XID

Re-Transfer Printer Family

Technology

One of the key advantages of re-transfer ID card printing technology is increased abrasion resistance - information printed with a re-transfer printer lasts longer! This enhanced wear-protection results from first transferring information to be printed onto a card to the underside of a clear ribbon (the initial dye transfer), then transferring the printed information from that ribbon onto a card in such a manner that the information on the card appears under a protective "release layer" of the clear ribbon (the "re-transfer" step).

The process works like this. In addition to a color YMCK-type ribbon that all dye sublimation direct-to-card printers use,re-transfer printers include a second, clear, polyester-based re-transfer ribbon, often referred to as the re-transfer "film." Instead of transferring dye directly from the YMCK-type ribbon onto a card, which leaves the dyes exposed and prone to wear from ordinary abrasion, re-transfer printers transfer, or sublimate, the dyes onto the clear re-transfer film, then transfer this film to the card.

The sublimation, or dye transference, is accomplished by converting electronic information from a PC (the print job) to heat impulses in the printer's thermal printhead. As tiny points on the thermal printhead are heated, dye is sublimated, or released,from the color ribbon to form pixels of color. This dye transfer process is done for each patch of color on the ribbon - that is, first, all of the required yellow dye is transferred, then all of the required magenta dye, and so on for cyan and carbon black.Various combinations of the dyes yield the full color spectrum, and once a completed card image has been transferred to the clear re-transfer film, the image is re transferred to a card using a heated and specially coated lamination roller.