CHAPTER 3
3.2PRINTING
Color imaging requires three passes of Card media underneath the Print Head. Card media shuttles back and forth across the print head during this process. The ribbon feeds between the image head and the card media and during printing advances from its supply to its
Heat, when generated at an image head element, transfers ribbon dye in a measured quantity or fully saturated resin onto the print media. For color printing, the ribbon advances from one color panel to the next between each imaging pass. A card exits a Printer following the last pass. Monochrome printing for a black resin image requires an additional pass, as does the application of a clear overlay varnish.
Printers employ an image head with a single row of 672 print head elements, 300 to the inch (11.8 per millimeter). Notably, the capability for card coverage exceeds the needs of a standard card size by 0.115 inches (2.9mm), or about 34 dots. This excess supports both programmable centering and full bleed imaging. Each element can generate 32 different heat levels for color and a single heat level for resin monochrome and varnish.