Pad printer conversion from open ink well to closed cup ink well.

[machiningfool]

I bought a manual pad printer on Ebay and the ink delivery method is awful, very messy. They come with what they call an open ink well and transfer the ink to the cliche by a roller and a scraper. Another method of storing and distributing ink is called an ink cup or closed cup method. So, that is what I did is convert the manual pad printing machine to closed cup. This closed cup is much easier to clean and much easier to set for printing. Here are some pictures. I didn't include pics. of the open well type, just the conversion, the ink cup type. You can see the bracket that grips the ink cup has an elongated oval opening and that is because that the stroke of the transfer arm is longer than the length of the cliche holder. A cliche is the thin piece of steel that is engraved with the letters or or logo that is to be transfered. The engraving is done with a laser engraver and the void that is made, only about 22 microns, where the ink is trapped and picked up by a urethane pad and then transferred to the part. The letters or logo is nicely transferred to the part, very accurate. If you want to see what the open well looks like before the conversion, just go on Ebay and search manual pad printers, there is a million of them there. Bob.

[DIYer]

Thanks machiningfool! We've added your Pad Printer Modification to our Miscellaneous category,
as well as to your builder page: machiningfool's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Pad Printer Modification by machiningfool

tags: modification