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PADPRINT
NOTEBOOK Useful Tips & Information © ITW Trans Tech An Illinois Tool Works Company |
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 Fixture FAQs: Question: What is a typical fixture manufacturing lead-time? Answer: That time will vary with the degree of difficulty of the design, the quantity and the existing workload. Generally, the lead-time is between two to three weeks. A firm date can be given once the fixture quote is accepted. Question: Is there a difference in ordering one-up versus multiple fixtures? Answer: Our one-up fixtures are custom-built to specifications “on the fly” without going through the usual design process. This speeds up the finished item but bypasses normal documentation procedures. With an order for two or more fixtures, our goal is exact duplication. So we systematically engineer and plan for multiples from the start. • For more fixture FAQs, click here.
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Tips From The Pros:
How To Test Your Fixture
HERE'S a useful guide for testing your a holding fixture to determine proper support and registration from Maurice Caporali, one of our veteran Print Lab Technicians:
Support Your Pad
Ideally, the surface contour and angle of the part’s printing area should match the flat cliché plate. But since most of the applications we see are round or tapered, we have to compensate for the difference by supporting the pad with the holding fixture to minimize any distortion. So the pickup of the inked image from the cliché should simulate the motion of the pad onto the part otherwise the image may possibly be distorted.
Special custom-designed fixture for holding automotive control knob. For more details on the entire pad printing system, click here.
Make Position Positive
The location of the part in the fixture must be a positive position. It shoud fit as snugly as possible within the tolerance allowed, but not so tight that loading or unloading are difficult. To test the accuracy of the fixture, first load a part and print it once. Then unload the part and reload it as if it were another part. Now print it again and check the imprinted image. If you can see any difference between the first and second prints, then your fixture (or something else in your set-up) is faulty.
Eliminate Each Variable
Now you must do some detective work to eliminate each variable one by one: part movement, bad seating, loose pad or loose cliché and so on. Also, check if the part comes from a mold with multiple cavities. If so, you must keep parts separated by mold cavities. You may need to build more tolerance or flexibility into the fixture design to accommodate these mold cavity differences. Determine the range of part tolerances and aim your set up for the middle value.
For more details on troubleshooting pad printing, click here or feel free to contact your local Trans Tech rep at: www.itwtranstech.com
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