You bought a plastic card printer, and have been printing your own membership cards or ID cards for a while now, but you have noticed that maybe a colour is starting to stick, or it’s making a slightly squeaky noise when it gets towards the end of the run. This is where a cleaning kit or replacement part could come in useful.
Some accessories for card printers include cleaning pens – which allow you to clean dust particles from the print head, thereby prolonging the life of your printer.
There are also alcohol cleaning cards available which clean the print heads too, but run through automatically.
If you are finding horizontal lines on your prints, you probably need to replace the print head, and these are usually available separately, to save you the cost of buying a whole new printer.
Other accessories include a ribbon cartridge assembly kit, to prevent fingerprints on the ribbon.
There’s also the option of the Ultrasecure MagiCard which allows you to apply a customer-unique security code across the face of the card. This uses a flash key inserted into the printer.
Hopefully using the right accessories will mean that your card printers last longer and produce better results.
There are increasingly important plastic cards on us all the time. Especially with the introduction of the new national identity cards, the contents of our wallets are more valuable than ever.
We could have any number of identity cards (for work, or national), a driver’s licence, national insurance number card, credit or debit card, E111 health card and many other cards with personal information on.
There are ways of keeping some plastic cards safer, or more secure – particularly if you have them in your pocket or in the bottom of your bag.
Badge holders can usually be clipped onto clothing, bags or even other badge holders.
There are rigid badge holders which are made of plastic, which is either coloured or clear. Your plastic card will slide into the card holder and, depending on choice, will either display both sides or one side of your card. These are available in portrait and landscape and have a range of different slots ad holes for clips or lanyards to be attached.
PVC holders are a little more like plastic wallets. They do the same job as rigid ones but are always transparent. Your card slots in and will be protected against minor scratches and splashes. PVC card holders are also available landscape or portrait.
Buying a plastic card printer may seem like an unnecessary expense, especially when you have to buy plastic cards, lanyards, card holders and printer software as well. That’s why there are ID Card Systems available.
These are a bit like bundles, whereby you get all of the different pieces of equipment and it works out far cheaper than buying them individually.
One such bundle includes:
• 1 x ImageBase (Lite Version) Software
• 300 x Plain White PVC Cards
• 1 x K3 Colour Plastic Card Printer
• 1 x YMCKO Ribbon (250 prints)
• 1 x Webcam
• 1 x Professional card design
This means that each card ends up costing less than 25 pence to produce. This works out far cheaper than ordering them to be printed for you, and means that you have complete control over the process. You can choose your own card design, or use one supplied. There’s even a webcam to take photographs for the cards.
These can be used to print out staff ID cards as well as loyalty cards, membership cards or discount cards. You could even use them for other purposes, like greetings cards.
For companies who need to use ID or membership cards, there’s no doubt that buying your own software and equipment is an extremely cost effective option.
Investing in ID card software allows you to design the cards exactly how you want, which is great, as different companies have very different needs. However, when you’re buying an ID card printer you need to think about the design of the cards and the sure that the printer is fully compatible and fit for purpose. This is why you need to bear a few things in mind when buying one.
Single or dual sided
You can now buy both single and dual sided printers, so think about what you want from your ID cards before making a decision. If your cards are very simple in design, a single sided printer may suffice. However, if the cards are more complex, opt for a dual sided model.
Image quality
This is of extreme importance if your cards need to feature a photo, as they will need to be as clear as possible for security purposes.
Security features
Think about whether you need additional security features on your cards, such as barcodes and magnetic strips, as different ID card printers offer different options.
With just a little thought, you can find the perfect ID card printer for your needs.
Membership cards have been an essential part of everyday life for many years now, and it’s not just larger organisations that use them. These cards are used for a number of different purposes, and come in different styles- from standard cards to those containing barcodes and magnetic strips.
If your organisation outsources the production of membership cards, you could be spending a lot more money than is necessary. By buying the equipment necessary for the production of cards (i.e. card design software and a card printer), you can save those all important pennies, in addition to benefiting in other ways.
Save time
If you outsource the production of your cards, you may have to wait a short while before the finished products are delivered to you. This is not ideal if you need the cards quickly.
Save money
If you have hundreds or thousands of members, with new members regularly joining, getting your cards producing by an external company could be extremely expensive- especially if they charge for delivery. By producing your own, your costs could be slashed considerably.
Full design control
By investing in ID card software, you can design your cards exactly how you like- without having to pay extra for additional features.
Make your own membership cards and reap the rewards.
Many different companies and organisations use membership cards- from libraries to social clubs to gyms, and they are vital for recognising legitimate members, ensuring a high level of security and preventing unauthorised access to buildings and services.
Whatever the purpose of your membership cards, you’ll want to make sure that those who own one are proud to display them in their purse or wallet! Nobody wants to pull an old fashioned or unattractive card, so you need to make sure they’re attractive yet still fit for purpose.
Many companies choose to outsource the production of their membership cards, although this can pose several problems. Firstly, you’re likely to be spending lots of money, and if new members regularly sign up, it doesn’t take long for costs to start to get out of control.
Another disadvantage of outsourcing the production of membership cards is that they might not turn out looking how you want them too- meaning that you could also end up wasting money.
However, by investing in ID card software and a printer, you can take full control of the process yourself and design your cards exactly the way that you want them. By making your membership cards yourself, you also don’t have to wait for an external company to produce and deliver your cards.
Make your own membership cards and give your members cards to be proud of.
With all the palaver over missing documents, and laptops left on the bus and leaked information, staff ID cards are far more important than they ever have been.
Business security is paramount, and with the media quick to jump on any security mishap from any company – no matter how small – it is certainly worth the extra money to ensure that security is tight at your workplace.
Staff ID cards can be used just for spot checks, to make sure that everybody has them on any given day, as well as being shown as people enter the building for the fire safety sheet.
They can have photographs on them, to ensure that the person carrying the card is the person it belongs to. This is more important in larger businesses where there are 100+ employees, as it can be difficult for any receptionist or other employee to keep track of each new starter.
Identity cards can also be used for access control, as they can contain electronic data (through a magnetic stripe, a microchip or even the MiFare system) which will automatically permit or deny them access when swiped or scanned through a reader by any external door to the building.
Sometimes having members of your club or group can cause more hassle than it seems to be worth. Each person has their own membership package, and their own contact details as well as health specifications, maybe even dietary requirements. Each person is likely to have a different renewal date, and you can be sure that some people have signed up for 12 months, and others for six.
With all this information on sheets of paper, there could be a form for each of the above requirements. So if you have 100 members, that’s already at least 700 pieces of paper. However, if you use an automated system, you can have all of this information with just one electronic form per person.
Although it’ll take a while to copy all of the information onto the system, once it’s there it’ll be so easy to change and update information and details, and you won’t ever have a piece of paper filed under the wrong spelling of a name again.
Having this kind of system opens the way for electronic membership cards too. This way your members can ‘swipe in’ and their details will automatically appear on your screen, maybe with a photograph for identification purposes.
There are fewer holes in the system, and it also means registering and signing in can be much quicker for your members.
Lanyards are handy pieces of material. They are usually about ribbon sized, but made of thicker material. They come looped, and will have some kind of clasp at one point in the loop.
Some lanyards untie so you can thread it through something; some come with key rings on; some with buckles. You can even find lanyards with sophisticated crocodile clasps or popper clasps.
Lanyards come in all sorts of colours and styles and can usually attach to just about anything (depending on the type of clip).
If you have a key ring attachment, you can treat this onto a cord in your wallet, and then hook it onto a belt buckle before putting your wallet in your pocket. That way, nobody will be able to pinch your wallet, and you won’t be able to walk out of a shop having left it on the counter.
Also, if your wallet is on a lanyard, your credit cards, membership cards and shop loyalty cards will be very easy to get at quickly; you just pull on the lanyard and your wallet will be in your hand.
You can also attach your phone or camera to a lanyard, so you can keep track of them too.
