Ribbons
Thermal transfer printing is used to create labels with high quality printing and long shelf life - from 3-4 years to 10-15 years. The shelf life depends on the quality and type of consumables.
Thermal transfer printing is carried out on thermal transfer label printers (expensive industrial printers or cheap desktop printers) and for its creation in addition to special paper/labels requires ribbon. Ribbon is a thin film that is wound on a roll that has a special black coating on one side.
There are three basic types of ribbons:
- WAX-coated - The most budget-friendly option, images will fade and burn out over time. It can be used with any Zebra, Godex, etc. thermal transfer label printer, with 203, 300 and 600 DPI print resolutions. Wax-based ribbon is often used when printing on matte or semi-gloss labels. This ink ribbon can be used in almost all areas of industry. Its shelf life is 3 to 4 years;
- with WAX/REZIN coating - medium-cost option, characterized by a higher level of durability and service life of 4-8 years. Wax/resin ribbon can be used for printing on almost all types of labels, due to the significant presence of resins in the ribbon itself. Recommended printing speed is up to 300 mm/s, and the print resolution can be selected from 203 dpi to 600.
- REZIN coated (resin coated) - the most expensive ribbon type, characterized by a high level of durability, the images are hardly subject to erasing and fading, the operation life is 10-15 years. It is used for printing on labels and tags of the following materials: polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polyvinylchloride and nylon, nylon-satin. To get the best result on transferring the information on the label we recommend to print at speed not higher than 250 mm/s and with resolution of thermal head 203 dpi, 300 dpi and 600 DPI. Resin coated labels can withstand high temperature changes, freezing, heating up to 180°C, mechanical damage, acid penetration, etc.
Basic criteria for selecting an ink ribbon.
Ribbon material - WAX and WAX/RESIN for matt and semi-gloss labels, RESIN for polypropylene.
Winding type - Wind Direction. Winding inside or outside. Coated Side In (CSI) and Coated Side Out (CSO). The winding type should be selected according to the specifications of your printer. For example, if you use a Zebra label printer, you should choose out/outside ribbon. And for printers of brand Datamax or Sato - the inside type, in. There are also printers that can print on a universal ribbon winding type.
Length and width of ribbon.
Ribbon is consumed at the same rate as the label, i.e. if you print 20 meters of label roll, you use about 20 meters of ribbon. Also, to calculate the required ribbon length, it is necessary to take into account the line spacing between the labels on the roll, usually 2-5 mm.
The width of the ribbon must be adapted to the width of the label. For maximum printing efficiency it is recommended to choose a ribbon size 5 mm larger than the width of the label. It is possible to print butt to butt.
The ribbon can be wind in different ways, so when selecting a ribbon, pay attention to the maximum winding length of the printer. For example, popular desktop label printers can hold up to 74m, medium and industrial label printers can hold 300m, 450m and 600m.
For more information, please call us at the numbers listed on the website.