Re-Transfer Printing Technology

ReTransfer Printing is an amazing technology that allows you to print FULL COLOR, FULL BLEED IMAGES in perfect color without the pitfalls of traditional dye sublimation card printing.

Traditional "dye sub" card printing requires that the print head of the card printer print directly onto the card material through the printer ribbon. This process is efficient, inexpensive and allows the card printer to move the material directly under the print head for printing.

This method of printing always leaves a very thin white border around the card as the print head cannot adequately print completely out to the edge of the card without risking serious damage to the print head. Depending upon the printer this can leave a "border" of up to 1/32nd of an inch around the edge of the card.

ReTransfer printers have two consumable components:

The first is the Printer Ribbon: This ribbon comes in YMCK (Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black Resin) format and is used to print all of the images on your card by mixing these colors in a Dye Sublimation process.

The Second component is the Transfer Film. Rather than printing directly on the card itself, the ReTransfer printer prints a reverse image on the laminate transfer film and then bonds this material to the face of the card. Since the ReTransfer Film is slightly larger than the size of a standard CR-80 card it is possible to print over the entire surface area of the PVC card without the pesky white border that is required on all other dye sublimation printers.

Additional advantages of the ReTransfer process:

Durability of Card is substantially improved by bonding the substrate film with the card material. The ReTransfer process encapsulates the printed image within a bond of extremely durable material and increases the card life substantially. Additional security overlays may be adhered on top of the bonding film to increase durability and improve security. Custom secure holographic overlays are available for use with the ReTransfer printers sold by Smart Card Supply.

Cost savings are seen in the reduced wear and tear on the print heads. Since the printer is printing on a substrate material (film) that is very thin and strong there is less wear on the print head because there is very little variation in size or texture on the surface area of the film. Since the film is a standard thickness the print head does not have to move to accommodate thickness variations in the cards.

Consistency of Printing is a result of the process that prints directly on the transfer film. Each print is extremely high quality and there is little variation in the print quality because of the way that the film and ribbons are loaded into the printing chamber. Once the film has the reverse image embedded, it is then laminated to the PVC material. In a traditional printer there are several variables that affect the print quality including card size variations, edge smoothness, foreign material on the card surface, ribbon tightness and as the ribbon is used there is a tendency of the ribbons to stretch or move slightly out of alignment. This is not the case with ReTransfer printing as this process is very tightly controlled.