Card Printer System Options
When looking to replace or purchase an initial card printer system for your organization, it is important to be in the loop about the various features that are available with current ID card printers. Within the past few months, there have been many upgrades to even basic entry level printers that allow the card operator to produce custom ID cards with more options than ever.
Current jargon in the card printing industry may sound foreign for the initial review of printer system options, but with time, the printer industry terminology can easily become second nature. To begin the review of the options available, the best thing to do is know the minimum requirements that you need in a custom badge printer. Have in mind the type of cards that need to be printed and the total volume of cards that will be printed annually or throughout the lifetime of the printer.
By understanding your requirements, you can avoid being lead astray into looking at features that will never be needed by your organization. Once you are ready to begin, start looking at pictures of printers and marketing materials. Talking with ID card experts at card integrators can also be beneficial. They can answer differences between printers such as the Fargo printer brand and the Evolis printer brand.
The initial option you will need to select is whether you want a single or a dual sided printer. The single sided printer is the more economical selection, although the printer allows printing on one side of the card. Some organizations wish to print on both sides of the card with a single pass of the card through the printer. This is best handled by a dual sided printer. This printer completes the printing of the front side of the card, flips the card over and prints the reverse side before ejecting the card into the output hopper.
Some groups wish to print temporary badges. This can now be accomplished with even entry level printers through the rewrite and erase process. With this process, specialized cards can be “printed” on temporarily. After use, the card can be sent back through the printer to erase the former information and update it with new information for the next user. No printer ribbon is used for this process which is sometimes the perfect solution for temporary badge needs.
Other options for many entry level and professional level printers are the card thickness allowed in the printer. Older printer models only allowed standard 30 ml plastic card stock to pass through the printer. Current models often allow thin 10 ml plastic cards or cards ranging up to 40 mil thick. This is the thickness of many access cards that are used to enter secure buildings.
Some printers have encoder modules that can be added to the printer. These modules will encode specific types of encoding. They can encode mag stripes, contact cards, contactless cards or smart cards depending on your requirements.
Professional printers often will have the option for an over laminate. This allows an extra clear or holographic coating to be adhered to the badge during the final portions of the print process. The over laminate provides additional security and card longevity.
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