Recently here at Inkcups Now we received a phone call from a customer in distress. When the customer placed ink in their ink cup, it would spill out of a small hole on the bottom of the ring. The customer had chipped one of their ceramic rings on his ink cup. The customer did not know what to do next. They didn’t have a replacement ring or a ring removal tool and they had a high production demand. The customer could not wait two or three days for a new ring and ring removal tool.

Our technicians had a fast and easy solution for the customer. Place the ink cup in the freezer. Yes, the freezer. Now this seems a little odd, however it certainly does work. When metal gets cold it shrinks, the colder it gets the more it shrinks. The ring is ceramic, thus the cold will have no effect on it and it will remain the same size. Once the metal shrinks enough (usually after about 2-3 hours), the ring can be removed. BE CAUTIOUS the edges of the ring are extremely sharp and can cut if not handled properly.

Now you must be asking yourself, what about the replacement ring? If the customer didn’t have one on hand how is he supposed to replace the damaged ring? The answer is simple. Flip the ring over. All Inkcups Now ceramic rings are double-sided. Just flip it over and it works as good as new!

Remember, keep the ink cup cold while removing and installing the ring, do not let it warm in between. If the ink cup gets warm it will expand again and the ring will not fit. Also, once you change the ring, let the ink cup sit out at room temperature for about an hour or two in order to allow the metal expand to its original form. Just place the ink cup back into the pad printer and continue printing!

Contact us for more information and other helpful hints.

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Technorati tags: Ink Cup, Ceramic Rings, Pad Printer

Here is a video of the ICN-150L pad printing machine in action! Pad printing is great for creating tagless labels on garments and clothing. Tagless printing is fun and easy! Just watch the video and see for yourself! The ICN-150L features a linear conveyor, a great addition for companies with high production volumes or anyone who wants to get their pad printing done faster. The ICN-150L is a 2 cups machine, meaning it can do multiple colors or one color twice as fast. Featuring a 150mm ink cup system for large images, this pad printer has it all!

Printer used in this project: Type: Semi-Automatic Pad Printer Brand: ICN-150 Model: Two Color Standard applications: neck tagless labels, pens, stress balls, other metal and plastic parts… Unconventional applications: cookies, contact lenses More info: ICN-150 Tagless Pad Printer page Technorati tags: Tagless Printing, Pad Printing, Multi Color

Are you using a single-sided or double-sided ceramic ring? If you are using a single-sided ring you should look into the benefits of using a double sided instead. The most obvious reason has to do with the fact that rings can get damaged… yes, sooner or later it will happen, but if you have a double-sided ring you can simply flip the ring over and continue pad printing. If you need to re-assemble an ink cup or flip a double sided ceramic ring but not quite sure of how to do it, we have a video with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions. Go ahead, check out our Ink Cup Assembly - Ceramic Ring Changeover video

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