Brother QL — Spool Switch (CAS) Pin Map

Source: QL-1060N Service Manual (pages II-15 / II-16), cross-referenced with QL-800 and QL-series Raster Command References, and confirmed via hardware probing on a QL-800 with DK-22251.

DK code naming convention

• DK-1xxxx — Die-cut labels
• DK-2xxxx — Continuous tape
• DK-4xxxx — Removable adhesive continuous tape
• DK-Nxxxx — Non-adhesive tape

The last three digits of the DK code appear on the physical roll as the "roll marking" (e.g., DK-22251 → "251"). This does not correspond to the media ID used in the raster protocol.

Complete switch table

Bits column is [SW5][SW4][SW3][SW2][SW1][SW0] — the binary value equals the SW number.

SW	Media ID	Pins	Media type	Size	DK code	Material	Notes	Bits
0	—		No media	—	—	—		000000
1	271		Standard Address Label	29×90mm	DK-11201	Paper, die-cut		000001
2	272		Large Address Label	38×90mm	DK-11208	Paper, die-cut		000010
3	274		Small Address Label	62×29mm	DK-11209	Paper, die-cut		000011
4	275		Shipping Label	62×100mm	DK-11202	Paper, die-cut		000100
5	269		Multi Purpose Label	17×54mm	DK-11204	Paper, die-cut		000101
6	270		File Folder Label	17×87mm	DK-11203	Paper, die-cut		000110
7	273		CD/DVD Label	58mm Ø	DK-11207	Paper, die-cut	Round, masked center	000111
8	—		Reserved	—	—	—		001000
9	—		Reserved	—	—	—		001001
10	—		Reserved	—	—	—		001010
11	—		Reserved	—	—	—		001011
12	370		Square Paper Label	23×23mm	DK-11221	Paper, die-cut		001100
13	—		Reserved	—	—	—		001101
14	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		001110
15	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		001111
16	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		010000
17	362		Round Paper Label 12mm	12mm Ø	DK-11219	Paper, die-cut		010001
18	363		Round Paper Label 24mm	24mm Ø	DK-11218	Paper, die-cut		010010
19	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		010011
20	258		White Paper Tape 29mm	29mm continuous	DK-22210	Paper, continuous		010100
21	259		White Paper Tape 62mm	62mm continuous	DK-22205	Paper, continuous	Also: DK-44205 (removable), DK-44605 (removable yellow)	010101
22	—		White Film Tape 29mm	29mm continuous	DK-22211	Film, continuous		010110
23	—		White Film Tape 62mm	62mm continuous	DK-22212	Film, continuous		010111
24	—		Yellow Film Tape 62mm	62mm continuous	DK-22606	Film, continuous		011000
25	—		Clear Film Tape 62mm	62mm continuous	DK-22113	Film, continuous		011001
26	257		White Paper Tape 12mm	12mm continuous	DK-22214	Paper, continuous		011010
27	262		White Paper Tape 50mm	50mm continuous	DK-22223	Paper, continuous		011011
28	251		Two-color Paper Tape 62mm	62mm continuous	DK-22251	Paper, continuous	Black+red. QL-800 series only. Confirmed via hardware.	011100
29	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		011101
30	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		011110
31	—		Reserved	—	—	—		011111
32	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100000
33	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100001
34	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100010
35	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100011
36	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100100
37	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100101
38	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100110
39	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		100111
40	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		101000
41	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		101001
42	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		101010
43	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		101011
44	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		101100
45	365		White Paper Label 102×51mm	102×51mm	DK-11240	Paper, die-cut	QL-1050/1060N only	101101
46	366		White Paper Label 102×152mm	102×152mm	DK-11241	Paper, die-cut	QL-1050/1060N only	101110
47	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		101111
48	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110000
49	—		Reserved	—	—	—		110001
50	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110010
51	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110011
52	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110100
53	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110101
54	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110110
55	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		110111
56	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		111000
57	260		White Paper Tape 102mm	102mm continuous	DK-22243	Paper, continuous	QL-1050/1060N only	111001
58	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		111010
59	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		111011
60	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		111100
61	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		111101
62	—		Not to be used	—	—	—		111110
63	—		Reserved	—	—	—		111111

Physical pin layout (top view, pins in device)

④  ③
    ②
    ①
    ⓪
    ⑤

• Pins 3, 2, 1, 0, 5 form a vertical column.
• Pin 4 is offset to the left, level with pin 3.
• 0 = no projection (switch not pressed) — 1 = projection present (switch pressed).
• SW number = binary value of [SW5][SW4][SW3][SW2][SW1][SW0].

3D printable spools for testing

These spools can be used with third-party label rolls or to probe unknown pin combinations by covering all holes and selectively punching them out:

• Brother Label DK printer spool by Marko — basic reusable spool, tape over holes and punch out as needed
• Universal Brother label DK Spool by Mind2MatterPrinting — universal design with swappable identifier plates and magnet-attached sides, supports all roll widths

Rolls not yet mapped to a switch code

These rolls appear in Brother's QL-820NWB consumables list or QL-800 command reference but are not in the original QL-1060N switch table. Their pin codes need hardware probing.

DK code	Size	Media ID	Material	Notes
DK-22225	38mm continuous	264	Paper, continuous
DK-N55224	54mm continuous	261	Paper, non-adhesive
DK-11234	60×86mm	383	Paper, die-cut	QL-800 era
DK-11247	103×164mm	—	Paper, die-cut	QL-1100 series

Rolls sharing the same pin code

SW 21 (101010) maps to multiple 62mm continuous paper variants:

• DK-22205 — White Paper Tape 62mm (standard permanent adhesive)
• DK-44205 — Removable White Paper Tape 62mm
• DK-44605 — Removable Yellow Paper Tape 62mm

The printer cannot distinguish between these by spool pins alone.

Status response — undocumented bytes

The QL-800 command reference documents bytes 14 and 24–31 as "Reserved" with fixed values. Empirical testing shows they vary per roll:

Roll loaded	Byte [14]	Byte [25]	Notes
DK-22251 (SW 28)	0x23	0x81	62mm two-color continuous
DK-11201 (SW 1)	0x01	0x01	29×90mm die-cut

Hypothesis: Byte [25] bit 7 (0x80) is the two-color media flag. Byte [14] may encode the CAS switch pattern or a derivative.

Further status dumps across roll types are needed to confirm.

QL-800 series status response — known deviations from documentation

Byte	Offset	Documented value	Actual behavior
12	11	Media type: 4Ah/4Bh	Correct (changed from 0Ah/0Bh on older QLs)
15	14	"Fixed at 3Fh"	Varies per roll — likely CAS-derived
18	17	Media length (mm)	Correct — 0x00 for continuous, mm for die-cut
25	24	"Fixed at 00h" (8 bytes)	Varies — bit 7 of byte [25] = two-color?