The good news is that all is not lost because the printhead can be replaced. However, the cost of replacing the printhead can range in price from $500 to roughly $1500. Want to keep that $500 – 1500 in your pocket?

KEEP YOUR PRINTER CLEAN! Dirty cards are the most common cause of damaged printhead. Next most common is coming in contact with the printhead with a hard object such as a watch or bracelet while changing the printer ribbon so remove these items if possible.

Remember, ASAP recommends cleaning your printer every time you change your ribbon – a small cost compared to that of a new printhead.

If you have any questions about the above, or you have an issue with your printhead, give us a call at (317) 488-1030.

From most printer drivers, you can run a cleaning cycle for your printer using cleaning cards (pre-saturated or sticky-tape).

How to clean your ID printer:

• Feed Rollers: Cleaning kits include cleaning cards that clean your feeder/transport rollers. Run one after each ribbon change.
• Print Head: Cleaning swabs with isopropanol alcohol (IPA) or an approved thermal printhead cleaning pen may be used CAREFULLY on the printhead with each ribbon change.
• Overall maintenance: Depending on use and environment, consider having a more thorough printer cleaning and tune up by our Factory Trained Service Technicians.

ASAP Identification sells cleaning kits for all ID card printers. We also offer a Printer Service for either routine maintenance or repairs. Call us at 1-800-ASAP4ID for pricing.

Now, you have one – XceedID.

XceedID is now offering a 35-bit, 125 kHz proximity card that is completely compatible with HID readers. In addition, it complies with the format of existing Corporate 1000 accounts. That means, Corporate 1000 customers can take advantage of the highly durable XceedID proximity cards with the confidence that XceedID will maintain a duplicate-free, fully tracked set of card numbers.

If you would like to learn more about this exciting new proximity card offering from XceedID, please give us a call at (317) 488-1030.

Ordering these Fargo ribbons might be a little easier if you learned what those letters actually mean. To help with that, these letters mean the following:

• Y – yellow panel
• M – magenta panel
• C – cyan panel
• K – black resin panel
• H – heat seal panel
• F – fluorescing panel
• I – inhibitor panel

Now depending on which of these letters is included in the ribbon name, those letters will tell you exactly what that particular ribbon does. For example, a YMCK ribbon is capable of printing full color cards while also possessing a resin black panel. This enables the YMCK ribbon to also print barcodes or text that requires a crisp black color. Another example is the YMCFK ribbon. This ribbon contains a fluorescing panel that enables you to produce images that are only visible with ultraviolet light. This provides an end user with a cost effective way to include an anti-counterfeiting security measure within each card produced.

Please give us a call at (317) 488-1030 to learn more about our Fargo brand ribbons, as well as about our Evolis, Zebra and Datacard ribbons. We are happy to walk you through the process, and if you decide to stop by our offices, we will give you a bowl of alphabet soup.

So what does Mission Impossible have to do with a visitor badge? We now have visitor badges that self-destruct! Okay, we don’t really. However, we do have some visitor badges that do change once they are no longer valid.

Expiring badges are a great, cost effective option to keep track of visitors. They come in the form of stickers, pre-printed badges and even printable badges. Each one has a front side which is printable/writable and a backside. When the two are combined and given to a visitor at your facility, the badge will slowly begin to expire as the front side disappears and the design on the backside shows through. Once you see the backside, you know that visitor doesn’t have the right to be in the building anymore. The badges are available for ½ days, 1 day, 1 week and 1 month periods.

Give us a call at (317) 488-1030 to learn more about expiring badges and how they can help your company.

We would all love to have someone, or something, around to protect us. Unfortunately, we can’t all have our very own Terminators. However, we can take steps to protect our card printing programs.

There are ID Printers such as the Fargo DTC4500 and the Zebra ZXP Series 8 that can be password protected. As a result, a security code must be entered before someone can use the printer. Other ID printers, such as the Datacard SP75 and the Zebra ZXP Series 3, can be secured to a workstation through the use of a Kensington lock.

ID Printers even have options to keep your card supplies safe. ID Printers can have locking input and output hoppers. This helps prevent theft, particularly of really expensive cards such as proximity or smart cards.

Please give us a call to learn more about the steps you can take to keep you card printing program secure. We can be reached Monday through Friday at (317) 488-1030.

You sit down at your desk with your leftover chicken pot pie, take a big bite and get ready to work (WRONG! Didn’t you read the blog entry from August 15?! You never work with an ID printer while you eat. The grease and the grime will destroy your ID printer. Okay, let’s start over). You sit down at your clean and clear desk and get ready to work. There is just one problem – how are you going to design your ID card?

You can create an ID card using a Windows based program, such as Photoshop or Word. However, if you use an actual ID card program you can streamline the process and save yourself a lot of time in the long run. The most popular ID card software brands are Jolly, Asure ID and CardStudio. Each is very effective, but they have a different look and feel. We would strongly encourage you to download a demo version to get a feel for each. You might prefer one brand over another.

Please give us a call at (317) 488-1030 and we can help you find the right fit for you. We will even share our chicken pot pie recipe, although we make no guarantees that it is any good.

Ignoring the grumbling in your stomach, you proceed to say “not a problem, I can get those done today.” You turn on your printer, enter the necessary information and hit print. Unfortunately, the next sound you hear is the kind of screeching that sends cats and dogs running for cover. Somehow, someway, the printer is broken. The question now is – what do you do?

The simple answer – give us a call. We maintain a variety of printers at our office precisely for this exact situation. Depending on where your offices are located, we can either deliver a loaner printer to you that day or ship you a loaner printer overnight. Either way, you will be able to print those ID badges in time for tomorrow’s afternoon meeting.

At the same time, we can also repair your broken ID printer while you use our loaner printer. This will ensure you are ready to go if any other unexpected badging jobs need to get done. This is a much better deal than going 2-3 weeks without your ID printer!

For more information, please give us a call at 317-488-1030.

Unfortunately, now you aren’t the only one having extra cheese pizza for lunch, so is your ID printer.

ID Printers are most often times damaged by dirt, dust, debris and, even greasy pizza hands. Those things can damage your machine as well as your print head. If your machine goes down, then you may have to replace it. Of course, you might only have to replace the print head. The problem is that most print heads aren’t covered by manufacturers’ warranties if damaged due to lack of proper care and the cost of most print heads starts at nearly $500 dollars. That is one expensive piece of pizza!

So, to answer the question – Don’t Flip! You need to plan ahead and purchase a printer that does everything you need it to do. Your printer will last longer and you will save money in the long run. Please give us a call to learn more about the ID printer options available. You can reach us at (317) 488-1030.

1. It does extend the life of your card.
2. It gives a more finished look to your ID card.
3. It does make your ID card more tamper resistant.

The lamination process is pretty simple. In essence, an additional layer is applied to your ID card once it has been printed. However, not every ID printer is capable of laminating an ID card. So, you need to think about whether or not you might want to have that capability in the future. We can help you figure out whether lamination is necessary for your business. And, if you still aren’t sure, we can always suggest a few printers that can be ungraded in the future. Please give us a call at (317) 488-1030.