All the Equipment You Need for Thermal Printing

Nowadays thermal printing is very common in various industries and used by businesses that primarily need to print their own labels. The necessity for the professional look of the business forms opens the way for managers to make decisions that are more convenient in terms of price, resources and labour and energy waste. Thermal printing is a solution that satisfies such needs and is probably the most popular solution available.

Here is everything you need to do it right.

Thermal Printer

Of course to print thermal materials, you need a thermal printer. It doesn’t use ink or toner for printing but makes use of heat in order to produce the image on paper. It produces a better quality of the print, better speed and has more technological advances than the other printer types and therefore it is used almost in every industry.

There are lots of advantages of the thermal printer. For example, there is no need for ink cartridges, hence the cut in expenses for ink. Also, it is easier to use as it functions in a more simple way with fewer buttons and use of software and it is popular in the noise-free environments which makes it excellent for offices. Finally, it is more efficient and faster in printing, especially for monochromatic prints and is much more durable than the other printers.

There are two types of a thermal printer that have substantial differences. The first is a direct thermal printer which uses chemically-treated paper that darkens when the heat is applied by the thermal print head. The second type is a thermal transfer printer that uses a thermal ribbon to transfer solid ink onto labels. The labels can be made from different kinds of materials such as vinyl, polyester, nylon, paper and other thicker materials.

Thermal Ribbons

You can find thermal ribbons Australia wide in three types: wax, wax-resin and resin. All of them have different purposes and produce prints that have a different lasting period. Thus, the wax thermal ribbons are recommended for prints with short-term use including printing standard paper label stocks.

The wax-resin ribbons are excellent for printing barcodes for both paper and synthetic label stock whereas the resin ribbons are the ideal solution for prints that need to be durable and super resistant against rubbing and scratching. They can be used on hardwearing materials.

Material for Thermal Printing

When it comes to the material you should use for thermal printing, you should consider the reason and purpose for printing first. You can use thermal transfer paper that can be found as white paper labels with or without adhesives and usually this kind of material is used for a wide variety of applications including packaging and shipping labels.

Another material is thermal transfer plastic which should be flexible and durable along with waterproof and smudge-proof. Finally, it can also be thermal transfer polyester that makes the finished print extra durable, hardwearing, scratch and tear-resistant.

The bottom line

Investing in a thermal printer certainly pays off. It helps you save money, time and energy and it produces premium quality prints especially when you need monochromatic prints.