Design Course
Designing of Plastic Products for Injection Moulding
Manufacturing Methods and Technologies
by
Pad Printing
Pad printing involves the transfer of the ink from a custom designed ink pad to a curved or contoured part using a soft silicone pad. The soft pads are mostly used for textured and irregular shapes. The image which is to be printed is created on the printing plate by chemical etching with a etch depth of 25-30 microns. The etched area is filled with the ink using color rollers. The silicone rubber printing pad picks up the ink from this etched area and transfers it on the curved surface of the plastic part.