Direct Thermal Or Thermal Transfer Label Printers? Which Is Ideal For Your Business Needs?

Do you know the differences between direct thermal label printers  & thermal transfer label printers? What type will fit your needs best? Many of the current models are dual mode printers. This means they have the ability to print both thermal transfer labels and direct thermal labels. If your needs lean more towards just the direct thermal printing, you might want to buy a true direct thermal printer instead of a dual mode type.

Direct Thermal Printer Or Thermal Transfer Printer?

In order to determine what is going to work best for you, it is necessary to ask some questions about your needs for now and for the future.

• Do you need just black & white printing or will you be printing colored labels.
• Will labels need to be scanned or is there a shelf-life of at least 1 year?
• Are you printing high density bar codes (i.e. limited space)?
• Are the labels going to be used on products that are in the heat or sunlight?
• Are the labels going to be subjected to abuse or surface friction?
• Are there a variety of different printing materials (i.e. papers, films and foils)?

Yes answers to any of the questions above would indicate consideration of using a thermal transfer system instead of a direct thermal system.

Thermal Transfer Printers Capabilities

Thermal transfer means using heat to transfer a variety of colors to a variety of materials such as foil, paper or types of film material. This produces very clear and long lasting labels that are going on products that require labeling to be readable for extended time frames. With the vast choices of materials available to use with thermal transfer printing, it allows manufacturers to customize their labels to fit their businesses. Matching the label stock and printing ribbon is absolutely imperative to get the best quality and performance of the finished product.

Direct Thermal Printers Capabilities

Direct thermal printers is similar to thermal transfer printers, but eliminate the need for a  transfer ribbon. It is limited in color options to black. Special, preprinted direct thermal paper offers color options but the print quality is greatly reduced. Labels darken with age and that processed is advanced with heat and sunlight factored in. A true direct thermal label printer can increase print head durability when it has a print head made from a thicker glass. Direct thermal printing applications are most used in food labeling. Not subjected to lots of heat and sunlight and averaging less than a year on shelf life, this type of labeling process serves the food industry well. It is also cost effective because of lower overall cost and easy media changeovers associated with not using a ribbon.

Should You Use A Direct Thermal Printer or Thermal Transfer Printer? Lets Look At The Facts!

Direct Thermal Printing	Thermal Transfer Printing
Labels print only in black, preprinted with special thermo chromatic ink	Labels can be printed in various colors
Labels have a shelf life of 1 year or less	Labels have a shelf-life of over 1 year
Labels not subjected to sunlight or heat	Labels are open to heat or sunlight
Labels will not be subjected to friction or abuse	Labels are exposed to abuse or surface friction
Examples: Shipping Labels, Library Date Due Labels	Examples: UL Recognized  Labels for Outdoor Use, Shelf Marking Labels, Product Labels
	Labels contain high density bar codes (i.e. limited space)
	Labels have to be printed on varying materials such as foils, paper etc.

Which Model Printer Will Work Best For You?

When you determine what method of printing is best for your company then it is important to determine label usage and other things such as:

What is the label usage per day? Will your label usage exceed 500 labels per day? Consider using an industrial printer. If label usage is a few hundred a day, it would be more feasible to set up a small table-top printer.

What is the maximum label width and length? Minimum label width and length is another important factor to decide on? With varying capabilities of printers, you want to know what will work for you. Some printers can handle wide width labels, and you wouldn’t want to spend the money on something that is too big for your needs. Some customers may require extra-large labels, so a wide-web printer may be the option that works best. Extra-long label lengths often require the installation of memory cards in the printer.

What’s printed on the labels? Are you printing graphics, and/or very high density bar-codes, or tiny fonts? If so, then high resolution printers are great considerations.

How do we want to connect the printer? Are you going to use a USB cord, parallel, serial, wireless, or an Ethernet connection? For several printers, an Ethernet connection is often the better choice, since each printer on the network has its own IP address.

Is the printer connected to your PC? Remote system (stand-alone) are efficient choices for this type of printing application. This would utilize a keypad, and optional battery pack. Label formats are created on a PC and loaded into the printer's memory. Formats are then recalled and labels can be printed from any location. Variable information can be entered into the keypad at print time, & the time/date can be stamped with a real-time clock feature, automatically. Some of these systems include label software.

Whichever printer you decide is best for your business, getting it right is important. Labels Fort Worth has been in Fort Worth for many years. We are happy to consult with our customers to help them get the right label printing applications for their businesses.