3: Theory of OperationCard Printing Basics

P1061942-001 Zebra ZXP Series 1 Card Printer Service Manual 79

Printing Technologies and Ribbons

There are two types of printing technology used in the ZXP Series 1 Card Printer: DyeSublimation and Thermal Transfer. The technology to use is determined by the type of dyeor ink on the ribbon.

Monochrome Ribbons have a single color ink on the length of the ribbon. The printer isprogrammed to use Thermal Transfer printing for monochrome ribbons.

Multi-Panel Ribbons have a repeating sequence of panels of different dye. Zebra ZXP Series 1True Colours® ix Series Ribbons have a smart chip built into the supply spool; the smart chipidentifies the ribbon type and panel count. (Note that the lack of a smart chip will beinterpreted by the Printer as being a Monochrome Ribbon.) Printing with a Multi-PanelRibbon requires multiple passes of the card under the Printhead, once per panel.

Ribbon IDContact

Smart ChipContact

80 Zebra ZXP Series 1 Card Printer Service Manual P1061942-001

3: Theory of OperationCard Printing Basics

A YMCKO ribbon has successive panels as follows:

Other ribbons are available for the Printer; see the Supplies List on the Driver andDocumentation CD that came with your printer, or go to the Zebra Card Printer Solutionswebsite at http://www.zebra.com.

Additionally, the driver software allows the user to specify which ribbon panels are printed oneither side of the card.

The ribbon synchronizes to its �starting� position whenever the Lid is opened and then closed.For a YMCKOK ribbon, the starting position is with the leading edge of a Yellow Panel at thePrinthead location.

Ribbon Movement From Supply Spool

Yellow(“Y”)Dye

Cyan(“C”)Dye

Magenta(“M”)Dye

Black(“K”)Resin

Overlay(“O”)

Varnish

Dye Sublimation Printing Process Thermal Transfer Printing Process

(YMCKOPattern

Repeats)

3: Theory of OperationCard Printing Basics

P1061942-001 Zebra ZXP Series 1 Card Printer Service Manual 81

The following figure shows how the ribbon and card move relative to each other during theprinting process.

Printhead atFixed Position 1. Ribbon Moves

Yellow Panel intoPosition at Printhead

2. Card is Fed to PrintingPosition Under thePrinthead

3. Card and Ribbon Move Togetheras Yellow Panel is Printed

4. Card and Ribbon Stop atEnd of Yellow Panel

5. Ribbon is Stationary; Card isMoved Back to Printing Position

6. Card and Ribbon Move Togetheras Magenta Panel is Printed

82 Zebra ZXP Series 1 Card Printer Service Manual P1061942-001

3: Theory of OperationCard Printing Basics

Dye Sublimation Printing

In Dye Sublimation Printing, each Printhead heating element is applied voltage at one of anumber of pulse widths. A wider pulse results in the element getting hotter, which convertsmore of the dye (at that pixel location) to a gas and diffuses it into the surface of the card (awider pulse gives more intense color at that pixel). This is repeated for each of the dye panels(i.e., Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan), to result in full-color images.

Thermal Transfer Printing

In Thermal Transfer, voltage is either applied or not applied to each Printhead printingelement. If voltage is applied, the ink at that location is transferred to the surface of the card.

Each pixel is either printed (i.e., the ink transferred to the card) or not; there are nointermediate levels.

Thermal Transfer printing with a resin ribbon is used for printing bar codes, since contrastbetween the light and dark areas is the highest and the edges are the sharpest.

Printhead

Platen Roller

RibbonCarrierLayer

RibbonDyeLayer

Card

Gaseous Dyeis Absorbed byCard

Printhead

Platen Roller

RibbonCarrierLayer

RibbonInk Layer

Card

Ink Transferredto Surface ofCard