Home Pad printing Choosing a pad printing machine The working principle of the pad printing machine Two-color pad printing machine GPK 2002 Dvobojna dugačka štampa Additional equipment Production of steel and polymer clichés Flaming lines Raw materials Clichés Polymer Steel Gallery Grafima 2008 Grafima 2009 Grafima 2010 Sajam 2011 Contact
FAQ Choose the right cliché Basic overview of pad printing process Choosing a pad printing machine Principles of pad printing What is pad printing

Principles of pad printing

The transition to pad printing, better known as pad printing, is an "indirect offset engraving" of the printing process that is directly related to the process invented several hundred years ago in Europe.

The basic elements of the process in pad printing are:

  • Clichés
  • The color
  • Pad (silicone rubber for printing)
  • Knife or closed container with paint
  • The machine

The image to be printed is on a cliché, which was obtained by chemical etching in the process of production. The type of cliché is usually steel or photopolymer materials.

Pad printing inks contain solvents (thinner). Evaporation of the solvent from the paint is the main mechanism that allows the process to function. When the paint is in the part of the etched image (engraving) in the cliché, the solvent causes the surface of the paint to become sticky. The appropriate shape of the tampon is such that when pressure is applied to the cliché, the surface of the tampon covers the surface of the cliché, then the tampon comes into contact with a thin sticky surface of paint on the cliché. The paint sticks to the tampon, then the tampon rises from the cliché and the color from the engraved part of the cliché remains on it.

As the tampon moves toward the object to be printed, the solvent continues to evaporate from the ink on the tampon and the outer surface of the ink becomes sticky. As the pad makes contact with the object to which the imprint is transferred, the surface on the pad on which the image is placed is painted over the entire object on which it is printed and the adhesive surface is glued to the object itself. The tampon is then lifted and removed from the object on which the image remained. While this is happening, the engraved part of the plate is filled with ink, and the tampon is returned to pick up another image from the cliché.

A whole range of things will affect the print quality process. The depth of etching, the condition of the paint, the environmental conditions, the shape of the tampon, the treatment of the surface on which it is printed, the hardness and speed of the machine are key factors.

DIVISION OF THE SYSTEM ACCORDING TO PAINT STORAGE

Conventional pad printing machines are divided into three parts.

  1. "Open system" where the color is exposed to the direct influence of the atmosphere either behind or around the cliché.
  2. The "closed system" of paint is inverted in a closed container and the open side is in direct contact with the cliché. The fact that the paint is in a closed container prevents the solvent from evaporating and can be used for a longer period of time without prior cleaning.
  3. "Rotary system" where a rotary (round) type of tampon is used in combination with a cylindrical steel plate. The paint is kept as in an open system or in a closed chamber rather than in an inverted closed container.

EXAMPLE PAD PRINTING