Printers & Systems

Can I Use a Single-sided Printer to Make Dual-sided Cards?

Although we at ID Wholesaler strongly recommend that you do not print double-sided ID cards on a single-sided printer, it Single-sided vs. Dual-sided ID Cardsis possible. The main reasons why we do not advocate printing onto both sides of an ID card with a single-sided ID card printer boil down to two major considerations. The first is that can take a lot longer to create your cards, and the second is the potential for a damaged printhead is greater. Let's boil things down even further:
  • After printing on the front side of the card, you will have to manually flip the card to print onto the surface of the back side of the card. If you’re printing multiple cards, this process can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
  • When manually flipping the cards to print the back side of each card, you will have to touch the surface of the card. In doing so, the card may become contaminated by oils from your hands or airborne dust if cards are left out. If a card is unclean, the ribbon may not be applied properly or it could cause damage to the printer’s printhead. It’s important that you exercise caution if you’re flipping the cards in this way, because buying a brand new printhead is very costly!
  • A lot of applications have double-sided cards that feature color on the front and black text only on the back. Using the standard color ribbon (YMCKO) to print black text only on the back is a waste of the printer ribbon. For dual-sided printers, there is a special ribbon (YMCKOK) that will print a color front and black only on the back.  The YMCKOK ribbon does not work in a single-sided printer.
Flipping cards is a labor-intensive process that can pretty easily cause harm to your printer. Duplex printing will save you time and money, and your ID cards will undoubtedly look more professional. If you need help choosing a dual-sided ID card printer or finding an upgrade to dual-sided printing, call a friendly, knowledgeable ID Professional today at (800) 321-4405. We love helping our customers!
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