subject: Everything You Need To Know About Your Thermal Printer [print this page] Everything You Need To Know About Your Thermal Printer
In the market today you will find many available printing technologies, each with its own ideal market niche. Printers that use thermal technology are distinguished from other kinds of printers by their ability to use heat i sealing the ink onto the paper that is being printed on. Generally this kind of printer is comprised of a printer head, an ink ribbon, a rubber roller and a roll of specialized thermal paper. The printer head heats up the ink ribbon which is treated with a polyester film backing to print the string of requested text onto the paper, similar to a thermal fax machine. Requested character strings are printed onto the specialty paper by having a rubber roller push the paper up ahead to be pressed against the heated ink ribbon. The speed at which all of this is accomplished is what makes a thermal printer work so well, printing areas of 6-12 inches per second.
Regular ink-jet and laser printers use a different kind of ink, as thermal technology uses an ink that is made from either wax or resin, or a combination of both. There are different shelf lives for each variant so make sure to choose one that is appropriate for your printing purposes. After being printed, wax ink ribbons last for only 2 years at most but are the cheapest variant to purchase. Some point of sales terminals use this kind of ink ribbon to cut costs when printing receipts, which should be scanned or copied in case they are important. If you are looking for a much more durable variant of ink ribbon, a combination of wax and resin is best, especially if printed on fine-toothed paper, as well as papers that are coated with a film coat. Still, the printed product should not be exposed to damp environments and strong chemicals. Resin ink ribbons are the most durable of all ink ribbons but are not made for use with conventional point of sale printers and are instead made for use with plastics.
Most printers that utilize thermal technology can be found in point-of-sale terminals and for printing bar codes for inventory tracking purposes. The ink ribbons of a thermal printer should be protected from both damp environments and strong chemicals when kept in storage. They should also be kept away from strong heat sources and environments as they are sensitive to heat, light and moisture. While thermal printers make for efficient and cost-effective printing solutions in sales and inventory applications, the print quality falters when compared with ink-jet and laser printers. In a segment that typically had only black inks, colored inks are now available in newer thermal printing technologies, however these printers are only recommended for specialty applications that take advantage of their speed as their inability to vary dot size or intensify the printed document results in a grainy product.
