Categories: TECH

Primary Thermal Vs Thermal Shift Printing

Direct thermal producing uses label material along with a heat-sensitive coating. If heated by the print crown of your printer, the winter coating turns black to build the image/text required. To read more click here.

Winter transfer printing uses a winter transfer ribbon (i. Elizabeth. an ink ribbon often known as a carbon ribbon). Usually, the print head heats the ribbon, and ink is often deposited onto the label content to create the image/text expected.

Some small desktop laser printers, such as the Zebra GC420d, are usually direct thermal only; most thermal printers will work in the thermal transfer or perhaps direct thermal mode. The expense of consumables is similar for a couple of printing methods. Direct heat labels are generally a little more pricey, but the prices are identical when you add the cost of heat transfer labels and lace together.

The huge benefits and disadvantages of the two strategies to printing are as follows:

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Primary Thermal Printing

Advantages of Primary Thermal Printing:

• Less complicated for the operator to load the particular media (you only have to fill up the roll of labels).

• It can be easier to get a good print quality through the initial setup (you have no reason to match the ribbon to the label material).

• Environmentally better as you do not have access to dispose of used printer ink ribbons (generally, you can use thermal ribbons once).

Disadvantages of Direct Heat Printing:

• The printing will fade in time, particularly when exposed to direct sunlight.

• The packaging material will discolor over time, especially if exposed to direct sunlight.

• The label material is susceptible to marking if rubbed or perhaps scuffed.

• Cannot be utilized in high-temperature applications (generally selected to 50°C), as the trademarks will quickly turn black.

• There is a limited range of thermal solid label materials compared to thermal transfer (although you can obtain direct thermal playing card tag material and some artificial materials such as polypropylene).

• Direct thermal labels cause more excellent wear to the printer head than thermal shift printing. Therefore, you can expect to replace the print crown more often with direct winter printing if you are printing substantial volumes of labels.

The challenge of print fading and the label material marking while scuffed are reduced when you use top-coated direct heat labels. Top coated primary thermal brands are more expensive and provide limited resistance to humidity and water damage. If primary thermal labels are to be found in a freezer (with any freezer adhesive), it is advisable to use top coated label substance.

Thermal Transfer Printing

Most extraordinary things about Thermal Transfer Printing:

• Thermal transfer printing creates a permanent print, which has excellent resistance to fading, even when afflicted by direct sunlight.

• The choice of ribbon style can discover the longevity of thermal transfer print. The most popular (and lowest cost) grade is wax, containing limited smudge resistance. Your next grade-up is wax/resin, which has a good smudge battle, but a small scratch battle.

The top-grade resin is scratch and water repellent and resistant to many compounds (see the ribbon standard for information on which chemicals a selected ribbon is resistant to).

• There is a much more extensive choice of label materials accessible for thermal transfer printing when compared to direct thermal. The selection of point materials varies from uncoated and coated papers in addition to card through to cloth as well as a wide range of synthetic materials, like polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester in addition to polyimide.

The choice of adhesives is likewise more excellent with thermal shift labels, particularly for minimal temperature applications (-196°C) and intensely high temperatures (+ 575°C).

• There is a good range of Muslim ribbons available for thermal shift printing.

• Thermal wide lace has a silicon coating around the print head side to guard the print head in opposition to excessive wear.

Disadvantages regarding Thermal Transfer Printing:

• Thermal transfer printing needs a little more time to load the particular media than direct heat printing.

• You need to take proper care that the grade of lace matches the label material you happen to be using. Any wax ribbon will give the print quality if you are using relatively rough, uncoated paper labels (the gentle wax will flow to the coarse material). However, utilizing a wax ribbon over a coated synthetic material will eventually rub off very quickly. In this article, a resin ribbon could be the preferred choice.

• In some lower grade lace, the print head will need cleaning more often as ink build-up might be built.

• You need to dispose of the applied ribbons, which are less green than thermal printing.

While starting a new project with thermal transfer printing, it will always be advisable to ask your dealer for a sample ribbon which means you have a good match between your ribbon and label content.