How To Choose The Right Printer For Your Product? -Thermal Transfer Overprinting, Inkjet, Laser

How To Choose The Right Printer For Your Product? -Thermal Transfer Overprinting, Inkjet, Laser.

The market generally has 3 types of printers, thermal transfer overprinting, inkjet, and laser.
The thermal transfer overprinting machine has the lowest cost, its consumables are carbon ribbons which are not expensive and can be bought all over the world. They can print large-area content such as LOGO, form, characters, QR codes, barcodes, etc., with high resolution, and basically no maintenance, But the long-lasting effect of its printed content is average, only suitable for contact type printing on a flat surface of the composite film.
The inkjet printer is suitable for a variety of materials, composite film, carton, metal, plastic, and non-contact inkjet code, with high-speed assembly lines that can spray two-dimensional code bar code but need to be in a nozzle height of generally 12mm, if it is with intermittent machine, printing two-dimensional code bar code recognition rate is not high, can only spray characters.No matter which way to print the two-dimensional code, it is recommended to increase the white background color, the higher the contrast, the higher the recognition rate. The consumables are Ink and thinner or ink cartridges cost a lot. Generally, there is a chip password. Only ink or ink cartridges of its brand can be used. The nozzle needs to be cleaned in time, and the daily maintenance cost is high.
Laser machines are basically suitable for all types of product surfaces, including metal, plastic, and ceramics. There is no damage to the product surface. The cost of purchasing the machine is high in the early stage, but it only needs to be powered on, with no consumables, no pollution, long service life, and basically no maintenance. The logo is carved by laser, permanent and effective, suitable for products with high anti-counterfeiting and anti-tampering or traceability., such as high-end consumer goods, electronic equipment, etc.
These 3 types have obvious differences in applicable materials, printing speed, resolution, durability, and application fields. Choosing the right coding method depends on specific needs, including coding surface material, coding quality production efficiency, etc.

Thermal Transfer Overprinting TTO

• Principle: Thermal transfer overprinting uses a thermal ribbon and a thermal transfer machine to transfer the ink to the surface of the object by heating. This method is suitable for coding needs that require high resolution and durability, such as packaging, barcodes, etc. Only the words of the thermal transfer printer are not printed independently and can be printed on a whole line.
• Applicable materials: Flexible products with glossy surfaces, plastic films, plastic bags, and glossy labels. Hard products are not acceptable such as cartons and cases. And needs to be printed on a flat surface, so it is suitable for printing before packaging.
• Printing distance: contact
• Print content: Form (without background color), QR code, barcode, LOGO, text. Only one color can be printed.
• Number of lines: unlimited, large printing area, different models for different printing areas
• Font type: Solid characters, it is more suitable for QR code barcode printing than inkjet printers, with higher definition.
• Consumables: carbon ribbon, low cost, environmentally friendly, odorless, no cleaning, no maintenance, materials can be bought all over the world. Compared with steel character coding, there is no need to manually replace the characters, and compared with inkjet printers, there is no need to clean the nozzle and add thinner.
• Drying time: instant dry
• Adhesion rate: The adhesion rate of the coding machine is lower than that of the inkjet printer, it is recommended to use high-quality ribbon.
• Failure rate and maintenance: basically no failure and no maintenance, no need to clean the inkjet printer every day, don’t worry about nozzle blockage and other problems
• Cost: machine cost and consumable costs are lower than an inkjet printer
• Speed: 30~40M/min can be continuous or intermittent, according to customer conditions
• Application fields: instant food, candy, bread, cold fresh food (frozen dumplings), frozen food, fresh vegetables, wet wipes, solid powder (milk powder), and any other flexible packaging industry.