Printing barcodes
There are various types of on-demand barcode printing equipment, and the choice and descriptions can be very technical and confusing. Remember please do contact us for free barcode advice.
What types of on-demand barcode printers are available?
The first three are used by dedicated barcode printing equipment and the last two by general purpose printing devices that may also be used for barcode printing.
Need to know acceptable colour combinations for printing? Click here to download a PDF colour chart.
Direct thermal
Advantages:
- Simpler to load labels than to deal with ribbons and toner
- Create good quality barcodes
- Tend to produce consistently good quality symbols
Disadvantages:
- Wear and tear on print heads - individual elements can burnout due to direct contact with paper surfaces
- If equipment is setup incorrectly, problems with the print head will cause low quality symbols to be produced
- Cost involved in maintaining and repairing the print head
- The printer is dedicated to label printing only
- The labels always remain heat sensitive
Thermal Transfer
Advantages:
- Printers are fast and quiet
- The print heads last longer than with direct thermal printers
- Can be small and economical for low-volume applications
Disadvantages
- Incorrectly setup equipment, and problems with the print head and ribbons will cause low quality symbols to be produced
- In addition to labels, the printer consumes one-pass ribbons
Industrial ink jet
Advantages:
- Ink Jet printers can be used for other tasks
- Low running cost and coloured inks are often available at reasonable cost
- There are a wide range of ink jet printers available allowing non contact coding onto virtually any surface
- provide online flexibility and reduces setup time
- Use of generic cases could reduce packaging cost and inventory
Disadvantages:
- Due to the complexity of the printing process more attention to the quality and detail needs to be given
- Incorrectly setup equipment, and problems with the print head and ribbons will cause low quality symbols to be produced
Dot matrix
Advantages:
- Economical choice where speed and quality is not an issue/where impact printing is necessary
- The printer can be used for other tasks
Disadvantages:
- The printed images will be of low resolution (low print quality) and therefore barcodes will need to be larger to ensure readability
- Printers generally slow and noisy
- Ink ribbons may need to be replaced often to avoid substandard barcodes.
Laser Printer
Advantages:
- Good for printing sheets of labels at a time rather than continuous dispensing of labels
- The printer can be used for other tasks
- Economical for short production runs
Disadvantages:
- The heat may cause problems with specialist labels
- Uneconomical to print single barcodes
- Potential problems with labels peeling off and getting caught inside the printer.
