop supplies Epson point-of-sale and label printers by exact part number, so the mechanism, the fitted interface and the contents of the carton are settled before the order goes in. Contact us to learn more or secure this solution for your business today.