Have a plastic card printer that you use to print ID cards of exceptional print quality? If so, you’d want to make sure that you’re properly maintaining your plastic card printer to ensure that it’s both in good condition and will last for a good period of time.
Here, we’ve got five tips to help you ensure that your plastic card printer is well-maintained.
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1. Clean It Properly
One of the main things that you’ve got to do to ensure that your plastic card printer is nice and clean, is to run a cleaning cycle each time you reach the end of the card printer ribbon. It’s important that you do so as a buildup of dirt can reduce overall print quality – resulting in faulty plastic cards.
In addition, if you don’t regularly clean your card printer, you also run the risk of damaging it and causing print defects to your badges and cards. Some examples of defects that you might encounter include white lines across the plastic.
2. Print On Plastic Cards That Are Clean
Avoid printing on plastic cards that are dusty, greasy or scratched as it can cause a buildup of dirt in your printer. While plastic card printers might have a cleaning roller that can clear loose dust off the surface of the cards, it won’t be able to remove any grime that’s stuck on your cards.
Other than dusty and dirty cards, you’ll also want to be careful with your fingerprints as it can cause a reduction in print durability. To keep your cards clean, keep them within their package until you’re ready to use them. When you handle them, it’s best to handle them by the edges or to handle them with clean gloves.
3. Print In A Clean Area
Make sure that the area around your plastic clean printer is clean as any dust could end up on your card’s surfaces. Make sure that you’re regularly dusting and cleaning the area around your printer and keeping it nice and tidy.
4. Update Your Printer’s Firmware
Manufacturers will release firmware updates every couple of months or so for plastic card printers – especially if you’ve got one of the latest models. Make sure that you’re updating your plastic card printers with the latest firmware updates as it helps to prevent software issues and optimise performance.
If you’ve noticed that your plastic card printer is malfunctioning more than usual, check to see if there’s a printer firmware update that you can proceed with.
5. Fixing A Broken Printer Ribbon
If you’ve noticed that your printer ribbon has snapped or torn, you can use some sticky tape to repair it. Otherwise, there are some other ways that you can go about fixing a broken printer ribbon.
Properly Maintaining Your Plastic Card Printer
Maintaining your plastic card printer doesn’t have to be difficult. As long as you follow the five steps mentioned above, you should be able to ensure that your plastic card printer lasts for a decent period of time with no problems at all. Most importantly, your plastic card printer will continue to print high-quality cards that look great.
