PAD PRINTING

The silicon pads used in pad printing come in a range of shapes and sizes.  This allows products of nearly any size or shape to be branded using pad printing.  Whether the promotional products surface is flat like notebooks or power banks or curved like pens or stress balls, the pad can conform to the shape and print the design accurately.

The pads are reused many times so the logo or design is etched into the surface of a metal or plastic plate.  This creates a well that is filled with ink matching your PMS print colour. The pad is them pressed onto the plate, the ink is transferred onto the pad surface, the pad then transfers the ink onto your selected item.  This process is repeated until the order quantity is branded.

Promotional Products most frequently decorated using pad printing are – Pens, stress toys, notebooks, sunglasses, power banks, USB Flash Drives, speakers, metal drink bottles, etc.

The advantages of Pad Printing include:

  • Ideal for printing on curved or uneven products
  • Perfect for single colour printing on small to medium size items
  • Multi colour – spot colour – prints look great also
  • Close PMS matches are possible on white or light-coloured products
  • Metallic gold and silver are available

Disadvantages:

  • Halftones cannot be consistently reproduced
  • The size of branding areas are limited on curved surfaces
  • Unable to print variable data
  • Close PMS matches are more difficult on darker products and will only be approximate – dark coloured items can dull the print colour
  • It is not always possible to register light print colours on a white base onto dark items
  • Minor print distortion may occur on uneven or curved surfaces
  • Pad print inks require a curing period before the product can be packed and shipped
  • A set up charge is required for each colour to be printed

Artwork Requirements:

  • It is a requirement that artwork is supplied in vector outline format.