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Jul 27
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Everything You Need to Print Your Own Plastic Cards

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Are you planning to print your own plastic cards or ID cards? There are many different scenarios in which you may need to print your own cards. Maybe you need the cards for school or for a small business you own. Have you been paying another company to print your ID cards for you? If so, then you probably already know how expensive this process can be. It’s also challenging to get the cards printed exactly how you want them. It can be a frustrating process if the cards turn out to be wrong or with even a small mistake. Even if you get the mistakes corrected free of cost, you will have to wait all over again to have them reprinted and mailed out.

If you learn to print your own plastic cards, you can take a great deal of this stress and pressure out of the process. When you print them yourself, you can have direct control over your cards, what they look like, their size and more. If you print one and it doesn’t come out right, you can go immediately back to your machine and just try again.

Card Printer Hardware

Printing ID cards with your own card printer doesn’t have to be difficult. It connects to your computer just like your paper printer and will print out the same way except instead of printing on paper, it prints your image on plastic cards.

If you’re going to print your own plastic cards, there are certain pieces of hardware you’re going to need to do the job correctly. Here is an overview:

Ribbons

Just like your paper printer needs ink ribbons or ink cartridges, so will your card printer. Card printer ribbons are made specifically for printing on cards and will get the job done right so that you can have professional quality cards, printed right in your own home or office.

Laminates

Laminating is very important to protect the card, especially with ID cards or badges that get used on a daily basis. There are different ways of achieving lamination but one of the easiest is purchasing laminates which fit over the cards like sleeves and will protect them and make them last longer.

Cleaning Kits

Proper maintenance is very important to keep your card printer working properly and for a long time. To get the most from your machine, you will want to purchase cleaning kits to keep it operating at top performance.

PVC Cards

You can purchase PVC cards for printing on. There are many different styles, colors and qualities to choose from, but you have freedom in finding the perfect ones for your needs.

These are just a few of the main pieces of card printer hardware you will need for printing your own perfect cards. However, this is not an exhaustive list and there are many other products that can make your job even easier or help you add other touches and details to your printed cards. This includes things such as holograms and more.

Benefits to Printing Your Own Plastic Cards

If you aren’t already convinced that printing your own cards is the way to go, it’s time to consider the cost benefits. Who doesn’t like to save money? So why spend more money that you have to? It just doesn’t make sense. Common sense tells you that if there is a cheaper, better way, you should act on it.

If you’re printing membership cards, ID cards or other plastic cards, printing them yourself can be faster, less expensive and easier once you learn how. Here are some of the benefits to doing it yourself:

-The cost per card is less expensive
-No penalties if you only need a small number of cards at a time
-You can change designs any time you want to
-You don’t have to wait 2-6 weeks for your printed cards to arrive
-You have quality control and can quickly fix any mistakes to your cards
-You have complete control over the printing process and are not limited by a company’s policies

As you can see, the benefits clearly outweigh the cons in a case like this.

Let’s take a look at the numbers:

Full color printing through a company can cost you $0.75 – $2.00
per card and single color printing through a card printing company can cost the same. However, if you print yourself, you’re looking at $0.35 – $0.38 per card for full color printing and $0.07 – $0.08 per card for single color printing. That’s a whopping cost difference!

This is just the per-card cost savings. We haven’t even mentioned what you will save on shipping as well as the fact that you can print as much or as little as you want without any penalties. With many commercial card printing companies, you must have a minimum order (often in the thousands) or you will be charged an additional service fee. What about the person who doesn’t need thousands of cards printed at once?

But as we mentioned, it’s not all about the money. You have the benefit of complete control over your card quality, printing time and any necessary changes.

For the Small Scale Printer

If you tend to need only a small number of cards printed at once then it’s simply not cost effective for you to outsource your printing needs. If you are a small business who needs to print plastic cards for your employees, you won’t benefit from outsourcing your card printing needs either.

When you print the cards yourself with your own plastic card printer, it may take past the first couple of prints to really start to see a good return on investment, but once you do, it will be well worth it. In the long run, you can benefit financially from your own card printer and you can feel satisfied with the professional quality of each card printed.

Jul 12
0

Types of Card Printing Equipment

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People of all walks of life have a real desire for security in their place of work, school and home. Surely that is what you want for yourself and your loved ones. Most persons want more than just a promise of better conditions to come at some indefinite, future time. There are urgent problems of life that face us right now. What is needed is something that provides genuine security from groups or institutions and that will keep doing so in the years to come. Is such security possible? Of course, as it is made under the Plastic Cards Ireland printer.

They engineered card printing equipments into several types based on your practical needs. Different types of it are such as follows:

Datacard® SP25 Plus printer – This Plastic card printer is perfectly made for issuing of retail and loyalty, membership and Identification cards. The Datacard SP25 Plus printer is made for small volume production and can be easily manually directed. This full-color combination or monochrome card printing and rewritable card printing technology is uniquely offered in a competitive and bi-functional design by the Plastic Card Ireland.

Datacard® SP35 Plus card printer – This card printing equipment brings about vivid one sided cards in a vast speed, excellent imaging and simple operation that conveniently ideal for those in the education, healthcare and staffing industries etc. This card printing equipment can produce customized up to 160 full-color cards or 750 one-color cards per hour. The Plastic Cards Ireland is tremendously easy to carry because of its lightness for about nine pounds and portability. This printer is compact and glossy with Advanced Imaging Technology. SP35 can be upgraded anytime by its multiple options and capabilities.

Datacard® SP55 Plus card printer – This printer equipment handles high professional grade card such as for corporate, education, entertainment and other market institutions. This produces larger number of full-color cards assuring the high quality edge to edge image printing with front card loading and unloading for easy placement. Plastic Cards Ireland offers a built-in LCD and discretionary Ethernet connectivity. It can process secured IDs in schools and same with loyalty cards or and VIP cards for casinos. This also provides necessary information such as message prompts, image previews and user online.

SP75 Plus card printer – An ideal for government agencies, high-tech corporations, universities and other security-minded organizations to protect people, facilities and critical assets. The card lamination defends it from tampering. It also has Ultraviolet fluorescent printing capability that comes as a standard feature as well as theft preventing software and Kensington® lock that secures the printer itself. An assurance for colleges, universities and others.

RP90 Plus card printer – This is highly dedicated for government agencies and organizations to implement strict safety and security. It prints high-quality photo IDs with the help of its high-performance in printing for heavy duty applications with exceptional durability and high class cards. Not like other printer, its versatility is extremely different.

These Plastic Card Printers are made to support firms on their business and institutions innovative applications. And only CCS Ireland can provide equipments that best fitted to your needs. They provide plastic card solution that is perfect for a changing market.

Jul 09
0

Offset Printing and Its Scope

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Offset printing is the most popular kind of printing used these days. The offset printing is so common that almost 40 % of the printing jobs are done by the usage of offset printing. The presence of offset printing is almost felt in every industry. It is used in different fields like education where it is used for printing books, journals and the different types of reading material. Its usage is not limited to the field of printing of books but it is also used in the printing of the outer covers of many goods. This offset printing technique is the one technique that has led to the possibility of one of the most important thing which is used in our every day life i.e.; newspapers.

WORKING OF OFFSET PRINTING

The working of offset printing is quite simple. It has three cylinders which transfer the image on to the substrate. The first cylinder is mounted on to the plate. The image is placed or written on the right side up. The first cylinder is placed with the ink and then the image is shifted on to the second cylinder. The second cylinder has a rubber blanket. As the image which was placed in right side position when transferred to the second cylinder is placed in the inverted position. After the image is being transferred from the second cylinder’s blanket to the third cylinder or the substrate cylinder, this substrate cylinder is placed below the third cylinder and this cylinder is popularly known as impression cylinder. Thus the image is once again inverted to the right position. One unique characteristic in the offset printing is that the image and non- image areas are on the same level. The method makes the usage of fact that there should not be mixing of oil and water usage on the same surface level. This technique has been adopted from lithography; hence offset printing is also referred to as litho – offset printing.

There are two main kind of offset presses:

Sheet based offset Printing Press: In sheet based offset printing, single sheets of paper are fed into the press one by one.

Web based offset printing press: In this method the printing is carried on one single sheet of the paper which is available in the form of large rolls. Thus the difference between the two methods is the variation in the form of paper.

As far as the benefits of offset printing are concerned, they can be easily understood by the scope of its presence.

Plasticcardonline is a plastic card factory that provide full color plastic card printing service has same process and quality as credit cards production, exactly like the credit cards.

Jul 06
0

What is Tin-Litho?

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Designs on tin toys of the old days are actually lithographs. Colorful tin toys are more accurately call tin lithograph toys. Tin-litho (as it is frequently known) , however, is actually tin-plated steel. The colorful designs on the toys were applied through a process known as chromolithography. This technique was originally used in the printing industry. A drawing was done on special stones with a grease pencil before the printing ink was applied. When wet, the ink would adhere to the drawing and not the wet stone. The drawing was then printed on paper similar to how a woodcut would be used to print on paper.

In the late 1800s a process of “offset lithography” was used to print designs on tin-plated sheets using a rubber roller. By the 1930s the process was further perfected and machines were used to print designs on fifty tin-plated sheets per minute. This changed the whole toy industry since a wide range of colors was now available to the toy manufacturer. It was the real turning point for tin toy makers. Now they could produce colorful tin toys much more cheaply. With the new process and range of colors, buyers began to see intricate designs printed on the tin creating much more sophisticated toys.

The process moved from Europe to the United States around this time with toys being produced by the likes of Louis Marx and Company, Ohio Art Company, Daisy, Ideal, and American Toy Products. Shortly after this time the Japanese entered the market, supported by the United States, and changed the entire industry.

Jul 02
0

Offset Printing

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When you pick up a magazine or a brochure perhaps with all their vibrant color images and clear text, or choose a product from a catalog, have you ever wondered how these print items were produced?

We know that in every publication there are a number of experts and professionals involved in the creative process – from the planning, to the design, and all the way to writing the content. Whatever is produced from this creative effort, commercial printers usually turn them into printed materials that we see in our mailboxes and on racks.

These printers use different printing methods to come up with the publications we read almost everyday. And one of the most commonly used printing processes is the offset printing.

Offset printing is a printing method that transfers the inked image to a rubber blanket, and then applied to a printing surface such as your paper. Most printing companies use this method to reproduce large volumes of documents like your brochure or catalogs because it is generally less expensive than the other printing processes.

What most commercial printers do is to produce the documents in a computer, print out the drafts, and then use offset printing to generate the final result. The plates on the other hand, are produced from film or high resolution paper output.

This method is so popular because of these things:

1 – Compared to other printing methods, it usually produces high quality image consistently. Compared to letterpress printing, offset printing has sharper and cleaner graphics and pictures precisely because the rubber blanket conforms to the surface the image is being printed.

2 – Although the costs of the equipment and setting it up are quite high, the actual printing process itself is relatively cheap.

3 – Printing plates can be easily made and fast.

4 – Printing plates have longer life span compared to direct lithographic presses because the process avoids direct contact from the plate onto the printing surface.

So what are the kinds of offset printing? There’s the photo offset for one, where light-sensitive chemicals and photographic methods are used to transfer the image and text from its original form to the printing plates.

Then there’s the sheet-fed litho where offset litho printing is applied on single sheets of paper or board. This is generally used to do short runs of magazines, letter headings, brochures, and other general commercial printing.

Basically, offset printing is a very popular commercial printing method especially for high volume jobs because anyone who uses it gets to have quality materials at much lower printing costs.

Charen Smith writes articles about Internet Marketing. She has an extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to business strategies, techniques and business solutions.
Jul 01
0

Options of full color plastic cards Printing

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The simple full color plastic cards is a valuable asset to any businessman or professional. It is your own personal advertisement and calling card. The full color plastic cards is not just for the salesman, however, but also for anyone in business. The full color plastic cards can be printed in various forms in addition to the common black on white full color plastic cards.

Full color plastic cards printing has moved online along with much of the rest of the world of business. You can purchase software that enables you to print your own full color plastic cardss. Full color plastic cards printing has become a popular choice for a home based business.

Among the various types of cards that can be printed are the magnetic cards and plastic cards. Both of these take printing beyond the simple card stock of the past into a new and exciting area. Plastic cards printing is a more expensive process and you can expect to pay more for these exotic cards than normal cards. The plastic card looks very much like a normal card, but the plastic material used for stock yields a card that is durable and flexible. They will long outlast the normal card stock.

Magnetic cards are another option that has grown popular among business men looking for something new and different. The card is printed on plastic stock with a magnetic backing that allows it to be easily hung on the refrigerator or other metallic service.

The folded full color plastic cards is another option. The advantage of the folded card is a much larger message space. In addition to the normal contact information printed on the face of the card, additional details about your business or professional service can be printed on the inside of the fold.

Regardless of the printing method, the stock used, or the size and style, some elements of full color plastic cards printing remain constant. An effective full color plastic cards must contain accurate and complete contact information. This includes name, address, telephone number, and email if appropriate. An effective card also uses some element that makes it stand out among other cards. This can be color, or it can be raised or embossed printing. It might mean a distinctive logo or some eye catching artwork. You are trying to make the card stand out among thousands of other cards, and must take the extra steps to insure that this happens. The printing options available have made it fairly easy to find a way to make your card stand out from the crowd.

Jul 01
0

Durability of the full color plastic cards

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Full colour plastic cards or visiting card is a small piece of paper containing the address, name, e-mail address, contact number of the business or of the individual giving that card. They are the best and cheapest ways for promoting a business or person.

The expenses involve in printing could be discussed with the market advantages they provide. Single color or double colors full colour plastic cards could be printed with in 24 hours, where as multi color one might take more times in printing. This is chiefly due to the pattern of the color and complication in the design format. Generally there are two types of color cards such as Paper postcards and full colour plastic cards. Plastic ones could be transparent, opaque or solid. Transparent plastic card could be tinted or clear and are light weight material. Since the card is transparent in character thus they could be printed merely on one side. They can be square corners, rounded corner, and minimal art work.

Plastic cards can have rounded corners. Since they have round corer they are called as rounded corner full colour plastic cardss and the solid plastic rounded corner cards could be printed on both the side of the card with multi color, high resolution graphic and photographic. A lot of people consider that these plastic cards with rounded corner are more pricey then the usual paper post cards but in fact these cards are more reasonable and could portray a better image. They are more eco friendly because mishandling these cards will not break or damage them and as a result they could be distributed or used for a longer period of time. Paper cards are costly because of the substance used in their making is pricey and they have a shorter life in comparison with the plastic cards with round corner. They can be easily broken or damaged. Hence their life is short.

Jul 01
0

How Printed full color plastic cards Enhance Your Business

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Plastic cards are all about business. They are used for identification and access purposes by the government (from the DOT to your local library), healthcare, office, and industrial environments. Debit and credit cards populate billfolds alongside phone cards and grocery store reward cards. It is safe to say that anyone making a living in today’s fast paced world uses plastic cards of all types to make their lives more efficient. You can help your customers out even more by making these an integral part of your own company model.

There are many reasons to choose full colour plastic cards over paper to enhance your business appeal. Plastic is very durable and with advanced printing technology cards can be turned into colorful works of art. Even simple business cards can be printed on thin plastic stock since they don’t bend and crumple on their way into a wallet like paper cards do. Magnetic stripe cards offer a high degree of versatility because they can be programmed to contain virtually any encoded information you choose.

Plastic is designed to last so it makes sense to create cards that can be used multiple times. Re-loadable gift cards and preferred customer reward cards make sure your company information stays in circulation as long as possible. Frequent customer programs appear much more professional (and therefore more valuable) when data is loaded onto a plastic card rather than hole-punched on a plain paper one. Redeemable cards can easily be designed to feature your enticing offer on the front and a redemption code on the back. You can create these promotional codes to be redeemable online to make it even more cost effective for your customers to choose you over a competitor.

If you have a mailing list of customers, you might print your logo (or your family Christmas portrait) on a card, slap a magnet on the back and send it out. It will become an indispensable refrigerator accessory your clients will see every day. At-a-glance calendars can also fit on a wallet sized plastic card with your company information and web address at the top.

You don’t have to settle for boring or cheap designs if you know where to look for help. Even tiny gradations in blended color can be accurately captured with today’s lithographic printing equipment. This means complex images such as photographs come out looking fantastic. If you need bold and simple graphics in a smaller range of bright colors, thermal transfer printing offers some great options for logos and text.

If you don’t have the cash to invest in this printing equipment you can always have a custom job delivered by a professional plastic card printing company. They can assist you with designing the perfect look for your business. Make sure you are sending your job to a secure facility if you are having sensitive material like IDs printed. Health benefits cards in particular may have high risk information on them if an individual’s social security ID is used as the member number.

Jun 29
0

Corporate Print Buying – Online Solutions

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Compared to traditional methods, using ‘simple to use’ internet applications can deliver cost savings, reduce human error and enable faster delivery of products and services to all parties in the supply chain. For enterprises, marketing agencies and printing companies who need to streamline the print ordering process, web to print solutions are available on every level. In today’s market place, you can choose from fully managed on-line print procurement systems to self hosted solutions that will enable total control of print procurement and application management.

For the corporate print buyer, the first step in moving your print procurement on-line is to list the requirements for your individual business needs. Your existing print suppliers should provide help with identifying these requirements. It is in everyone’s interests to end up with a seamless print procurement process.

One of the biggest obstacles to implementation is the printer’s desire to lock in a customer to their own on-line system, with the customer having the opposing view. It is vital for the print supplier to recognise this fact. Equally, the customer needs to recognise the value that a totally integrated print ordering solution will provide. The advantage to both is that it can cement a relationship for a period of years, leading to stability for the supplier and enhanced service for the customer.

Another challenge is introduced when more than one print supplier is involved. One answer for the corporate would be then to use a print management company or agency. If you’re superhuman and know your printers will collaborate well, you might be able to manage this yourself. The above statements will apply.

Another option is to bring the whole thing in-house. Whether ordering stationery or managing constantly changing marketing collateral, the fundamental benefit is being able to enforce brands and manage document print and distribution. Sometimes, the corporate is the best placed to manage this. Whatever route you choose, successful print ordering implementations are those that involve all people. Those who will be touched by any new processes – internal employees or suppliers – should be part of the planning process. It’s better to do this in the beginning when you are listing your requirements. People’s fears can be addressed as well as outlining the benefits of change.

What’s Possible?

Ordering Versioned Print. Typically, versioned printing is referred to when there is more than one copy of a version of a document or item. But, there may be any number of variations of that document or item. For example, a sales leaflet for a holiday company may have a design which it uses to advertise a range of holidays. However, even though the design and layout is the same, the content could be different for each type of holiday. There may be changes to text, pictures and colours specific for each offer. However, the print quantity for each offer will be more than 1 copy.

Ordering Personalised Print. Personalised printing is referred to when each print copy is unique to the recipient. The individual difference of each one might only be a change of name and mailing address. Or, if it is for 1-to-1 marketing, personalisation could be a complex combination of different text and images. An example might be a postcard advertising a car with an offer personalised to fit the recipient’s profile.

Printing Versioned and Personalised Items. With the very latest Digital Presses, quality is very close to that of Litho. Using real inks, immediate drying and fast delivery of finished personalised print, it isn’t difficult to see why this sector of print is growing. Many organisations are enjoying reduced costs and business growth as a result of implementing targeted print campaigns as part of their overall sales and customer service strategy.

Modern Digital Presses are capable of producing quantities as low as 1. Although technically there isn’t an upper limit on quantity, runs up to about 2000 will remain competitively priced. At this point the higher speeds of Litho Presses will make Litho Printing a more cost effective option.

Combining the latest on-line technology with variable print solutions provide print buyers with maximum advantage. Being able to manage marketing campaigns and short run variable printing from the desktop has never been easier. With the right solution, it is possible to order print 24/7 from anywhere in the world, send files direct to press and have jobs delivered within hours.

Stock Management. For printing where larger quantities are needed, e.g. 10s of 1000s, storage, call-off from stock and re-orders need to be managed in an efficient and cost effective way. The best way to achieve this is by implementing a stock management system, with ordering and administration available via the desktop.

Plasticcardonline is a plastic card factory that provide full color plastic card printing service has same process and quality as credit cards production, exactly like the credit cards.