Thermal POS Printer operates entirely without ink. An inkjet printer works by moving a printer head from side to side, plotting out the paper and "jetting" ink onto the appropriate location. Thermal printing works by heating the paper in an area, producing black on the heated point. You can think of a Thermal POS Printer as developing certain areas of the label paper, similar to the way black and white film is developed using the exposure of light to a specific area.

Design

Thermal POS Printer have several components. Platens are rubber rolling pins which feed the thermal paper into the printer. Springs push the thermal head into contact with the thermal paper. Chief among these components is the thermal head. The thermal head on a Thermal POS Printer is much like an inkjet's head, except the thermal head heats up instead of spraying ink. Measurements for resolution are given in DPI (dots per inch), and higher resolution prints are achieved using a thermal print head with more closely clustered heating elements. Each "dot" heats to a certain temperature and is placed on the paper, creating the exposure.

Application

Thermal printing is a far superior alternative as far as label printing is concerned. But how does thermal printing work? Let's take a look. Thermal POS Printer require a special type of paper for the exposure to take. Thermal paper is treated with a specific thermochromic chemical which changes color when it is heated. Thermochromic chemicals have many interesting applications, though thermal printing is among the most common. Thermochromic materials also allow for different colors to be produced depending on the temperature of the element introduced. Though most Thermal POS Printer heat to one temperature, resulting in a black exposure, some Thermal POS Printer heat elements to different temperatures on the thermal head. This can result in a variety of colors, though the most common are black and red.

Result

As the thermochromic paper is fed into the machine via the platens, the print head heats to the requisite temperature and presses down onto the individual label, developing the barcode or selected image on the label. Once a single label has been created, the paper feeds more through and the process is repeated. Imagine a hand stamp being placed dozens of times a second as paper is fed through beneath it. The thermal printing process is the same.

When I purchased my first 10500-2001-0000 Zebra printer, its functioning was something of a mystery. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with any technology you currently have, or plan to have, in your office. It helps you diagnose potential problems with that technology. Though the specific construction of individual Thermal POS Printer varies from model to model, the basic mechanism remains the same from desktop models to very large industrial models. The only difference is speed, capacity, and performance.

Related Reading:

Thermal receipt Printer          Thermal Label printer
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