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Finished helmet shells are expensive so there is no room for poor printing |
Pad Printing has come a long way from the hand engraved copper plates and gelatine pads of Stoke-on-Trent in the 1960s. Then, you would expect that. To give you an idea of the process, a copper plate was hand engraved with the design. This was mounted on a printing machine featuring a large gelatine printing pad (often over 400mm diameter) that picked up the image from the plate and transferred it to the ceramic ware.
A printed sample was sent back to the engraver who adjusted the engraving depth to give the desired colour intensity. This process was repeated until everyone was happy with the print. The copper plate was then chromium plated to resist the abrasive colours. As the plate wore away it was plated again. Originally, hand engraved plates were used to produce waterslide transfers on release paper. Direct pad printing speeded the application process and removed the need to produce/store paper transfers. The pads, being gelatine, were not the best transfer medium. If humidity increased they became sticky and talcum powder was sprinkled on to aid transfer. As they dried out they became harder, so again, their transfer characteristics changed. Print shops contained many machines, some multi-colour, with the decoration manager holding high status. Those that still exist have changed to silicone rubber pads and steel or photopolymer plates. The sadness is that nearly all the Stoke-on-Trent potteries that lead the world until the1980s are now closed.
Pad printing is far from extinct. In fact it has evolved into a sophisticated process. Applications range from printed electronics to balls printed with cartoon characters. The process' capabilities to print fine detail and complex designs on flat, curved and contoured surfaces opens the way to thousands of different applications. If you wear a watch, drive a car, use a mobile phone, play golf, have injections, use a computer, these and many other activities involve pad printing. Like screen printing, it is everywhere and most people have no idea it exists.
When a surgeon asks for a catheter to put into your unmentionables it is likely the nurse will select the right one thanks to the clear colour coding pad printed using a TPX 301 system from Teca-Print supplied by Kaye-Dee Marking Solutions.
In this demanding application the machine prints seven colours 360 degrees around a medical/catheter component. Machine speeds and pad positions are infinitely adjustable. A pre-programmed length of catheter material is fed through the machine and is manipulated so the correct colour code and part number is printed round the tube's circumference. Inks are specially formulated to be safe and adhere to the catheter material. Just remember many operating theatre items are identified via pad printing.
Moving to a completely different application, Tampoprint has created a machine that is effectively a pad printer without the pad. Sounds mad but it does make sense and uses leading edge technology to print corks! Yes corks. Those policemen of pleasure that hold the lovely liquid in the wine bottle.
What's so clever you may ask?. Well, the corks are fed through the system at a rate of up to 3,500 per hour and roll across a plastic gravure plate or cliché. The image is etched internally on the plastic plate by the machines' own laser unit. The flexible plastic plate material is fed off a roll that will produce 165 different images. The ink is fed automatically and does not have to be cleaned down between images. This means it only costs about £10 in consumables to print 1,000,000 corks. If necessary artwork can be manipulated remotely via the Internet. An aspect that particularly pleased Tampoprint UK (who supplies the machine in several countries) is the development of a suitable ink that would stick to the cork and not taint the wine. Cheers fellas.
At this time of the year more hardy souls practice extreme sports which is fine but it is also an efficient way of expiring permanently. Only an idiot would do snow board tricks or out run avalanches without effective head protection. A British company Ruroc of Gloucester manufactures head protection for extreme sports enthusiasts that uses pad printing as the method of branding and decoration. These helmets are cool, silvered visors, cleared of mist by a controlled air flow as you career like a crazed storm-trooper down the slopes into the arms of a wistful maiden holding a bottle of fine wine from which she has just removed the printed cork. (Your off on one again Peter. Ed).
Ruroc helmets are made from polymers that are light but incredibly tough. Printing on them is possible using specialised inks and equipment from Tosh Italia sold in this country by Tampo Graphic Services. As with the two previous suppliers TGS has vast experience in the pad printing process and specialist applications. For all items produced for this leisure market image is everything, thus top quality printing is essential.
A finished helmet shell is an expensive component so the last thing Ruroc can tolerate is rejects caused by poor printing. The servo driven pad printing machine reduces possible variables to virtually nil. The relatively large moulding is held in a jig with ink transferred from a photopolymer plate. The closed cup system maintains ink condition for extended periods.
A Comec XE Tech 16-20 is a bells and whistles machine that can print complex shapes with a series of multi-colour designs. It has six printing stations with the ability to select one of three different pads. Four stations will print a 145mm diameter image and the two others 185mm diameter. The system is computer controlled and allows up to 50 different print phases in each program.
This equipment suits white goods manufactures with different fascia designs in their range. Supplied in the UK by Inks and More of Stoke on Trent, this machine is installed in over 50 applications worldwide. It is rumoured that it will also make the tea.
If as an economy we manage to restrain ourselves from sending innovative products to the Far East for production we may be able to retain our manufacturing industry and, in the longer term, our standard of living. Alternatively, we can be like those underpaid masses working 12-hours a day, six or seven-days a week, sleeping in dormitories on company premises with only a few days holiday a year. If we do see sense and continue to make products then printing systems such as these will continue to be purchased in the UK. Alternatively we could all become politicians and sit on the gravy train until it runs into the buffers.
How many of your customers have asked about the carbon footprint of your printing service?
