Card Printer: Features and Popular Devices

Printers are becoming more popular every day in different areas of human life. They allow you to create black and white and color printing. Many devices work with a special type of paper. The printer for printing on plastic cards is in demand in the business sector. It is needed in banks, restaurants, beauty salons. This device will save time and money.

A device for printing plastic cards is technically complex. During this process, the coloring components are transferred to the plastic blank. There are 2 printing methods that have their own characteristics. They are used on different types of printers.

Sublimation Printing

It is also called thermal transfer. The plastic blank must be placed in the printer, inside which there is a printed ribbon. Due to the effect of temperature, the paint is transferred to plastic. Of the advantages of the method distinguish:

1. Getting over 16 million shades.
2. Quality photos.
3. Card personalization function and speed.

But this method is considered quite expensive. Nevertheless, it is used in many institutions because of its advantages.

Reverse printing

She has another name - retransfer. It is carried out in 2 stages. First, the image is applied to a transparent film due to the sublimation method. Then the film is thermally glued to the plastic. The advantages of the method include the following:

1. The card cannot be faked.
2. Electronic personalization of the card.
3. Simple requirements for plastic blanks.
4. The durability of the finished product.

The production of 1 unit of production takes about 1 minute. With the sublimation method on the plastic there will be an unfilled border - a print “to the edge”, and with a reverse - the entire area is occupied. In the printer for printing on plastic cards, both methods are used.

Model selection

There are many printers for printing on plastic cards, so it is not so easy to make a choice. When buying, you need to consider some nuances:

1. First you need to establish the circulation of products. All devices are divided into 3 classes: initial - up to 1000 per year, medium - up to 15 000, high-performance - more than 15 000 cards.
2. It is important to choose the type of print. It can be single-color or multi-color. The division occurs and sublimation or reverse.
3. It is necessary to determine whether the cards will be information carriers. Modern devices can perform chipovka / coding plastic. But this will require an additional built-in device - an encoder.
4. It is necessary to determine the shelf life of the plastic. If it should serve from 1 year, then lamination is required for safety. To do this, there are separate or located in the printer modules.

Elypso

This printer for printing on plastic cards is used for the manufacture and personalization of various cards. They can be payment, social, customer, gift. It is also possible to create passes and business cards with a graphic pattern. The advantages of the device include:

1. Save energy.
2. Light weight.
3. Excellent print quality of 300 dpi.
4. Convenience of operation.
5. Synchronization with PC.

The device works with monochrome and color sublimated printing. You can install the built-in encoder. The noise of the device during operation is 48 dB. A double-sided card is completed in 30 seconds. The thickness of the finished product is 0.5-1.25 mm. The materials include PVC, PET, ABS.

Kiosk

If you select a high-quality printer for printing plastic cards for 5000 rubles, then this model will not work so cheaply, because this equipment is more expensive. The advantages of the device include:

1. Install magnetic stripe, smart card, RFID.
2. Integration of thermal printing.
3. Metal carcass.
4. Autonomy thanks to a capacious tray.
5. Ease of use.
6. Combination with different OS.

The device allows you to create double-sided, sublimation printing. The print head is 300 dpi in size. The boot device includes up to 460 cards, there is a rewrite function. An hour produced 29 double-sided cards. Material - PVC, polycarbonate, ABS.

FARGO HDO 8500

This printer for printing badges on plastic cards is used in an industrial environment. The device is configured for continuous operation with high loads. The features of the device include:

1. Production of 1200 cards without interruption.
2. The presence of laser engraving.
3. Double-sided lamination.
4. Encoding function.
5. High wear resistance.
6. Processing multiple cards at once.

This type of printer performs double-sided printing and lamination, retrospheric printing. The manufacturing speed of 1 product is 24 seconds. Used 16 million shades. The tray holds 400 cards.

Evolis zenius

The device has a bright design, compactness. It is easy to operate, there is a coding function. The printer for printing on plastic cards Evolis works in color and monochrome sublimation method. Processing speed - 1 card in 30 seconds. The cost is about 75 thousand rubles.

Zebra ZXP31

The device works with automatic feeding of plastic, 100 pieces enter the tray. There is a function for printing barcodes. The technique is compatible with different OS for PC. The Zebra plastic card printer works in a one-sided, color and sublimation way. In an hour, 180 color maps are created.

The fixture will be an excellent method of expanding the services of a mini printing house and design centers. Each large company can purchase a device for creating badges, badges, business cards, cards and other products. All of these printers are in demand because of their reliability and high speed.