Card printer
A card printer is an electronic desktop printer used to print and personalize plastic cards. Unlike label printers, which have a continuous supply feed, card printers have a single-card feeder. Card dimensions are usually 85.60 × 53.98 mm, standardized under ISO/IEC 7810 as ID-1. This format, commonly known as the bank card format, is used in many applications relying on magnetic stripe cards or smart cards, including credit cards, debit cards, telephone cards, driver's licenses and health insurance cards, access badges, school and campus cards, season passes, loyalty programs, etc.
Card printers are controlled by corresponding printer drivers or by means of a specific programming language. Generally card printers are designed with laminating, striping, and punching functions, and use desktop or web-based software. The hardware features of a card printer differentiate a card printer from the more traditional printers, as ID cards are usually made of PVC plastic and require laminating and punching. Different card printers can accept different card thickness and dimensions.
Print process
The principle is the same for practically all card printers: the plastic card is passed through a thermal print head at the same time as a color ribbon. The color from the ribbon is transferred onto the card through the heat given out from the print head. The standard performance for card printing is 300 dpi. There are different printing processes, which vary in their detail:Common printing problems
Many printing problems are caused by physical defects in the card material itself, such as deformation or warping of the card that is fed into the machine in the first place. Printing irregularities can also result from chip or antenna embedding that alters the thickness of the plastic and interferes with the printer's effectiveness. Other issues are often caused by operator errors, such as users attempting to feed non-compatible cards into the card printer, while other printing defects may result from environmental abnormalities such as dirt or contaminants on the card or in the printer. Reverse transfer printers are less vulnerable to common printing problems than direct-to-card printers, since with these printers the card does not come into direct contact with the print head.Variations in card printers
Card printer types
Broadly speaking, there are three main types of card printers, differing mainly by the method used to print onto the card. They are:Storage of digital information
Certain types of cards, called digital cards, can store digital information encoded onto a storage medium that is embedded into the card. The stored information can then be read automatically by a card reader and transferred to a computer for processing. This is especially useful for ID cards and access badges. ID-card printers may be equipped with a card data writer, enabling them to record information into a card's memory and print matching information onto the surface of the card, in a single pass. Different recording techniques are used, depending on the type of card:Other options
;Duplex printing: A duplex card printer can print both sides of a card without manual intervention. In such printers, one side of the card is printed first; the card is then flipped in the duplex carriage and the other side is printed.;Lamination: A laminating card printer covers each card with a protective layer of clear plastic film after printing. Laminating a card greatly increases the durability of its printed appearance and may also provide some protection against tampering.
Software
Card printer software, used to produce images that will be printed on individual cards, can be desktop-based or web-based.The use of desktop-based software usually requires owning a card printer. This is often the case for a large organization with high employee turnover, or those who need the ability to print cards at short notice. Desktop-based solutions have the ability to retrieve individual data from a database and merge it into a base layout, common to many cards, to produce individualised images for each card that needs to be printed.
Web-based applications provide a more affordable solution to those with moderate card-printing needs, enabling them to design cards that will be printed by a commercial third-party.