Plastic cards come in various sizes, thickness, and make. Learn about the differences and what best suits your needs in this article.
Card Materials
For the most part our cards are 100% PVC which is the cheapest card stock. Blank PVC cards that are used in ID Card Printers have a clear, glossy PVC laminate on the top and bottom of the cards and are optically inspected to give you clean, scratch-free surfaces for optimum print quality and extended print-head life. PVC cards provide moderate durability but can become brittle in cold weather.
PVC/Polyester blend cards (Ultracards/Composite Cards) provide maximum durability and print quality. They have the same clear PVC laminate on the top and bottom of the white PVC as the normal cards do, but a layer of strong, heat-resistant polyester inside fortifies them. These cards are required with some thermal overlaminate printers. The rule of thumb is, the more polyester in a card, the more durable the card will be and the card will function in cold weather or extreme temperatures.
Card Dimensions
CR 80 - 2.12" x 3.375" (54 mm x 85.6 mm) This is the standard Credit Card size. This is 99.9% of what we do. Every printer in the industry is set up to work with this size card.
CR 90 - 2.37" x 3.63" (60 mm x 92 mm)
CR100 - 2.63" x 3.88" (67 mm x 98.5 mm) Fargo has some printers designed to work with this size of a card. This is mainly used for military purposes and temporary event badging where a larger scale badge is necessary.
We only print on standard CR80 cards, which is your standard credit card size. For Full color cards we can process orders less than 1000 qty. anything over that is out sourced.
Card Thicknesses
Cards come in thicknesses from 10 mil to 60 mil. Thickness affects costs, shipping weight and the room it takes up in the wallet of the user. The vast majority of our business is conducted with 30 mil cards, which is like your Visa or Bank Card. The description mil has no relation to millimetres, in fact it is an industry term related to the Imperial Measurement system. A 30 mil card is .030 of an inch.
