Pad printing & digital printing for your individual advertising

Pad printing and digital printing at Bauma

Pad printing is an indirect printing process based on the principle of gravure printing. It is particularly suitable for printing on plastic and metal objects and can also be used on uneven printing surfaces. A silicone pad of the same name transfers the ink to the printed surface. It is easy to shape, absorbs colors well and reproduces them precisely. The pad printing process is used to produce high-quality, deep and durable prints on a wide variety of products.

How does pad printing work?

This indirect gravure printing process is carried out in two steps:

First, a print motif with a depth of approx. 30 µm is etched into a printing plate known as a cliché. This etching process can reproduce fine lines even in very small printed areas. Creates printing blocks that look like stamps with indentations. These indentations later absorb the ink.

The cliché is then completely covered with printing ink. The excess ink is then wiped off with a squeegee so that only the etched indentations remain. Now the pads are forced into the clichés. It absorbs the color of the indentations and applies them to the desired object in a second step. Due to the elasticity of the pad, it adapts to the shape of the printed object and even transfers the desired motif to uneven surfaces. After the printing process, the pads are cleaned and reused.

Advantages & disadvantages of the pad printing process

The biggest advantage of the particularly flexible print transfer lies mainly in the pad’s malleability. Non-flat and sensitive substrates can be finished with high quality and precision. This is why the advertising industry in particular relies on pad printing. Examples of this are shopping cart tokens, parking discs, pocket knives or mugs, which are printed in multiple colors and with sharp edges using pad printing.

Print on almost all target media with the right inks. Pad printing can reproduce fine lines and intricate motifs. Pad printing can be used to achieve any desired thickness. Depending on the ink type, the prints are highly resistant to mechanical abrasion and chemicals. Multi-color printing is possible without intermediate drying. In contrast to the screen printing process, the ink is usually applied in one step. Air drying at room temperature is common with pad printing. The disadvantage is manageable: the pad printing process only limits the size of the print format. In addition, due to the relatively thin coating thickness, it is necessary to use highly pigmented special coatings.

Enhance your BAUMA product with digital printing. Small quantities from 200 pieces are possible.

Full-surface, edge-to-edge image prints – regardless of the number of colors. High-resolution photos and color gradients are also possible.

Folding rules with close-fitting links are best suited, and also with internal joints for full-surface pressure.

B400
B500
B300
Plastic folding poles: B820, B830, B850

but also:

Folding rules with external fittings B250 & B600 (beech)
LAG spirit level

Full-surface and multicolored!

Expressive photo prints!

Brilliant print quality!

Plastic and white scale

If it has to be black

Enhance your BAUMA product with our pad printing. The minimum order quantity for folding rules is 500 pieces.

Spot colors according to HKS-K, RAL or Pantone-C are possible here. In contrast to digital printing, the print area per printing color is limited to approx. 17-19 cm print width.

The minimum line width is 0.5 point. Screenings and negative prints are possible after consultation of the motif.

Pad printing is possible on all BAUMA products. With the exception of the cutter knives and roller belt measures which can be 3D advertising doming are refined.