Plastic Printers – Which one is right for you? Thursday, Apr 16 2009

Plastic ID card printers are becoming easier to use and they contain more options than ever before. The printers are more complicated than an ordinary printer, but they are not difficult to understand. The printer prints a photo id card in full color or single color. The printer can often encode magnetic stripes or other embedded encoding that is needed for organizational processes.
A plastic card printer can come in handy for many reasons. These printers will print employee id cards, student id cards, membership cards and specialized cards. Often groups that obtain these printers will begin offering custom printed cards to other businesses in their area.
Prior to obtaining a card printer, decide which features you need in the printer. Questions to ask include:
How much volume will be printed
Will information be printed on one side or both sides of the card
What quality of badge is needed
Depending on the answers to the above questions, the printer selection will be narrowed to an entry level printer that is reasonable in cost to more expensive, high production and high featured printers.
ID card printer brands to choose from include: Fargo printers, Evolis printers, Magicard printers, Datacard printers and Zebra printers. These brands all have printer models that print single side and dual sided cards. Options with most all printers encode magnetic stripe encoding, proximity card encoding and addition of holograms and lamination options.
When purchasing a printer, you will also need to purchase PVC cards and printer ribbons. If the card will be worn, a slot punch and badge attachments will be needed.