The days of looking up the parameters on a job set up sheet and entering them by hand are no more!

In the world of engineering anything is feasible when you really think about it. Engineered Printing Solutions has taken the standard hand held barcode scanner and integrated it into our machines, creating new generation of custom pad printers.

When the barcode scanner option is installed in the printing system, the risk of improper parameters being loaded when changing from one print job to the next is virtually eliminated. All the operator and setup individual has to do in order to load the correct printing parameters is to plug in the hand held barcode scanner and scan the barcode for the product. The system then automatically loads the print parameters for that product.

While this option has been popular with our customers in the medical industry due to stringent process validation requirements; we feel many other industries would benefit from this feature as it requires much less operator and setup involvement in the configuration of the system for the new print job. There by reducing the time required and virtually eliminating parameter errors, thus reducing misprinted parts. If however the operator chooses to manually enter the code they are still able to hook up a keyboard and enter the program information.

Our engineers at Pad Print Machinery of Vermont can install this option into almost any of our machines that are custom built in our Facility. The bar code scanner option can be configured to be compatible with almost all barcodes. At the moment Pad Print of Machinery is using 1st and 2nd barcodes. But our engineers are able to adhere to whatever barcode needs to be read by the product at hand.

For information about Engineered Printing Solutions custom solutions, standard pad printers, industrial digital ink jet, consumables and other auxiliary equipment, visit Ink Adhesion Part 3: Ink Mixing, Contamination, Blooming and Mold Release Agents, email sales@www.epsvt.com or call 1-800-272-7764.

In the world of Pad Printing there are continual possibilities. However with all of the potential, there happen to be certain particulars that we must learn and develop from. The opening rule of thumb when printing on cylindrical items is: it is best suited for an image that covers only ¼ the circumference of the cylinder. Often times the cylinder is hollow, i.e. water bottles, if these cylinders are collapsible under the pressure of the pad it is possible that internal support, e.g.: pressurizing the cylinder or internal mechanical support, may be necessary to minimize collapsing the cylinder and therefore contributing to distorting the image.

The second rule of thumb is going to be: the bigger the machine the better.  The pad needs to be compressed to a point where the outer portions of the image are on the downside of the curve of the cylinder.  This, coupled with a pad that has sufficient meat and print area to transfer the image, are more suited to a machine capable of higher compression force.

Beware of Distortion.

    • The image, when transferred, will tend to stretch as you compress the pad to reach the outer portions.  This is to say, you can have a 5.25″ image etched in the plate but you will end up with a 6″ image when measured on the circumference of the cylinder.
    • Images tend to either smile or frown.  This is more evident when there is “straight” copy at the top or bottom of an image being transferred.

Now when printing on cylindrical items there is a myth that a flatter pad will provide an easier vehicle, due to decreased need for compression, to transfer an image. However a flatter pad, as with most pad printing applications, will nearly always introduce other issues, i.e.: pin holing, to the process and cause distortion. If the image is screened, you are going to find decreased opacity of the image at the outer portions due to stretching. This stretching caused the screen pattern to be more apparent and opens up the “holes” in the screen… decreasing opacity.

For information about Engineered Printing Solutions custom solutions, standard pad printers, industrial digital ink jet, consumables and other auxiliary equipment, visit Ink Adhesion Part 3: Ink Mixing, Contamination, Blooming and Mold Release Agents, email sales@www.epsvt.com or call 1-800-272-7764

For the past three years Engineered Printing Solutions has been utilizing robotics to increase production, lower operator costs and improve the overall decorating process of various parts. The use of robotics has evolved from (a) pick and place systems to (b) SCARA robots loading tooling to (c) 6 axis robots with vision orienting and loading tooling. SCARA robots were then utilized as the actual printing arm with the capability of changing pad styles during the print process. A robot being used as a printing arm has been proven to be the most effective way to print on various three dimensional products that require multiple prints in different locations.  In prior designs an elaborate fixture would be designed to rotate the part to different print positions so the 4 axis SCARA robot could print down on the specific location.  The development of the smaller 6 axis articulating robots with increased power has led to advancement in our current robotic pad printer designs replacing the SCARA robot with a 6 axis Robot.  The part fixture now remains stationary because the 6 axis robot allows you to print at any angle. This eliminates the need for an elaborate multi axis servo driven fixture. The pad printing cycle is also shortened because the robot is no longer waiting for part rotations.

Features of the six axis robot printer:

  • End of arm tool to hold print pad
  • Automatic tape cleaner
  • 2 sets of independent clichés to allow set up of next part to run without stopping the current print process
  • Clichés can hold multiple artworks
  • Touch screen HMI controller display on strong arm
  • Camera vision system to detect orientation of part
  • Up to six color printing
  • Automatic pad changer with use of up to six different pads
  • In feed & out feed conveyers

Currently the Engineered Printing Solutions team includes many highly motivated individuals with full engineering, software development and tech support. Our #1 goal is Customer Satisfaction. Our company is constantly pushing the envelope, discovering more and more ways to seamlessly incorporate pad and ink jet printing into customers’ manufacturing environments.

For information about Engineered Printing Solutions custom solutions, standard pad printers, industrial digital ink jet, consumables and other auxiliary equipment, visit Ink Adhesion Part 3: Ink Mixing, Contamination, Blooming and Mold Release Agents, e-mail sales@www.epsvt.com or call 1-800-272-7764

Compared to the world of manual pad printing, the world of automation is virtually unlimited, within reason. Here at Engineered Printing Solutions we have taken a standard KP05 bench mounted printer and stripped it of the software and hardware. We then completely customized it to be able to produce 8,000 pieces per hour, all the while requiring minimal operator involvement.  How do you decide if automation is right for you? Well you need to ask yourself 3 questions: How many pieces per hour do you need to print? How many colors on the image? Finally what is the size of the image? With this machine, it all starts with the Bowl Feeder which aligns the parts all the same direction and feeds them down a track to the printer, printing the parts and finishing with the items going out under an infrared heater, ensuring that the images are dry enough to continue down the production line to other operations or to packaging. However with every innovation there are obstacles which we must work through.

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Some of the technical problems that can arise are:

  • Being able to efficiently feed the parts to keep up with the printer.
  • Printing multiple images in one pad stroke can create some undesirable results. This may require custom pads.
  • Being able to efficiently process parts through the system without damaging even the most delicate part.
  • Ensuring that the printed image is dry enough to withstand downstream operations as soon as it leaves the system.

In this case we are printing 8 pieces at a time so our engineers need to make sure that the images are being placed correctly on each of the 8 parts every time.

For information about Engineered Printing Solutions custom solutions, standard pad printers, industrial digital ink jet, consumables and other auxiliary equipment, visit Ink Adhesion Part 3: Ink Mixing, Contamination, Blooming and Mold Release Agents, email sales@www.epsvt.com or call 1-800-272-7764

That’s the million dollar question! (Don’t worry. It won’t cost that much.) We’ve already outlined how you might benefit from the addition of an inkjet printer, and how to justify the cost of another piece of equipment, in a previous post. Now you have to match your workload and job requirements to the right machine configuration.

What’s the best inkjet machine solution?

That depends. Here are a few criteria used to get that answer:

Image quality – higher resolution means higher priced heads (or more passes).

  • Throughput – there are “multi-pass” versus “single-pass” options (more on that later).
  • Part size – limitations on height / width = machine size.
  • Image size = part size = machine size.
  • Substrate used – Regardless of the print technology, some substrates (PP & PE come to mind) still require pre-treatment for best image adhesion.
  • Number of colors required – dark substrates will need White base-coat layer, plus CMYK


What’s the best inkjet technology for me?

Do you need high volume / throughput with minimal part handling? Consider an automated conveyor, single-pass inkjet printer. You’ll typically get:

XD070 Single Pass Inkjet Printer

  • Up to 14″ per second of print speed
  • A print width that will be a minimum of 2.75″ and can be wider on a custom configuration.
  • Print resolutions up to 720 dpi in a single pass.

This is a great configuration for in-line applications, especially when pre-treatment is required. In many applications, you might require tooling of some sort to make sure parts are spaced and aligned consistently. Some units will incorporate a series of sensors to detect the part, and software that tells the heads when the part is in position for printing. We’ll help you with those.

Do you need higher resolution (up to 1200 dpi) but less speed? Perhaps a flatbed printer is your best option. These units offer:

  • An advantage for smaller / identical parts that can be placed in machined trays or nests.
  • A vacuum platen so you can print flat “stock.”
  • A series of print heads (arrays) on a rack that moves across the bed, printing and curing as it goes, giving you the capability of printing in a single direction, or printing in both directions, depending on your needs. It’s not as fast, but print resolution may be a higher priority.

With either of the above technologies, you will have the capability of adjusting print speeds, ink density / droplet size, head heights, and color hues. Speaking of colors, if you are printing process color on a dark substrate, you will need to print a white base layer first, but both technologies can accommodate that. In addition, it’s possible to print a clear-coat to protect the image or provide a more glossy appearance, but you’ll probably have to sacrifice one of the white arrays.

Do you only print in one color? Obviously, it’s possible to print monochrome or spot colors with inkjet, but keep in mind that it’s not practical to change or flush colors in the same array. With most high end industrial inkjets, ink is fed from bulk tanks, not cartridges (helps to keep the consumable costs down).

Therefore, if you are thinking of printing with one color only, monochrome machines are available, but you need to be very sure that you will only require that one color. Custom machines have been built with white and black arrays, so the customer can print either (and even mix both to get a gray hue).

Does your customer ask to make changes on press or repeat exact specs? Inkjet will usually provide the capability to manipulate the images at the machine, with the assistance of on-board graphic art software such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. Some machines are capable of storing jobs (or job “queues”) so operators can simply select from a drop-down box. Custom machines are network-capable, so jobs can be entered remotely, and many in-line / automated units can be accessed remotely for both job entry and diagnostic capabilities.

Now you know a lot more about inkjets than the average pad printer. Don’t forget: at EPS we build your inkjet the same way we build your pad printer — from the ground up to your specifications. That makes it clean, efficient and engineered for accuracy and cost effectiveness.

Call our toll-free number 800-272-7764 or fill out the form below. We’ll start you down a two-lane inkjet/pad printer highway to greater success.

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Pad printing is a fantastic, fast, quick-drying process allowing for adjustment to ink coverage, density and evaporation each step along the way. It is also vulnerable to the changing conditions in the environment surrounding your pad printing area. You may find it beneficial to consider setting up a clean room to protect your jobs from exposure to any sudden variables and contaminants that could impact the quality of the finished product. Today we’d like to help you evaluate the pros and cons of investing in a clean room.

PROS

  • Controlling temperature and relative humidity (RH) allows for consistent ambient climate conditions. Very helpful in a pad printing environment to guarantee the same quality over multiple runs.
  • Eliminating items with a propensity to throw off dust particles from the closed clean room keeps your operation free of dust and other airborne contaminants. Get rid of those plywood pad bases – typically standard issue for pad printing – and replace them with something cleaner, like aluminum.
  • Replacing flame pretreatment eliminates another source of soot contamination, as well as the risks of working with an open flame.
  • Producing a consistent, clean product improves your reputation in the marketplace, increases your daily production and attracts new customers.
  • Providing a stable climatic environment opens the opportunity to implement an ink maintenance program to systematize the process, a further guarantee for consistency across runs and between operators.
  • Commissioning a pad printing machine for use in a clean room allows for special procedures to be undertaken at an opportune time.  Special sterilization and validation is carried out on the equipment prior to initial use, often by expert third party providers.  Any component of the machine’s design which may be subject to dust or contaminant generation is outfitted with additional guarding to minimize this exposure.

CONS

  • Pretreatment options are somewhat limited.  Flame pretreatment is usually prohibited because of the possibility of generating soot from an open flame.
  • The use of air blowing at the pad to assist on ink transfer may not be workable.
  • Some installs are presented with no way to adjust climatic conditions.
  • Many clean rooms exhibit lots of air turbulence due to pressurization and air exchange frequency.  This can create drafts and negatively affect ink pickup, especially in cupslide machines, requiring heavy use of a retarder or more frequent thinner additions.
  • There can be a high learning curve required in making often severe adjustments to former ink working mixes once the environment is stabilized.

Summary

All in all, usually the Pros outweigh the Cons. Once a proper print process has been established, it can be used reliably every day.

Think you’re ready to come clean? PPMoVT’s engineers can help put you in a clean world of your own! Whether they help you design a new pad printer for your clean room, or design retrofits for the old one, call us at 1-800-272-7764, or use Live Chat on our Home page.  Pros & Cons: Pad Printing in a Clean Room Environment

A word of warning: You may find yourself wanting a clean room at home.

To get the most out of your printing operation, you need to account for many factors, including lighting, adequate compressed air supply, controlled temperature and humidity, quality consumables, etc. Everything of value in your operation must be put in place, maintained, serviced and supplied. One factor often overlooked is the operator, and more pertinent to this discussion, operator ergonomics.

An operator who exerts as little energy as possible per print cycle and who has everything needed to complete the assignment within the production cell will deliver consistent and predictable productivity throughout the shift. Additionally, job satisfaction and, most importantly, safety will impact your company’s throughput and profit. Never dispute the value of a happy employee.

Ergonomics
When designing your operator’s production cell, keep in mind the following to improve working conditions:

  • The distance / height of reach for an item
  • Comfortable seating
  • Proper floor mats, also known as anti-fatigue mats.
  • Temperature and humidity control in the work environment including heat exhaust from nearby heaters or dryers.
  • Rotations within shifts. This prevents repetitive stress disorders and boredom.  It also ensures crew flexibility and increases the employee’s perception of value to the operation, putting the emphasis on the importance of production.
  • The right tool for the right job. Avoid cheap multi-tools with every hex-key ever made. Our pad printing equipment should not require the use of more than 4 hex-keys.

Safety
As mentioned above, safety will most definitely impact your bottom line. OSHA provides an interactive program on their website called $afety Pays  to help determine the financial impact of injuries. This number can be used when calculating ROI of safety equipment.

  • Always hang cables and hoses from the ceiling; never lay them on the ground.
  • Wear gloves, goggles, and aprons.
  • Do not disable safety features on machines. They are installed for a reason.
  • Keep pallets out of the way. If possible, keep pallets out of the production area completely. Moving an empty pallet around creates extra work and aching backs.
  • Fixtures should be designed carefully to ensure fingers stay out of way of the pad.
  • Take the time to properly train every production member on how to lift with their knees. On-the-job training means it is a requirement of the job.

Preparation
Try always to be proactive instead of reactive. For example, instead of requesting or preparing ink during the changeover time, someone should have the ink ready for the operator before the job begins. Any way you can keep the printer printing will improve your up-time.

  • Keep all thinners and other supplies available at the production cell.
  • Keep a supply of cleaning materials at the production cell.
  • Use outside help for non-printing tasks, like handling boxes, proofing jobs, work orders, removing pallets, etc.
  • Printing can be a bottleneck. Exploit it by keeping the printer printing.

Job Satisfaction
A happy employee is a productive employee. Think about it. If your employees are frustrated about working conditions, they are distracted from their job.

  • The less your operator deals with job frustrations and physical fatigue, the more printing cycles will take place.
  • Removing frustrations and dangers from your operator allows more commitment to quality, service, and exceeding production goals, resulting in …
  • The best print environment ever!

Need Help?
PPMOVT’s Sales Engineers are really smart! Why not use them? They’ll help you figure out the holes in your operation and recommend ways to plug up productivity drains.  Call us at 1-800-272-7764, or use Live Chat on our Home page https://www.padprintmachinery.com

Then we can add your business to the list of best print environments ever!

The pad printing industry has revolutionized marking in so many manufacturing industries, and continues to grow and cause further change. Pad Print Machinery of Vermont wants our customers to stay current on what has — and still is — happening in your industry and in the fields your customers service.

Starting today we will occasionally feature new equipment, or additional devices available for that equipment, that have made a difference in your competitors’ businesses. You might want to consider investing in some of these in the near future.

Consider a pick and place device

The single most cost-effective automation feature for customers servicing any industry is a pick and place device, used to rake off or auto-unload parts after printing. Adding this one feature can come close to doubling your production rate overnight. The best news? It increases production at a low cost and saves operator time. The operator no longer has to load the parts onto the machine and then unload them onto a table or elliptical conveyor. The operator simply loads them.

Here’s the technical stuff

Pick & Place Systems are pneumatic or servo-motorized devices which can be installed on the pad print machine’s conveyor or other automation devices. Click here to see a video on different Pick & Place applications.

A pick-and-place device can be designed for 2, 3, 4 or more axes/stations, depending on the conveyor installed and the configuration of the pad print machine. It is ready to install on conveyors for automatic loading and/or unloading of parts.

PPMOVT has conveyors available ranging from the Linear Shuttle for single-part fixtures (offering four stations for four-color and six stations for five-color printing), up to top-of-the-line conveyors offering fully-automated, servo motor-driven, multicolor system up to 48+ stations.

Our reps should know!

The experienced PPMOVT customer service reps know about great deals like this. Increased production, moderate startup costs, a big boost on your ROI — these are benefits your business can’t ignore.

Remember: we want your business to grow with your equipment. PPMOVT has reps assigned to your area waiting to hear from you. Call us at 1-800-272-7764, or use Live Chat on our Home page https://www.epsvt.com

A year from now, call us to report a 100% increase in production year-to-date. We’ll celebrate with you!

Here’s a quick study on ergonomics.

Simply put, ergonomics is defined as the science of work. The word is derived from two Greek words: ergon, meaning work, and nomoi, meaning natural laws. So it is really the science of work and a human relationship to that work; a “discipline focused on making products and tasks comfortable and efficient for the user” (from about.com).

We call it workplace and equipment design that maximizes productivity and minimizes operator fatigue, discomfort and repetition. There are even some laws on the book protecting employees from poor ergonomic process.

Are pad or inkjet print ergonomics different?

It could be as simple as moving supplies to a more accessible location. Or create a staging area close by the pad or inkjet printer with a rolling table. It could be as amazing as adding automation to your existing machine, like a conveyor or pick-and-place robotic arm.

You can check your work environment yourself, or call us to do it for you. It benefits your employees, your business and your bottom line! When PPMoV analyzes your ergonomic setup, we evaluate the following three major components of ergonomics:

1      The Workplace:
Design:  Is there maximum throughput at the printer, and efficient flow-through of parts throughout the process (e.g., from mold to assembly and/or packaging)?
Setup:  Have you allowed an adequate staging area for both blank (unprinted) parts, and efficient “take-away” of the treated parts to the conveyor/oven/next work cell?
Environment:  Have you provided “operator-centric” lighting, ventilation, and proximity to the ink mix/cleanup area? Did you set up a “process-centric” stable environmental condition (for ink management)?

2      The Operator:
Intervention:  Did you minimize movement distances for both manual and continuous cycles? Can you save time & steps by replacing manual pad cleaning with automatic pad cleaning at each print station?
Efficiency:  Should you adjust machine height to accommodate all operators? Remember: users’ heights vary!  Can you assure that machine dimensions safely accommodate maximum part size and weight? Would you like us to suggest tooling designs that are “easy in, easy out?” Should you measure potential safety issues like “pinch points,” noise levels, etc.?

3     The Equipment:
Engineered to task:  Can you minimize setups and/or changeovers (e.g., are you using a one-color machine for two-color jobs)? Can you minimize part handling from load, to pre- treat (when required), to print station(s), to unload?

Become a Case Study

After our evaluation, we talk to you. We listen to what your goals are, what bothers you, where you see your business heading. Can you become a success case study?

Read this Power Tools. It’s about automation, but their employees needed ergonomic help as well.

I don’t know where to start?

It starts with a phone call. Engineered Printing Solutions is a different printing equipment manufacturer – we don’t sell the same machine to everyone; we build it just for you. We want your equipment to grow with your business. Your work is specialized, flexible and expanding; your equipment should be too. EPS has reps assigned to your area waiting to hear from you. Call us at 1-800-272-7764, or use the form below.

Fields marked with an asterisk are required.
This will enable us to direct your inquiry to the appropriate Sales Engineer.
Click or drag files to this area to upload.You can upload up to 3 files.
Upload an image file (optional)
Note: Under no circumstances will we sell, share or otherwise distribute your data outside EPS.

While a programmable servo-driven pad printer will cost more than comparable electro-pneumatic models, they provide the highest degree of accuracy, control, adaptability and flexibility in a more compact area, and they include additional valuable features.

The improved servo-driven technology allows engineers to choose linear motion devices that:

  • provide the highest degree of accuracy
  • increase speeds while maintaining quality
  • reach the required torque in a given application
  • save and store programs for convenience and accuracy on future print runs
  • pick up and print an image wherever it needs to be and assure that the user produces more impressions with less waste and fewer errors in less time. That’s a win-win.

In the most sophisticated printers, the horizontal print head movement can be controlled and programmed at each of the two functions — ink pick-up from the cliché and print position on systems featuring independent pad actuators. You can also repeat or change the control values for each plate stage/print station, a major improvement that provides individual adjustment in a multicolor system with hair-splitting accuracy and repeatability.

Couple this with the ability to provide independent pad vertical movement using linear actuators that work independently. This eliminates pad interference when printing oversize parts, offering the convenience of using different pad shapes and heights at every position in a system. Are you starting to see what this can do for the future of your business yet?

Are you sure it will help me?

At PPMOVT, we carefully evaluate each application to engineer the best and most cost effective solution with the end user in mind. We execute them flawlessly on our own manufacturing floor. After all, when all is said and done, it is the printing system’s performance, reliability and user friendliness that really counts.

The same servo-driven actuators described above are also used on Pick-and-Place automation devices that provide part loading/unloading to/from holding fixtures, part conveyance and other movement accessories, with total precision even when variable speeds are required throughout the motion. Automatic pad changing can be included to allow the use of multiple pads in a selected routine. That’s technology. That’s what Pad Print Machinery of Vermont can do for you.

What do I do next?

Call us in for an analysis. That’s fun for us. We won’t sell you something that doesn’t make you better and stronger. Program in Pad Print at 1-800-272-7764, or use Live Chat on our Home page  https://www.epsvt.com
Please make sure the coffee’s hot!