Here at Inkcups Now (ICN), we are always working to make the lives of our customers easier. One less thing to worry about is always a great thing! We have created two artwork sizing templates to ensure your image will fit within the diameter of the ink cup. One template is designed for use with 90mm ink cups, the other is for larger 150mm ink cups. Each cup is for use within a standard pad printing machine.
Simply open the attached file in adobe illustrator or any other artwork programs to use the template. If the image does not seem to fit, contact an ICN technician, they are always happy to help!
Recommended Ink cups to use in this Project:
ICN VersaCup (available in 90mm or 150mm in size) Updated ToughCup coating is also available:
Ink resistant coating! No more chemicals to clean your cup.
For more information about Ink cups from Inkcups Now, visit: Inkcups.com/Inkcups
Inkcups Now is a company of many services, one of which is creating a custom part fixture for pad printing. Our engineers can create a fixture based upon a customer’s specifications or, as in this instance, create one from molding the part. ICN’s custom molds are intended to fit your part flawlessly in order to prevent it from moving while printing.
Not only does Inkcups Now create mold style fixtures, our engineers can also create metal or acrylic fixtures that are 100% unique to your parts specifications. Fixtures are also available for screen printing and inkjet printing along with pad printing. Fixtures are a great way to ensure flawless print registration on each part consistently. Fixtures allow for faster loading and unloading of parts and potentially maximize the amount of parts per fixture.
The Cobalt1000 fiber laser is an excellent piece of machinery. It is capable of etching very fine detailed images on hard materials such as steel. This versatile laser etcher can easily accommodate custom machine fixtures, similar to the one shown in the video.
In this video a custom name plate fixture is placed into the laser engraving machine. The text on each individual plate is fully customizable. A full fixture is capable of etching 20 name plates in only a minute and a half (that’s about 1000 an hour!)
Laser used in this project:
Type: YAG Fiber Laser w/fixture
Brand: Cobalt 1000
More info: Cobalt 1000 page
Printing on Guitar Picks with UV curable ink (click to enlarge)
In the past, Inkcups Now had printed on guitar picks with the PromoJET solvent inkjet printer. The results were great, however there was room for improvement. The solvent ink worked well on most plastics, on delrin (a common guitar pick plastic) however, the solvent ink would bead up and did not adhere well. On all other plastics the image quality was great.
We have printed these guitar picks with UV curable ink instead of solvent ink. The major difference is the adhesion to all plastic materials (including delrin.) This UV inkjet ink also has a white ink. White ink creates a base for the colored ink, allowing the colors to really stand out. The ink is a UV LED ink, meaning the ink is cured by low temperature light. The low temperature ensures no heat damage to the product.
Printer used in this project:
Type: UV LED Inkjet Printer
Brand: Mimaki
Model: UJF-3042
Standard applications: Promotional products, Pens, etc…
More info: Mimaki UJF-3042 Inkjet Printer page
“Can I Etch Laser Plates with my CO2 Laser?” – This is a very common question we get from pad printing companies. Indeed, if a company already has a robust laser engraver, it may be able to enjoy the benefits of fully digitized pad printing plate-making – simply by purchasing the laser plate material and getting some instruction.
The short answer is as follows: you are likely to get the best results with laser plates if the wattage of your CO2 laser engraver is between 10Watt and 20Watt, and no more than 30Watt.
The longer answer is this:
If your laser has more than 30Watt, you may still get excellent results with the Acculaze plate material, which is designed to handle fine-line graphics only (does not work for bold fonts or open etch areas). To etch Acculaze with a 30+Watt laser engraver, use the lowest power setting and make 2 passes.
For the Imperial and Laser Orange plate material (both of which can handle any type of graphics) you do need the laser wattage to be no more than 30Watts; 10Watt – 20Watt is usually best. With a more powerful laser, the beam diameter (spot size) of the laser is too large to achieve fine etch and sharp prints.
The other major factor that comes into play is your CO2 laser’s software: it will determine how well you can manipulate your graphic files.
Printing on Dominoes with the Mimaki UJF-3042 Inkjet Printer
Printing on dominoes is a great application for the Mimaki UJF-3042 inkjet printer. The smooth surface texture would normally present a challenge to other inkjet printers because of adhesion quality, however for the superior Mimaki inkjet printer this task is not a problem.
With a little pretreatment, the Mimaki UJF-3042 was able to print these high resolution images on these dominoes. To really make these images pop, try adding a layer of white behind the color.
Printer used in this project:
Type: UV LED Inkjet Printer
Brand: Mimaki
Model: UJF-3042
Standard applications: Promotional products, Pens, etc…
More info: Mimaki UJF-3042 Inkjet Printer page
Printing on bottle caps with the Mimaki UJF 3042 (click to enlarge)
Here at Inkcups Now. we love it when we get the opportunity to print on new applications. The results are typically mixed, however with this Mimaki inkjet printer we haven’t yet found a bad application! Recently we attempted printing on bottle caps with the Mimaki UJF 3042 inkjet. The results were nothing short of fantastic!
The large format inkjet printer can hold over a hundred bottle caps at once, and thanks to its very sophisticated software we were able to print 4 different images at once. No more printing 1 image at a time! Some caps were printed with a layer of white under the color image, thanks to the staggered print head, the machine could accomplish this task simultaneously. Needless to say that we were very pleased with the results and are very happy with the Mimaki UJF 3042 inkjet printer.
Printer used in this project:
Type: UV LED Inkjet Printer
Brand: Mimaki
Model: UJF-3042
Standard applications: Promotional products, Pens, etc…
More info: Mimaki UJF-3042 Inkjet Printer page
Inkjet printing on sugar wafers (Click to enlarge)
The PowerJet compact inkjet printer creates excellent, high quality prints on everything it prints on! For this application, printing on sugar wafers, the compact inkjet printer was equipped with edible ink. Edible ink is safe to consume and just as adhesive as the standard PowerJet ink.
Whether you print on smooth uniform surfaces or uneven surfaces, the PowerJet inkjet printer is able to print high resolution images on any surface. Not only are these sugar wafers tasty but they also look great! This a a fun way to promote a business or to just have a little fun.
Printer used in this project:
Type: Edible Inkjet Printer
Brand: PowerJet
Model: Edible Inkjet Printer
Standard applications: Cookies, Cakes, Marshmallows, Loli-pops, candies, etc…
More info: The PowerJet Edible Inkjet Printer page
While garment tag printing, most users prefer making their own plates. Typically the most inexpensive way to etch your own plates is by using photopolymer plates with an exposure unit. Etching an image into photopolymer plates requires more attention than laser etching the plates, exposure times will vary depending upon the image size, even if the same plate material is used for both large and small images.
Inkcups Now has done extensive testing with our water wash orange plate material, our most popular for garment tag printing. Larger images need more time to develop during the washout process to provide the depth necessary for garment tag printing.
Plates used in this project:
Type: Photopolymer Plates
Brand: ICN
Model: Water Wash Orange
Standard applications: Promotional products, Garment Tag Printing
Photopolymer plate alternative: Laser Plate Making.
The Mimaki UJF-3042 inkjet printer makes great, high quality, prints every time! We printed a sample for a customer on this leather binder. Typically, leather is a difficult material to inkjet print on because the leather is a dark in color and older inks would not adhere well to the material. Because of the Mimaki’s revolutionary design, this inkjet is able to print on leather with ease.
The Mimaki UJF-3042 inkjet printer allows the user to print in white and color at the same time because of the staggered print head design. We laid down a white back drop and printed the image on top of it. Printing on white really brings out the colors in the image. The ink is fully curable by low temp LED UV light, therefore no the heat will not damage the leather material during the curing process.
Printer used in this project:
Type: UV LED Inkjet Printer
Brand: Mimaki
Model: UJF-3042
Standard applications: Promotional products, Pens, etc…
More info: Mimaki UJF-3042 Inkjet Printer page
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