Contact Us

Help
 

GLOSSARY - CARD PRINTERS

I would like to:

Self Help Resources:

Collaborative Resources:

Technical Glossary

Card Media

Plastic card printers supplied by Blazepoint utilise different types of media namely plastic cards, monochrome and colour ribbons and laminates.

Blazepoint strongly encourage the use of manufacturer's media supplied as 3rd party consumables cannot be guaranteed.

We also supply a range of ID card accessories including lanyards, badge reels, pins & clips, badge holders and neck chains.

Card Printing Explained

Zebra card printers feature dye sublimation and/or thermal transfer printing. Both techniques involve a ribbon being heated as it passes under a thermal printhead. The difference is that thermal transfer ribbons heat up and transfer the ink onto the plastic card and dye sublimation ribbons heat up and undergo a chemical change process that turns the ink into a gaseous state which then permeates the card.

The ribbon used in colour dye sublimation printing is divided into three separate colour panels: yellow, magenta and cyan. This configuration is referred to as YMC.

Thermal transfer differs from dye sublimation in that thermal transfer uses ink rather than dye. Both can be combined in one ribbon. This is referred to as a YMCK ribbon — K being the designator for the colour black in the printing industry.

Plastic card printers can be fitted with smart card contact stations or magnetic encoders to allow personalised data to be encoded and stored on a chip or magnetic stripe on the card.

Back to top