Cliches for Pad Printing, Laser Engraved, Source of the Service. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 08:07:55 pm
content: Any one have a good vendor for laser engraving Pad Printing Cliches? Ie in 50-100-200$ a unit range, Domestic US, and no minimum order ? I just spent two days developing a process to make the required direct positive for the photopolymer method. The office copier was capable enough, the urgent shipment will go out to the customer on time, but I'd rather have a reliable vendor with better then 1200 dpi Resolution. We have a lady on staff who runs the machine, and does the old school exposure with the light box, so that part was not a problem. Generating artwork without jaggies with Windows tools was the main issue. Turns out Word has a decent algorithm for resizing images. However doing this for sixty more standard products would not be fun or economical. We have the old files on the server, but no longer have a photoplotter.Would prefer steel, will settle for good quality polymer.Steve

author: forrestc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 08:30:48 pm
content: I am not yet printing using a pad printer but have the printer and am working through consumables myself.My plan (as yet untested) for the cliche's is to use our in-house laser engraver to produce them. CO2 and/or yag lasers are relatively cheap anymore, provided your artwork is compatible with that process. Seems like most of the plates want a CO2 laser but yag (fiber) laser compatible plates are available.

author: forrestc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 08:37:03 pm
content: Quote from: LaserSteve on April 17, 2025, 08:07:55 pmOh, and to reply a second time (while still not directly answering your question):Have you considered using a vector drawing tool to produce your art, not word... The jaggies tend to be an issue with bitmaps and not vector drawing.If you're looking for fully-paid and don't have an adobe subscription floating around, Affinity Designer does a great job here - it's a reasonable cost alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It's like $70 for designer only (one time), unless you get it on sale.

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 08:42:30 pm
content: CO2 laser focal spot at 10.6 microns is notoriously huge, so you may need a really good lens. Blue laser diode with on die correction optics, Fiber or ND:Yag will be small enough. However, controlling the depth of the mark will be the trick. We need to have a 12-15 Thousandths of an Inch mark depth with our existing ink.I wish you luck, For once in my life I have a boss comfortable with outsourcing. In the past that has not been the case, and I would have been rigging up a laser and a XY stage.I have an industrial place in Colorado I used to use. I could have negatives made with up to 24,000 DPI on Chrome. Only problem is the cost and format. Around 80-90$ for a plastic film. 450$ or more for a Chrome slide on Quartz. Those prices were pre inflation so no idea now.Boss was on vacation so no password to install Inkscape for SVG.Steve

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 08:44:56 pm
content: Forrest, Thanks for the tip on Affinity.Steve

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 09:25:55 pm
content: Portable app might work if you need permissions to install stuff:https://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/inkscape_portable

author: forrestc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2025, 09:31:30 pm
content: Quote from: LaserSteve on April 17, 2025, 08:42:30 pmYeah, I have a ND:Yag/Fiber which I use for various things. We were using it to etch datamatrix serial codes on blank PCB's until our PCB fab started being able to do it on the silkscreen (digitally printed silkscreen is a wonderful thing). I also have used it to decap parts I'm troubleshooting for failures - yag does a great job of taking the black plastic off of a semiconductor. It's just a natural progression of usage for an underused machine.The plates I plan to use have a coating you're getting rid of via the laser process so you don't have to play the whole 'etch the metal' games. Turn down the power, and one pass should be good enough. In theory.