How Re-transfer Id Card Printers Produce Better Id Cards

Traditionally, most ID card printers used Direct to Card (DTC) printing technologies

to generate ID cards by printing directly on the blank ID card through thermal or wax ribbons. However, retransfer thermal printing is now becoming a more common technology whereby the image of the card is first printed in reverse image on the underside of a laminate film and then re-transferred (thermally bonded) to the ID card. Fargo refers to this reverse transfer lamination process as their HDP (High Definition Printing) process while Zebra refers to it as their ID Card ReTransfer printing process. The traditional DTC printing technologies were often used by dye sublimation ID card printers and include the Zebra P330i ID card Printer, the Evolis Pebble Badge Printer, the Datacard SP55 Badge Printer and the Fargo DTC5550 ID Card Printer.

Some of the main advantages of retransfer ID card printers are improved ID card quality, longer ID card printer printhead longevity and more consistent images. The quality of the ID card is improved in two ways: 1) when the laminate film is thermally bonded to the card, the image is under a protective layer which increases the lifespan of the card and 2) the image quality is of photographic quality as it is not subject to slight imperfections in the ID card. In fact, it is this latter concern (imperfections in the ID card) that can deteriorate the printhead of an ID card printer. Specifically, with DTC printing technologies, the badge printer printhead directly contacts the ID badge via the ribbon which may cause damage if the ID badge surface has imperfections; with the Fargo HDP ID Card printers or Zebra retransfer ID card printers, the ID card printer's printhead never goes near the ID card so there is no risk of damage. It should be noted that imperfections may be intentional such as with ISO14443 Mifare or ISO 7816 Contact Smart Cards that have an uneven surface.

Another advantage is that ID card printing can be done to a broad range of cards give greater flexibility when it comes to card selection. DTC dye sublimation requires a porous surface available only with PVC-based cards, thus limiting card material options and which is why they are commonly referred to as PVC Card Printers or plastic card printers. However, with retransfer ID card printer, PVC, ABS, PET and Smart cards can be printed to without difficulty since the card image is printed to an image-receiving intermediate film and then thermally bonded to the card after printing. Again, the badge printer's printhead never touches the card.

The quality of the card image is improved as traditional DTC printers had to print directly to a hard plastic card surface fundamentally limit the image quality of the DTC process. The relatively small number of affordable, durable card materials that accept dyes limits the types of cards used, and limits the intensity of colors that DTC can reproduce. In addition, the DTC process depends on uniform, intimate contact between the printhead, the dye ribbon, and the card surface. Because of the unevenness of many card surfaces, DTC cannot achieve high color density and uniformity when transferring dye directly to a card. All of these issues are eliminated with retransfer ID Card Printers.

For additional information on ID card printer, visit my recommended website at IDCardPrinterSavings.com or contact an ID card printer specialist at (714)922-1140.

by: Edmond Shi

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