id badge ID Badge Printers and NFC cards - is Direct-to-card printing really that risky?

[itskdog]

Hi all,

 

We have had an NBS Javelin DNA card printer that we've used for many moons now (let's just say I joined in 2018 and it was already in use then), but the ribbons keep getting cut when printing and the company doesn't seem to exist any more (or at least their website is dead) and I'm fed up with taping it back together every time a new member of staff starts, so we're looking at a replacement.

 

Everything I've come across is saying "Do not use Direct-to-card (DTC) printers if there's any circuitry in the card (Chip, NFC, etc.) or the printer will get damaged, you must use a Retransfer one instead.", and yet encoders for those technologies are available for many brands of printer that I've seen recommended on threads here.

 

Is this just scaremongering to make us pay more or should we be worried? Retransfer printers are like 3x the price of a DTC printer (£649 for an Evolis Zenius 2 vs £1,745 for a HID Fargo HDP5000 at Digital ID) - the cheaper ribbon doesn't offset it for us as we only print occasionally when a new member of staff joins or someone loses their card or leaves it next to their microwave at home, and there's lots of budget pressure at the moment, with every penny spent being scrutinised.

Edited November 28, 2025 by itskdog

[3s-gtech]

I've made thousands of cards with RFID chips through our IDP Smart 50. Only thing that has damaged the printer was a stuck cleaning strip; the cards are fine.

[DalekSec]

Just now, 3s-gtech said:

I've made thousands of cards with RFID chips through our IDP Smart 50. Only thing that has damaged the printer was a stuck cleaning strip; the cards are fine.

 

This, we've printed 500+ without any issues, using MIFARE EV3 Cards

[Rob_D]

We've been printing Mifare using DTC printers for over 15 years without any major issues.

 

[itskdog]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies and experiences!

 

Sounds like the "uneven surface" claim might be a bit of a scare tactic, then? 

 

DigitalID (which I've seen recommended as a reseller on here in past threads) mention it routinely on any page about ID card printers, even including a "are you printing on a plain card or an access control card" question when you first start looking at printers (the latter taking you to their Retransfer page) and they even link to this rather detailed article they made on the DTC listing stating in no uncertain terms that DTC printers should not be used with access control cards, and my Google-fu only brought other websites (plus the AI Overview) agreeing with them.

[Sirbendy]

Not sure if ours is DTC, but it's very new.  We've done a heck of a lot of cards on it this last few days, all MiFare stuff.

 

I've had one card that I binned due to weirdness in the chip action.  And for all I know, that chip was FUBAR to start with.

 

 

[andy_b]

There does seem to have been a push (especially from Digital ID) in the last two years or so away from printing on cards with chips.  So much so that I fell out with my new account manager over it.

 

We have printed 1000's of cards on our IDP Smart 50 and for the most part had no problems.  We did have a batch of Paxton cards around Covid times that seemed to be poor quality.  The chips were clearly visible and the printing didn't adhere at all (wasted / returned quite a few packs of cards).  But since then, business as usual.

 

We have several schools using Magicard Pronto - and none have reported printing problems with them either.

[DrBeaker]

Using 3x different badge printers over the many years...never ONCE had an issue with printing on cards/chips that wasn't user error by the admin/IT or other issue.