Card Printing Basics: Choosing a Card Printer

A walkthrough of how plastic card printing works and what to weigh when you choose a printer.

What decides the right printer

The best card printer depends on the cards you want to make. The video explains direct-to-card printing, where dye from a color ribbon is heated into the top layer of a PVC card, and shows the streaks a low-end direct-to-card printer can leave when it is asked to print heavy, dark backgrounds. Lightening the image in the printer settings reduces the problem, and direct-to-card cards always keep a thin white border.

For the sharpest graphics, dark backgrounds and no border, the answer is a retransfer (high-definition) printer, which prints onto a clear film first and then transfers the image to the card. It is slower, and the image quality is the best you can get. Options such as dual-sided printing, magnetic stripe or smart card encoding, and lamination add to the cost of any printer.

It also covers two points that still trip up first-time buyers. Your card design software, not the printer, does the design work, so check what software comes with the printer. And a single-sided printer can still make two-sided cards if you turn the card over and print the back.

The short version

• Direct-to-card suits most badges, and retransfer suits dark, full-bleed designs.
• Design software is separate from the printer.
• Options like dual-sided printing, encoding and lamination raise the price.
• A single-sided printer can print both sides by hand.

Recorded in 2015. The prices and Windows versions mentioned in the video are out of date, so call us for current pricing and compatibility. The printing basics have not changed.