Various Types Of Thermal Transfer Ribbon

By Diane Howard


Information delivery was eased and hastened by the invention of printers. Currently, in existence are numerous varying printer types employed in printing on different media types. Different printer types utilize different technologies in achieving their objective. The thermal transfer printer is one important printer type. Its working is dependent on applying heat on resin, wax-resin or wax ribbons thermal transfer ribbon to produce images on different materials.

The heat is normally applied by thermal print-heads. The heat melts the wax or resin onto paper surface or label. Therefore, a desirable image is formed. Different forms of ribbons exist. They come with varying properties. This makes them suit various applications. Before one chooses the ribbon to apply, knowing the properties that come with different kinds of ribbons is vital.

The first type of ribbons is the resin-enhance wax ribbons. This one is also referred to as the full wax and is usually coated with wax-based ink. This usually makes it to melt at a low temperature. Given its qualities, it is the most common type and it finds a lot of use on coated and uncoated paper stock. The durability of the image produced is much lower. Full wax ribbons are also very cheap and can be bought easily from retail stores, malls, and home depots among many other places.

Wax resin ribbon is the second type. It is a resin and wax based hybrid. This type has a moderate melting temperature. These ribbons yield clear and sharp images. Furthermore, the images can be developed on a broad spectrum of materials. Far-reaching testing and research of wax resin ribbons has been carried out to confirm their capacity.

Wax-resin ribbons are suitable for making both weatherproof and standard thermal transfer labels. The images produced are of a higher quality that those produced by full-wax ribbons. The images offer adequate resistance against moisture and temperature changes and occasional heavy handling. They cost moderately and are good for shelf labels, prescription pharmaceutical, shipping, and barcode.

Pure resin is applied to make full resin ribbons. They have much higher melting temperatures. On melting, they dissolve into the material on which the printing is being done. With this, an extremely lasting finish is created. Normally, the quality of the end product is very high. Therefore, a person needs to ensure that the situation calls for use of this material in order to use it. Or else, it may be a needless overkill and waste of resources.

Among the three kinds of ribbons, full resin ribbons cost the most and are the most durable. They are suitable for use non-paper applications including synthetic stocks. This is due to their durability. They are suitable for use on textile or garment labels, automotive labels, flexible packaging, and very sensitive chemicals and medical.

In general, it is possible to find all the three types of ribbons in one store. There are also online stores that specialize in selling these products to consumers all over the world. Online stores can have them shipped to any location around the globe upon purchase.




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