Retransfer printing technology uses a two-step process by first printing the color images first onto a thin, clear substratum, then transferring heat to the surface of a PVC, polycarbonate or composite card complete with the printed YMCK image.

The printhead in a retransfer printer never makes contact with the card’s surface, unlike direct-to-card technology.

Thermal Retransfer Card Printer

Simply through their names we are able to tell the main difference between direct card printer and retransfer thermal card printer. The name “retransfer” refers to the transferring of the image from the transfer film onto the cards. The printer actually prints the images onto a clear transfer film, which may appear slightly bigger than the actual cards size. This allows the image to be large enough to completely cover the standard card size creating a 100% coverage leaving no white gaps in between.

The diagram below shows Thermal Retransfer process. The thermal print head does not come into direct contact with the cards.

• The image will be first be transferred onto a clear re-transfer film
• The printed film will then be positioned above the card & with the help of a platen heat roller, it transfers the images from the film directly onto the card.

Since the retransfer printer does not come in direct contact with the cards, it is an ideal choice when it comes to printing onto smart contact/contactless cards. Reason being, these cards often have a slight bump where the chip is embedded and a direct card printer will definitely face many issues. The printhead may not be able to obtain a flat surface since it has to directly come into contact with the card, hence flatness of the surface is crucial in achieving a perfect print.

However, due to budget constraints, customers are still willing to take the risk in getting a direct card printer on contactless cards. In cases like this, we usually assist customers on the layout of their design to rearrange printable images away from the position of the chip as to minimise wastage.

What make us different from others

Whether or not you purchase a direct card printer or a retransfer thermal printer, you will still require a base card for the printers to print on, Smartstripe provides both. We are not only distributors for various card printing brands in Singapore and Malaysia but also run our own card manufacturing plant. This allows us to provide you with everything you need, the printer, the consumables and the card base. This makes things significantly easier on your end as you would only have to deal with one company. Should any problem arise, we are able to solve it indefinitely and pinpoint the problem.

However, if you were to purchase the card printer from Company A and the PVC cards from Company B, if any problems were to arise, both companies would likely point fingers at the other party. This makes solving the problem highly frustrating and tedious for you. Therefore, it is ideal and advisable to purchase both the printer and the cards from the same source, that way if you were to encounter any issues, that single company can take responsibility and advice you accordingly. In short, it is the after sale service that you should evaluate and decide who you should purchase from.

Card Printer Range from Team Nisca Japan

Full Bleed Thermal Retransfer Card Printer – PR-C201
Nisca’s retransfer printing technology allows to print full colour, completely covering all 4 corners of the card if needed. The retransfer process uses dye sublimation to print a high resolution images directly onto a film. The printer will thermally transfer the images onto the card surface via heat & pressure. This printer offers a 600dpi resolution with a speed of 145cards/hour.
To prevent migration issue due to improper care, we strongly suggest a laminator to go along with this retransfer printer.

Nisca Laminator for PR-C201 series
Not only has the L201 laminator been upgraded to a newer body, the price has also dropped slightly and is also claimed to be more reliable. When customers aim to have a longer life span for their ID cards, we strongly encourage them to consider this laminator module. The average lifespan of an ID card is easily 2-3 years or more, presuming that the user handles the card with proper care and uses the approved type of card holders (non-contact version, semi-rigid).

That being said, many companies find it difficult to enforce their staff to use standard issued card holders even when given out for free. To minimise migration issues, especially if users choose to use soft card holders, is to enhance the surface of the card with additional lamination.

Card Printer Range from SwiftPro Japan

Who is SwiftPro?
SwiftPro is a part of the Kanematsu Group located in Japan. They are actually the pioneers in retransfer printing and are the first to launch this technology over 30 years ago.
With more than 30 years under their belt, they have consistently been providing safe and secure ID badge printing solutions to global organisations since 1989. SwiftPro have continued to pioneer disruptive technologies as market leaders in the retransfer printing market.

Full Bleed Thermal Retransfer Card Printer – K30 and K60
As many retransfer card printers in the current market do not manufacture their own printers but instead, collaborate with other manufacturing companies such as SwiftPro to produce OEM version (original equipment manufacturer). This is why all the printers in the market are relatively similar to one another. Japan has 3 different manufacturers producing such printers under their own branding, while USA only has 2 and UK only 1.

Hence, the majority of printers you see are all under OEM which is why you might notice a similar outlook but different branding on each printer with coded consumables that cannot be shared among different brand. The main difference between K30 and K60 is the dpi, each printer prints 300 and 600dpi respectively.

If no micro-text is needed, you can hardly notice the difference between the two. Naturally if budget is not a major concern, it is always better to obtain a printer with high resolution.

Full Bleed Thermal Retransfer Card Printer – K30 and K30D
Main difference between K30 and K30D is the single or double sided printing. Double sided printing will have a mechanism within the printer to automatically flip the cards and print both sides in a single pass. Performance wise, both still offers outstanding print quality of 300dpi with an option to add contact or contactless module inside the printer.

As the K30 printer only prints a single side, the heat might cause the card to bend slightly, hence you can opt for an additional bend remedy module. This module will help bend your cards in the opposite direction balancing it out before exiting the printer. Laminator can be added as option too.

Full Bleed Thermal Retransfer Card Printer – K60
The Swiftpro K60 double-sided retransfer card printer offers a high-resolution of 600 DPI print capability for clear, sharp imagery and even micro printing. This superior print quality provides the perfect solution for businesses across a wide range of sectors that requires high definition printing onto blank white cards.

With contact or contactless smart encoding, the K60 card printer has an additional magnetic stripe encoding technology that allows for greater security. It also comes with a 100 card input/output hopper with the option to upgrade to a 250 card holder should businesses require it.

The outlook of this K60 printer is identical to the one of lower series, K30, but the primary difference is within. All SwiftPro K series allows for an additional laminator module to be added instantly. This laminator allows for both single and double sided lamination.

The images below represent K60 with laminator.