Introduction
to Thermal Transfer Printing
Thermal
transfer wide format printers are like giant wax transfer
printer, a variant of desktop dye sublimation printers sold
also by Kodak
and Seiko
Instruments. The Sprinter from Matan is such a printer.
I would guess that the cost for the coloring is high and
the printers themselves seem to be in the $150,000 range.
But you can get a SummaChrome thermal transfer printer from
Summa for under $20,000.
Thermal
transfer should not be confused with thermal printheads
such as Hewlett-Packard
or Encad
(Lexmark) thermal printheads.
Thermal
transfer printers are rarely shown at trade shows. We don't
see them often at sign shops either. Yet people ask about
them, wondering whether such a large format thermal transfer
printer would be good for their sign shop. Thus we are in
the process of preparing reports on the various kinds of
sign printers, for indoor use, solvent ink printers for
outdoor use, and thermal transfer printers.
For
additional information and for help making your decision,
ask for the "FLAAR report on signs, posters, banners"
(specify whether for indoor signs or outdoor signs in
the rain and sun) or for the FLAAR report on "Piezo
vs Thermal printheads, fact vs fiction, pros and cons
of each kind of inkjet printhead."
