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 Steel Cliché Plates For Pad Printing  Our full line of pad printing clichés include thick steel, steel foil, polymers, and laser-etched plates. Tips on Proper Steel Cliché Care (PDF) (NOTE: requires Adobe™ Acrobat Reader®) Plate Services Support Are you ready for Pulsar Laser Plates? Pulsar LPM Laser Plate Maker  Other Supplies • Inks, Additives • & Solvents • Cliché Plates • Other Supplies • & Accessories • Special Services Steel Cliché Care & Maintenance This article contains the most commonly requested information about the care and maintenance of steel clichés. IMPORTANT: BEFORE unwrapping your cliche, please read this information and save for future reference, IT IS IMPORTANT that the cliche is inspected upon receipt for correct text, image or any possible defects that could affect the use of the printing plate. Any claim for shipment damage must be made within 2 weeks. In all damage situations, the original packaging must be retained for United Parcel Service and ITW Trans Tech evaluation. UNWRAPPING: Your cliche will arrive wrapped in a special anti-corrosion paper DO NOT DISCARD THIS WRAPPING PAPER! Save it for future use– It is valuable for protection of your cliche and ensuring its maximum life and highest quality. BRUSHING: Brush out the cliche with a Brass Brush (part # 1411071). This will remove any dried or embedded ink from the image area. AFTER PRODUCTION: Clean the cliche with Cliche Spray (part#141110) and brush the cliche with Brass Brush (part #1411071) to remove dried or embedded ink from the image area. To protect against rust, coat the entire surface of the cliche with Anti-Corrosion Spray (part #141111) and rewrap the cliche with the original anti-corrosion paper in which it arrived. STACKING: Do not stack unwrapped cliches one on top of another as this traps moisture and promotes corrosion. HANDLING: Avoid banging or striking cliches together. This can permanently damage the cliche edges and printing surfaces. CORROSIVE INKS: Certain inks (e.g., Type P Ink) may have a corrosive effect on some cliches if allowed to remain on the surface for an extended period of time. VD/OO Thinner can be used as an alternative to VD Thinner to limit corrosion. B/O1 Thinner can be used as an alternative to B Thinner to limit corrosion. Before using any ink, be sure to check the specific Ink Data Sheet for restrictions or call your ITW Trans Tech representative for recommended use. SUPPLIES: For additional information on Anti-Corrosion Spray, Cliche Spray; or any other Consumable Products, phone us at 630.752.4000 or fax us at 630.752.4467 or CONTACT US Questions? Ask your Supplies Representative at: 630.752.4000 or e-mail us |
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Wear & Tear Affect Quality of Image
Time to replace worn-out steel cliché plates?
IT MAY be half-a-million cycles later, but even our industry-standard,
hardened steel cliché plates eventually reach their limit. Here's a guide to knowing when to retire your old plate and replace it with a shiny new one, ready to produce crisp, clean prints. There's no excuse for a less-than-perfect image.
Above: examples of two steel clichés ready to be replaced.
Below: microscopic images are shown comparing new steel cliché at left and wornout cliché at right. Note the distinctly sharp break from the darker, etched area to the lighter, unetched area in the new plate. Our standard etch depth is 25 microns.
In the right snapshot, the edge is blurry and streaked lines in the lighter area indicate excessive wear from continuous cup doctoring. Its etch depth has worn down to only 15 microns. This plate is overdue for replacement.
Signs of Wear To Watch For:
Is it time to replace your steel cliché? Look for these symptoms of wear-down:
Printed image lacks clarity.
Edges of type are blurry or rounded– not crisp and clean.
Cup is not doctoring properly. Puddles or haze of ink remains in raised areas of cliché
that normally would be clean.
Streaks are visible on raised areas. Continuous doctoring of ink cup has worn down
the surface in direction of movement, especially on edges of recessed (etched) areas.
Printed image is no longer opaque. Because etch depth has slowly been reduced by
wearing away of raised surface, less ink remains in lower, etched areas. This results in an
image of less opacity when transferred to the product. This becomes visible when the
remaining etch depth drops to 22 microns or less.
Scratches or dings. Accidental damage to plates can be seen as recessed (scratches)
or raised (dings) flaws. The result of a scratch will be an unwanted spot or line of ink on the
normally clear area of the image. Dings show up as white or irregular specks in what
should be a smoothly inked image. Both indicate plate flaws due to abrasion or particles.
If ignored, either could lead to a damaged ink cup and further replacement expense.
Thick steel pad printing clichés are produced in our plate services department by skilled technicians who specialize in this unique process (shown in the series of photos below). Working with a microscopic view of the surface, a plate specialist touches up the cliché image prior to etching.
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Think You Don't Need a Back-Up Plate? Think Again!
Anyone who has experienced the pressures of project deadlines can appreciate the anguish that goes along with unplanned downtime. Money ticks away with the clock while your operation stops for maintenance or replacement parts. If that part is the key pad printing component of your steel cliché plate, your wait may be several days.
We recommend keeping a back-up plate for just such a situation. Many of our larger industrial customers always keep a spare plate so that they are prepared in the event that some accident or unforeseen issue with their primary steel plate comes up.
For those long production runs, a spare cliché is good insurance against downtime and worth its cost in peace of mind alone. Consider the alternative of losing valuable production time and you'll realize its value.
Plus, because a duplicate plate uses the existing artwork of your original order, the charge is only a repeat order, considerably less than the original. Be sure to have your TTA number from the original plate when you re-order.
Measure the Value of Our Steel Cliché Specifications:
| Thick Steel Plate Specification Feature |
Benefit |
| Surface finish roughness (Rz) is a maximum 6.0 microns. Lapped surface is completely free of marks and flaws. | Pad only picks up etched image-- no specks or flaws. Ink cup doctors cleanly with no leakage. |
| Steel hardness is consistently 64 RC (Rockwell) plus or minus 1 RC. | Plates are always same hardness and multiple plates will wear consistently. |
| All hard edges and corners are chamfered. | Handling is safe without worry of personal injury or collateral damage. |
| Flatness tolerance of lapped side for cup-style plates does not exceed 0.0005 inch per 5.0 inches of length. | Ink cup won't leak due to plate not being perfectly flat. |
| Parallelism tolerance of lapped side to back side of plate does not exceed 0.005 inches per 5.0 inches of length. | Assurance of constant plate thickness over entire surface. |
| Specified plate width and length tolerance is plus zero and minus 0.15mm. | Assurance of constant size of plate from plate to plate within series or duplicates. |
| Consistent etch depth tolerance is within plus/minus 2.0 microns (tighter tolerance available on request). Plate depths are double-checked with precision measuring equipment in three places to ensure consistent etch depth. | Assurance of consistent etch depth on each plate, and from plate to plate within series or duplicates. |
| Special depths or multiple depths on plates are available upon special request. | Custom specifications can be met as required. |
Plate services technician measures depth of etch on a finished steel cliché plate.
Below, closeup view on monitor reveals microscopic detail of steel cliché etched image.
For more information about thick steel cliché plates or our entire line of pad
printing plates, including steel foil, polymer and laser-etch products, feel free to contact us.
ITW TRANS TECH • An Illinois Tool Works Company
475 North Gary Avenue • Carol Stream, IL 60188-4900
Phone: 630.752.4000 • Fax: 630.752.4460
www.itwtranstech.com
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