Label printers differ that from ordinary printers, as it requires feeding mechanisms for dealing with rolled stock, fanfold stock etc. The printers are widely used for ‘retail’ price marking, for the blood and laboratory specimen marking as well as managing the fixed assets, ‘supply chain’ management etc. How a Label Printer Function? Thermal printing, impact and laser mechanisms are generally used in all the ‘label printers’. On the basis of the printing mechanism involved, the label printers may be of various kinds such as follows: ‘Direct Thermal’ Printers: The ‘direct thermal label’ printers use the ‘heat-sensitive’ paper. Direct thermal labels fade and are short-lived for a time period of half a year to about a year when they are exposed to the direct sunlight, heat and chemical vapor. Direct thermal labels can be used as shipping labels. ‘Thermal Transfer’ Printers: The ‘thermal transfer’ label printers use heat for the transfer of the ink from the ribbon onto the labels for the permanent printing. Some ‘thermal transfer’ printers can be used for the purpose of ‘direct thermal’ printing. ‘PVC’ vinyl material prolongs the longevity of the ‘label life’ in pipe markers. The Various Kinds of Label Printers Desktop Printer: The ‘desktop’ label printers are designed to be used for medium-duty and light use only. They are cost-effective and function silently. They use the 4″-wide stock roll. Industrial Printer: The ‘industrial’ label printers are ‘heavy-duty’ printers that are widely used in factories, warehouses as well as the distribution centers. They make use of the hard case and are handheld. They are used for electrical installations, construction sites and for electrical installations in production floors. RFID Readers: The RFID readers are special kinds of the ‘label printers’ which can print and encode on RFID transponders. RFID tags need printed information that is needed for ‘backward compatibility’ with barcode systems to help the humans in identifying tags. Personal Printer: The ‘personal’ label printers are called the ‘label markers’. These are designed for the ‘home office’ and small business. As they cost less, businessmen of the small businesses buy them. They need the special tapes like thermal for printing. The thermal paper that is used in the thermal label printers is quite expensive. Label Printer Applicators: The ‘label printer applicators’ are designed for automating the process of labelling. These systems are used widely in the warehousing and the manufacturing facilities that need pallets and cases for labelling for shipping. Labelling Software: The software operates on the general personal computer, which is designed for creating the ‘format labels’ for printing. The ‘software’ makes use of the native operating system printer drivers or the embed drivers bypassing OS ‘print subsystem’. You can use the ‘dedicated’ label printers or the continuous or the sheet labels in the ‘general-purpose’ computer printers. Picking the suitable label printer could seem to be a difficult task, but with the right knowledge you can zero in on the right label printer according to your requirement.
