Process	Pad printing
	Pad printing is a decorating method for irregular shapes, and for those shapes which cannot be easily printed by silk screen (e.g. double round surfaces). Pads receive ink from a printing station and apply colour to a particular area. Automatic methods, with several pads in series (transfer pad printing), can achieve cheap multicolour decoration. Manual machines are used for low production volumes. In this case multicolour prints are obtained through different steps which involve a set-up of the machine.
Danish Name	Tampon tryk
Category	Surface treatments, Printing
Typical products	Cup Glass frame Lighter
Competing processes	Silk screen
References	D & C Serigrafi Tamponcolor GmbH Willumsen A/S
Price notes	Price for one colour printing. For two colour printing the operational cost is double, and so on. Operational costs [DKK/part*colour]: 0.30/0.60 (automatic/manual, small parts); 1,5 (not labellable products); 6/12 (automatic/manual, large parts).
	DKK/part*color 5 parts 500 10000 Small (bottles 50-100 ml) 230 2.5 0.4 Medium (bottles 500-1000 ml) 230 3 0.5 Large (Thermos) 240 7 3
Price date	November 1996
Additional info	Fixed costs: Cliché about 400 DKK; machines set-up 400 to 1000/1200 DKK (manual/automatic), paid only for production volumes lower than 1000 parts. Automatic machines have common production rates ranging between 1500/4500 parts/h.
Photo	Thomas Nissen (Computer graphics)
Copyright	© 1996-2019 Torben Lenau This page is part of Design inSite Disclaimer