An ID printer (commonly known as an Identification Badge printer) is a machine that simply creates identification badges. ID printers offer a wide range of security benefits to associations, firms and government entities. Most ID printers on the market today have lamination, magnetic encoding and dual printing capabilities. Identification card printers can also include an RFID chips for extra protection and security benefits. ID printers are used for creating access cards, secured identification cards, school or educational identification cards, payment gateway cards and even visitor identification cards. The most common id printers are single side id printers, dual side id printers, lamination id printers and magnetic encoding id printers.
Identification printers also use a special software to create id badges before printing takes place. Without ID badge software, identification printing doesn’t work.
The standard cards that are used in conjunction with an id printer are 85.60 x 53.98 mm. While some ID printers use other sizes, most id printers today can adjust to variable card sizes.
single sided ID printers
The majority of all single side (one sided) id printers are used for creating mass amounts of identification badges. Because of that fact that only one side of the card is actually printed, high-volume id productions are usually done with single side identification printers. Most id printers sold today are single side id printers. Single side id printers often can be upgraded or reconfigured to become a dual-sided id printer.
Dual Sided ID Printers
A dual sided id printer is nearly identical to a single side id printer, with the exception that a dual sided id printer allow for both sides of an id card to be printed simultaneously. Most dual side id printers are slower than a standard single side id printer; however, dual sided id printers can save time and money by allowing 2 prints instead of one (id badges usually have both sides printed for security reasons, and a dual side printer allows for one run instead of two runs per card).
Lamination ID Printers
Lamination id printers can be found as either single or dual side id printers. These types of id printers offer an extra layer of security (literally). By using a lamination id printer with overlaminate film, you can easily add durability and longevity to your identification cards.
Magnetic Encoding ID Printers
Usually found as an add on to your id printer configuration, magnetic encoding id printers offer the flexibility of creating universal access and payment id cards during the id printing process.