How does pad printing work

When exploring your pad printing options , make sure to find a partner who not only listens to your unique decorating challenge — but has the expertise to create a customized solution optimized for your specific needs.

Our team is composed of seasoned professionals that understand production needs from the ground up. The average experience of our lab technicians is over 30 years. We have seen it all and understand how to create the best solution for your unique application. All , Blog. What Is Pad Printing? How Does Pad Printing Work? Pad Printing Equipment Pad Printing systems can provide highly durable product decoration at high speeds with great precision.

Additionally, supporting or ancillary equipment is available to streamline the printing process. Printers Printing operations are generally high volume, attempting to maximize throughput to ensure that production goals are met.

Supporting Equipment To best meet the needs of each unique application, a variety of ancillary products can be used. Automation Pad printers can be used on their own, independent from other systems. Markets Industries that frequently use pad printing for product decoration or indication include: Medical Equipment Medical equipment often requires extremely precise indication marking.

Automotive Industry Motor vehicles are complex pieces of machinery that require extensive labeling and decoration before the finished product is assembled. Consumer Appliances Large and small appliances alike require decoration.

Sporting Goods Brand recognition plays a major role in the sporting goods market. There is a unique system from microPrint that features a viscosity control system inside their sealed cup. The viscomatic is an optional system for microPrint machines which has a Teflon coated propeller that is mounted inside the sealed cup. This propeller is directly driven by a motor that feeds back torque information to the on-board PLC. As the torque increases as the ink thickens from loss of solvents the PLC senses this increased drag on the motor and signals an integrated micro pump to open its valve and pump a programmable amount of thinner into the cup.

So the inks viscosity is constantly being checked, monitored and properly maintained through-out the production run. The viscomatic is able to run single component inks for many successive days and two component inks pot life can be greatly extended.

The viscomatic is the only system on the market that offers this care free approach to the pad printing process. Since one component inks do not typically have a pot life, pad printing with these type of inks is rather easy in comparison to Two component ink systems described below , since one component inks can be utilized for a longer period of time.

If extremely high mechanical and chemical resistance of the printed ink is required, it is recommended to use a two component ink system ink plus hardener. These 2 component ink systems are suited to print thermosetting plastics melamine, polyester, etc. Polyethylene and Polypropylene and a variety of metal, glass and ceramic substrates. It is necessary to note that the final durability and resistance of a two component ink is reached after full cure has taken place.

Cure times range from 24 to 72 hours. One "problem" in working with two component inks is the shorter pot life, which is limited according to ink and hardener type between 6 and 12 hours. Since the expiring pot life of the mixture is predictable, two component inks are widely used in industrial pad printing applications.

The best printing viscosity is subject to various factors such as hardness of the pad, size of the printed image and the type and nature porous or non-porous of the printing substrate. Compared with screen printing, the theoretical ink lay down in pad printing is much less and inks that are formulated for screen printing applications are not suited for pad printing due to their lack of opacity in the ink. A true pad printing inks will have nearly 4 times the pigment content that a screen printing ink has.

The color selection is absolutely comparable to screen printing inks and virtually any color shade can be produced PMS or to a color chip. Many pad printed items, such as advertising specialty items and children's toys are subject to certain laws in the USA and Europe, that describe exactly the demands of the printed ink found on the product.

Most specifically the EEC regulation EN 71, part 3, for the printing of toys and similar items must be observed. Some ink shades have to be modified from their standard pigmentation to meet these strict requirements. As already mentioned, the most widely used pads are made of silicone rubber.

During the pick up of the ink film from the plate, the actual printing zone of the pad is carrying out a rolling motion as it is being compressed onto the printing plate. This rolling motion allows the air above the ink film to be pressed aside. If the air cannot escape regularly, air spaces or "trapped" air remains between the apex of the silicone pad and the ink film that was picked up.

This trapped air will cause a print defect that is visible as so called pin holes in the printed material. One cause of pin hole defects is the dilution over thinning of the ink. Hence, the imperfect pin holed image was already picked up from the plate incorrectly. As already mentioned, pad printing is as versatile as screen printing, since nearly all known substrates can be printed with both printing processes.

Plastics, Glass, Ceramics, Metals such as steel and Aluminum, Paper and lacquer coated surfaces, to name a few. The recommended surface tension is 38 dyne per cm. While there are key differences between pad printing and screen printing both boast great advantages, which is why they are the two most popular printing methods used today.

For more information about pad printing equipment and consumables, feel free to get in touch. Order Today! Need a Pad Printing Service? Pad printing The name gives a big clue to how pad printing works. Pros and cons of pad printing One of the main advantages of using pad printing is that you can use it to print on three dimensional surfaces and products of all shapes and sizes.

Screen printing The process of screen printing involves creating an ink-blocking stencil and applying it to a woven mesh. Pad Printing vs. Extremely fine detail and tight multicolor registration are readily achievable with pad printing.

One of the main advantages of pad printing is that it can print on some of the most unprintable products imaginable. The silicone pad adapts to the shape of the part so it can easily print on surfaces that are uneven, convex, concaved and cylindrical. This method is also good for delicate products that would likely break using other methods of printing such as screen printing. It also provides intricate detailing on smaller surfaces such as barcodes, logos, and labels. Depending on the ink type , pad printing can also be used on products that need high resistance against abrasion or chemicals.

Pad printing is also great for multi-color printing without the need for immediate drying. While the science of the process is in the pad, the art of the process lies in matching the right pad size, shape, and durometer with the right surface to provide best results.

It can take years of experience to develop the skill to choose the correct pad for each project.