How to choose the right pad printer
We are a big printing company in Shenzhen China . We offer all book publications, hardcover book printing, papercover book printing, hardcover notebook, sprial book printing, saddle stiching book printing, booklet printing,packaging box, calendars, all kinds of PVC, product brochures, notes, Children's book, stickers, all kinds of special paper color printing products, game cardand so on.
For more information please visit
http://www.joyful-printing.com. ENG only
http://www.joyful-printing.net
http://www.joyful-printing.org
email: info@joyful-printing.net
Pad printing is a very simple printing process that transfers a graphic on a steel gravure or photographic intaglio to a substrate by means of a silicone rubber-made pad. Pad printing can be used for printing on flat surfaces or various shaped articles such as glassware, plastic products, metal products, clocks, and electronic and optical products. Its main feature is that it can print irregular irregular concave and convex surfaces, which is difficult or impossible to accomplish by other printing methods, and can be easily completed by pad printing, and can realize multi-color beautiful printing. This is an ideal way to print on the surface of instruments, equipment and some small products. In addition, the printing is stable and continuous, and even if printing for a long time, the printing accuracy does not change, and the drying process is omitted, and continuous multi-color printing is possible.
The printing machine mainly consists of monochrome, two-color, four-color, six-color and eight-color in terms of color; it is divided into manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic, etc., and there is also a CTP system. The pad printing machine further increases the degree of automation. Here, the main pad printing machine on the market is analyzed mainly from the overall structure of the pad printing machine and some local key components.
Main pad type
1. Manual pad printing machine
The structure of this type of pad printing machine is the simplest. Some people think that this type of machine should disappear in the market. In fact, many high-end watches and other equipment panels have been printed with such pad printing machines. Of course, such machines generally do not appear in large printing companies, but in many small workshops. The shortcomings are very obvious. For example, the production efficiency is low. Once the printing volume is large, it is difficult to ensure the consistency of all the printed materials. However, the operation is simple and the investment is small, so it is still very active in the market.
2. Open type ink tank pad printing machine
The printing head can be moved up, down, left and right, and there is a pad printing plate underneath, the ink in the ink tank is scraped into the steel plate by the upper squeegee device, and the printing head is in contact with the steel plate to inject the ink. This design is simple and widely used in large-volume pad printing machines.
3. Closed oil raft system
This system was once considered a versatile pad printing design and has been used by a Swiss watch company for 35 years. The ink is contained in a closed oil pan, and the oil pan can be moved in parallel to supply ink to the steel plate. When the oil sputum is directly above the steel plate, the ink can flow to the graphic portion of the steel plate, and when the oil sputum leaves, the squeegee ring on the oil squeegee scrapes off the ink of the non-image portion.
4. Round transformation printing machine
This structure is derived from the design of the gravure and is more suitable for printing rolls or continuous single sheets. The machine is mainly composed of pad printing plate, ink tank and pad printing silicone roller. The roller type steel plate is immersed in the ink tank. When printing, the steel plate rotates clockwise, the upper ink is scraped and scraped off; When the hour hand rotates, it is pressed against the steel plate cylinder, so that the ink on the steel plate is transferred to the pad printing roller; finally, the pad printing roller contacts the substrate to transfer the ink.
5. Hybrid pad printing machine
The machine was originally designed for ceramic printing and uses a combination of pad printing and screen printing. Instead of using a pad printing plate, the ink is screen printed onto the underlying silicone coating, after which the pad is brought into contact with the silicone layer, the ink is removed, and the ink is finally printed onto the substrate. This structure combines many of the advantages of screen printing and pad printing, such as printing a lot of surfaces that cannot be done by screen printing (such as hyperboloids), and the ink selectivity is stronger than screen printing.
6. Satellite
This type of pad printing machine is a multi-color printing machine designed on a rotating plane. It is controlled by a central cam and can reach 750 rpm. If it prints four colors per hour, it can be up to 250. This machine is suitable for small and medium sized machines. Print volume.
The machine is mainly composed of two rotating platforms and central control components. One platform places the substrate and the other plate prints the plate. This type of machine is more suitable for companies that mainly take out orders, because these jobs are relatively small in volume and multi-color. It is more cost-effective to use this model.
7. Pad printing machine with CTP system
In the field of printing, CTP is not new. It has been widely used in offset printing and flexographic printing. Even in the field of screen printing, the popularity of CTP can be seen. But for the field of printing, the application of the CTP system has just begun. The CTP system is used in gravure pad printing to ensure that users can obtain digital image files and laser-produce high-quality gravure pad printing without the use of film, exposure equipment and chemicals. Automated upgrades, increased productivity, cost savings and high fidelity image quality make gravure pad printing a clear lead over other existing platemaking technologies. Of course, this investment is the first consideration for many users.
Other Accessories
From the structural aspect, the main structure of the pad printing machine in the domestic and foreign markets is simply analyzed. When purchasing, it is necessary to consider the contents of the printing, the characteristics of the substrate, the printing quantity, etc., first select the most reasonable model. In addition, you should also consider whether the pad printer supplier provides the following accessories, of course, many accessories are selected by the customer.
1. Is there a pad cleaning device?
The automatic cleaning device of the printing head can conveniently and quickly clean the printing head, so that the ink transmission is more accurate, which saves the producer a lot of time. Of course, the device is not a necessity, and it is generally an accessory in a high-grade machine.
2. Is there an ink pump?
This device is mainly suitable for applications where the ink type and color are rarely changed. In this case, a large amount of ink is stored in the ink pool, and the ink pump can be used to transfer the ink from the ink pool to the ink fountain of the printing press, or to return the unused ink to the ink pool.
3. Is there a blower?
Since the printing mainly uses the principle of ink viscosity change to complete the ink transfer, the ink viscosity change is caused by the evaporation of the solvent in the ink. Therefore, if there is a compressed air device or a blowing device, the evaporation of the ink solvent can be better accelerated.
4. Is there an online detection device?
The on-line inspection device can check the small changes in the printed matter in real time and feed back to the control personnel of the printing press in time, which greatly reduces the burden on the operator and improves the printing quality. The prices of these devices are declining, and most CD printing companies use online inspection devices.
When purchasing a pad printing machine, there are many problems to be considered. This paper focuses on analyzing the principle and characteristics of various models from the aspect of machine structure. Customers can compare and analyze according to the characteristics of the printing. Of course, the selection of printing press must consider the brand, price and other aspects, this article does not involve, this needs to negotiate with the printing machine supplier, and analyze and compare, and finally make the right choice.