1、 Working principle
Thermal printer
The principle of thermal printer is, A transparent film is coated on a light colored material (usually paper), and the film turns dark after heating for a period of time (usually black or blue). The image is generated by heating to produce a chemical reaction in the film. This chemical reaction is carried out at a certain temperature. High temperature will accelerate this chemical reaction. When the temperature is lower than 60 ℃, the film will take a long time, or even several years, to turn dark; when the temperature is 200 ℃, the reaction will be a little Completed in seconds. The thermal printer selectively heats the determined position of the thermal paper, resulting in the corresponding graphics. Heating is provided by a small electronic heater on the print head in contact with the thermal material. The heaters are arranged in the form of square points or strips, which are logically controlled by the printer. When driven, a graph corresponding to the heating elements is generated on the thermal paper. The same logic circuit that controls the heating element also controls the paper feed, so that graphics can be printed on the whole label or paper.
A common thermal printer uses a fixed print head with a heated dot matrix. The print head is provided with 320 square points, each of which is 0.25mm × 0.25mm。 Using this dot matrix, the printer can print points at any position of thermal paper. This technology has been used in paper printers and label printers.
The principle of self-adhesive printer is to realize printing through two printing methods: thermal transfer printing and thermal sensitive printing. The thermal transfer printing method is aimed at ordinary paper + carbon tape printing, and the thermal printing method is aimed at using only thermal paper (with a special chemical coating) without installing carbon tape for printing.
2、 Characteristics
Thermal printer
Thermal printing has the advantages of high speed, low noise, clear printing and convenient use. However, the thermal printer cannot print double copies directly, and the printed documents cannot be stored for a long time. If good thermal paper is used and kept away from light, it can be stored for ten years. If you do not need to print invoices but other documents, it is recommended to use thermal printing.
1. It can support a wealth of consumables. It can print self-adhesive labels, coated paper, pet labels (Xiao Yinlong), washing marks, hangtags, jewelry labels and other label papers.
2. The printing speed is faster. For example, the Postek industrial printer can now reach 18ips, that is, the printing speed of 457mm per second. Other Postek self-adhesive printers can usually reach at least 6ips (153mm per second). It can be said that the printing speed can fully meet the needs of various users.
3. The definition and fineness are also higher, which is easier to be recognized and read by the data collector. At present, the Zui high printing accuracy on the market is 600dpi. For example, the Postek g6000 model can print and read barcodes with a width of 0.085mm and a text height of 0.7mm.
4. In addition to printing bar codes, self-adhesive printers can also print text, symbols, graphics and other contents.
3、 Use
Thermal printer
Thermal printing technology was early used in fax machines. Its basic principle is to convert the data received by the printer into dot matrix signals, control the heating of thermal units, and heat and develop the thermal coating on thermal paper. Thermal printers have been widely used in POS terminal system, banking system, hospital instruments and other fields. The thermal printer can only use special thermal paper. The thermal paper is coated with a coating that will change color due to chemical reaction in case of heat, which is similar to photosensitive film. However, this coating will change color in case of heat. Using this characteristic of thermal coating, thermal printing technology has emerged.
Self adhesive printer
We can see self-adhesive printers in retail stores, supermarkets, various ticket windows and airport check-in baggage check-in offices. At the same time, we can also see them in the production lines of production workshops in various manufacturing factories, warehouses, various departments of hospitals, blood tests and laboratories. In addition, self-adhesive printers are used in the production of base station cable labels in the communication industry, library library management and various fixed assets management.
Specifically, we can see from three different specifications of self-adhesive printers:
Small commercial self-adhesive printers:
It is mainly designed for the printing needs of enterprises and individual users. It is often compact, fashionable and convenient to use. Commercial printers such as Postek are even designed according to the structure of industrial product standards to separate the user operation area from the printer control area. There are heat dissipation holes at the bottom and side wall of the left side to better dissipate heat during operation and maintain stability for long-time printing. The utility model not only avoids the problem that the stability and durability of the commercial small printer are affected by the heat emission problem, but also can separate the left side of the fuselage for maintenance in case of machine failure. In addition to wired connection, the interface is also equipped with Bluetooth and WiFi functions, which also makes the installation and printing connection more flexible. On the whole, the price of small commercial self-adhesive printers is moderate and cost-effective.
Small industrial self-adhesive printer:
Small industrial self-adhesive printer is a product type between commercial and industrial applications. It is mainly aimed at customers who need to print for a long time, but have low requirements for printing speed and limited budget. The characteristics of small industrial grade self-adhesive printer are: industrial grade structural design, small appearance and volume, supporting long-time printer, and the printing speed is slower than that of industrial grade. For many light manufacturing industries, small industrial printers are a good choice. Postek boside G series, this small industrial printer has been on the market for more than 20 years. It has a good market reputation from stable durability to product quality. 600dpi is one of Zui high printing accuracy self-adhesive printers on the market. G6000 printer in G series is mainly used for printing labels on jewelry labels and fine components.
Industrial self-adhesive printer:
Mainly for factories, assembly lines and other environments with high requirements for printing volume, printing speed and machine stability, they tend to be larger and more durable. Due to the use of high-quality parts, it can print continuously for 24 hours even in harsh industrial environment. Compared with small commercial self-adhesive printers, industrial printers are more abundant in their functions and interfaces. For Postek boside industrial printers, the fixed movement frame is adopted to ensure stability. At the same time, because of the ingenious design, users can also install consumables directly from the side notch, which is very convenient.
Wide bar code printer:
It is mainly aimed at the automobile manufacturing, chemical industry and warehousing and logistics industries that need large label identification. It is characterized by printing ultra wide labels. The general bar code printer Zui is large and the printing width is about 4 inches. In order to meet the needs of users, some manufacturers can provide wide bar code printers with larger printing width, For example, the tw series of Postek boside can expand the Zui large print width to 6 inches and 8 inches.
The application scope of self-adhesive printer is very wide. With the advancement of technology, the adaptability to different industries is becoming higher and higher. However, when choosing, we still need to pay attention to the in-depth understanding of brands and products and try to choose a good brand, so as to ensure the printing quality and improve the after-sales service.
In conclusion, the self-adhesive printer is slightly better than the thermal printer in terms of characteristics and uses. However, the thermal printer is more convenient and has its own use. Therefore, it is unreasonable to discuss which of the two printers is stronger, and the printer suitable for oneself is more important
