DIRECT THERMAL OR THERMAL TRANSFER LABELS
“In a nut shell…. (or in my case a tortoise shell)..”
A Thermal Transfer Printer uses a ribbon – this gets transferred onto the label or tag by heat. Also, apart from the customary black print, you can also print with a coloured ribbon. How cool’s that ?
A Direct Thermal Printer doesn’t use a ribbon – think ‘old skool’ fax machines. So the paper (or Polyprop) needs to be activated.
The word ‘activated’ to me – usually gets associated with software on a PC. However, it does help me remember which printer to use for my label.
Softwearing – Direct Thermal
Labels have shorter shelf-life and over period of time the labels will darken, mainly when the surface gets scratched, or is exposed to sunlight and heat.
Hardwearing – Thermal Transfer
Labels have longer shelf-life and if correct ribbon used, can withstand some pretty serious conditions, environments and temperatures.
So if I’ve got my Thermal Transfer shell on…..
Can print my labels or tags on loads of different materials – papers and films.
Information will remain on for a decent period of time and remain pretty legible even under certain conditions – especially important for some barcoding
Colour ribbons enable me to print in colour – although there is a limit to the range of colours. Alas, no ‘checking in with trends’.
Great for small barcodes on small labels – asset tracking, security etc..
“And if I’ve got my Direct Thermal shell on….”
Perfect for large volume printing – straight in and out the door sort of stuff
Labels not requiring a long-life – shipping, food industry etc
No need for a ribbon – so saves time on having to change the ribbon
Our Products
ST10 is a very viable option when a competitively priced ribbon is required. The beauty of this grade is it doesn’t make any compromise on quality and printing performance. It provides excellent blackness, outstanding print quality for barcodes and text.
Allows printing on numerous types of labelling materials such as uncoated and coated thermal transfer paper, several synthetics etc. As this ribbon is so versitile we urge you to test a sample on your material.
ST20 is a ribbon, predominantly suited to typical label printing where good mechanical resistance is necessary. As a wax enhanced resin you get great printing quality, with very high smudge resistance. Ideal for standard and ladder barcodes, very small text, large characters and logos.
Allows printing on numerous types of labelling materials such as semi-gloss/coated thermal transfer paper, and most synthetics.
ST30 is a very viable option when a competitively priced resin ribbon is required. The beauty of this grade is it doesn’t make any compromise to quality and printing performance.ST30 matches all you’d expect, and more from a typical Resin application.
Allows printing on most synthetic materials and coated boards, coated tag stock and papers, several synthetics – Polyester, Polypropylene, Polyethylene, Vinyl, VOID, Ultra-Destructible. It is also tamper evident
ST40 is a resin ribbon for flat head printers. It is designed for printing care label and standard label
media with resistance to washing, dry cleaning, ironing and steam pressing. It will withstand the
harshest industrial environments. Resists Petrol.
Approved for direct food contact.
ST50 is a wax resin ribbon predominately used for printing directly onto flexible packaging.
This ribbon for packaging is used at very high speeds to produce batch numbers and date codes mainly for food sector, but can be found in other industries – Engineering to name but one.
It offers great smudge resistance as well as heat resistance.
ST60 is a wash care coloured resin ribbon for flat head printers. It is designed for printing care label and standard label
media with resistance to washing, dry cleaning, ironing and steam pressing.
It will withstand the harshest industrial environments. Resists Petrol.
Approved for direct food contact
ST70 is a speciality resin based ribbon for flat head printers. It is designed especially for care labels and is compatible with RFID technology.
Allows printing on Nylon, Polyester and Satin. It is resistant to normal wear of clothes as it has good colour fastness in water, and dry cleaning fluid.It is also resistant to bleach, ironing and UV light.
We sell a variety of labels available on a roll. These include STFR fire retardant labels for use in the aviation and automotive industries, STX iron on labels and STPE Polyester labels. Polyester Labels are 3M Material with a High-Tack adhesive covering a vast range of applications.STDT Direct thermal labels, which are perfect for large volume printing for labels that don’t require a long shelf life. We also have STTT Thermal Transfer labels which are great for small barcodes for asset tracking or security.