Most thermal sublimation printers are used for label printing, bar-code printing, details for product packaging, and much more. The demand for the reproduction of the thermal printers have increased in this day and age as most of them are highly sought after and patronized most especially by business-manufacturers and office suppliers.

Types of Thermal Sublimation Printers

The two main classifications of thermal printers are broken down into the thermal transfer and the direct thermal. It is so much easier to find the perfect thermal printer when these two are studied carefully and thoroughly.

Direct Thermal Printing or Thermal Printing

The direct Thermal Printing is the process that uses digital printing in which it produces printed images. That is brought about by the heating of the thermal paper or the thermo chromic paper whenever the paper passes above the thermal print head. Direct Thermal Printing may verily be one of the fastest and most accurate when it comes to printing. Nevertheless, it does run quietly and are usually much lighter and smaller. For those who are just starting out on their retail business or others such as that, the direct thermal is very ideal. It does not consume a lot of space and it is much more practical as it tends to consume less power and energy. Contrastingly to the Thermal Transfer, the Direct Thermal is not disposed to heat or sunlight. It is not so prone to abuse or friction as much as the thermal transfer is. The weak spot of this one, however, is the fact that it is only allowed to print in black. Meaning to say, even the photos you print with it has either the black and white or the white and black.

Thermal Transfer Printing

Thermal Transfer Printing or the digital printing process is the one that melts the coating of a ribbon in order to keep the material glued while the print is applied. There is a type of thermal printer known as the color thermal printer. It produces color images which are a result of sticking the wax-based ink into the paper. However, the quality of the photos it produces may not be as advanced as those seen on laser printers or inkjet printers. Even if it is quite reliable, it is rarely used as full-page printers but then again they are used by several companies as an industrial label printer. In comparison to the direct thermal printers, the thermal transfer is a bit noisy. What’s great about the thermal transfer is it uses multiple ribbons which mean different hues. That also means that the photos are not only limited into black and whites. Flexibility is the strong feature of the thermal transfer printers as it can print on film, or foil substrates and even on paper. Labels are actually required to be printed using a variety of different substrates. Thermal printers tend to offer a much longer shelf life of more than a year. There are also the two kinds of ink used for this one such as the sublimation printer and the wax-transfer printer. The sublimation printer basically uses the process of separating the dye of the ink film from the recording sheet. On the other hand, the wax-transfer printer softens first the ink of ink film and after that transfers it directly to the recording sheet.

Some Examples of Thermal Sublimation Printers

When it comes to the kinds and different brands under the thermal sublimation printers, they are numerous. The distinctive styles they have as well as the extra features are what make them different just like the form and functionality.

Fujifilm ASK-4000 Thermal Photo Printer

The Fujifilm ASK-4000 Thermal Photo Printer is the one that is widely used by professional photographers as it is easy to use and provides the photos needed at that very instant. The photos it tends to produce are really beautiful and natural-looking.

HP USB Single Station Thermal Printer

This one is ideal for single station thermal receipt environments as it is productive but does not take too much of the desk space. However, there is nothing too special about its performance as it has just the typical function.

Canon Selphy CP900 Compact Photo Printer

Now for those looking for a really high-end printer that can produce photos which are of believable quality, this one will not disappoint. Not only is it portable and lightweight for something that has that function, thus, it also has the very modern Wi-Fi connectivity. There are tons of printers out and these are just examples of them, when buying, never take for granted the power of knowing and understanding even the littlest detail. That way, you will understand efficiently and not be robbed of your money unknowingly.