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An Illinois Tool Works Company

How does pad printing work?
Back to Summer'02
SYSTEM
SPECIFICATIONS:

TV Cabinet
Printing
Application:

Television cabinets (two models) of painted ABS substrate require three images applied to front panel: two located near front center control panel and one, a logo artwork, applied to upper left corner of front frame opening.

Concept: Operator will manually load cabinet onto shuttle slide-fixture in home position and push slide into print position with detente positive stop. Both printers will then automatically activate, double-print and complete their preset cycles. Upon completion of the imprint, operator will pull slide back to home position, unload the printed cabinet and reload a new one.

Printing Machines: Duoseal 90 two-color pad printer with adjustable X-Y cliche plate holders; Sealcup 60 single-color printer; both with pad clean-off devices; system includes mechanical switch & electronic interface. X-Y table for Sealcup 60 enables fast and accurate left/right, front/back machine positioning. This device allows easy and precise print location on work piece by means of hand wheels, one for each axis. Mechanical readout indicates adjustment and position to +/- 0.001 inch accuracy. Clamping levers provide secure machine location.

Mobile Machine Base: Machine base with casters, two-position interlock and clamps secure machine to main slide table to accommodate additional interchangeable fixture for smaller TV cabinet.

Manual Slide Table & Fixtures: Precision manual slide has positive stops for accurate print location and automatic activation of print cycle. Fixture is mounted to heavy-duty machine base with adustable leg levelers. Interchangeable fixtures (2) for different cabinet sizes are made of rigid extruded aluminum with Delrin contact points. Both tables and slides are equipped with keys and keyways for accurate movement. All metal parts are hardcoated for durability and easy cleaning.



Minimally Engineered System:
TV Housing Project Perfect Fit
For
Pad Printing & 'Fast-Track' Machine

WHEN larger products require decoration, the phrase, “keep it simple” is an appropriate guide. With issues of loading and unloading, operator ergonomics are amplified when the piece is an oversize (774 by 1017mm) ABS televison cabinet. Plus, the sheer space required for such a large pad printing operation is considerable. So when our engineers looked at this application, taking into account the customer’s short time frame, their answer was a simple yet flexible design: “Let’s tune this TV to Fast-Track.”
TV housing bezel, front viewTV housing bezel, back view
Television cabinet bezel, front and back views, prior to pad printing of three images by a manual-load system including Duoseal 90 and Sealcup 60 machines.

TV housing bezel, detail
Image locations of three artworks on TV cabinet bezel.
TV housing bezel, controls

Three Images, Two Printers
The heart of the solution is the shuttle slide-table that enables easy loading, firm support and positive-stop part positioning. This simple but critical fixture is the common reference point for integrating the Duoseal 90 and Sealcup 60 pad printers to transfer three images with exact registration. The two printers are synchronized by a mechanical switch that is activated when the shuttle is pushed into the print position.

Interchangeable Fixture Feature
To enable printing two different cabinets, a second, slightly smaller fixture is designed to be exchanged for the larger one. To accommodate the different dimensions and image locations, the Sealcup 60 is equipped with an adjustable X-Y table as well as being mounted on a movable machine base with casters, spacers and interlocks. This flexibility allows the operator to adapt to changing production requirements. The machines can also be disconnected and re-purposed to some entirely different application, if so desired.

concept sketch
Initial concept sketch of manual-load pad printing system for decorating television cabinet frame.

Machinist checks sliding action of system
Machinist and standard product integrator Dan Hessert checks the sliding action of the fixture table, loaded with a television cabinet frame. Once loaded and slid into printing position, the Duoseal 90 applies the first two images to the lower control area while the Sealcup 60 imprints a logo to the upper left corner.

For more details on our Fast-Track pad printing systems, feel free to contact your local ITW Trans Tech rep at: www.itwtranstech.com

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