I saw an informercial the other night for a little machine that printed
pretty patterns on fingernails for about $60. It was a manually operated,
plastic, pad printer. In my TV induced delirium, it was several seconds
after the ad was off that I realized it would have been perfect for small,
low volume, overprinting of chip labels and I couldn't remember the product
name or manufacturer much less the web site or phone number.

---
James Newton (PICList Admin #3)
mailto:jamesnewton@piclist.com 1-619-652-0593
PIC/PICList FAQ: http://www.piclist.com or .org

-----Original Message-----
From: pic microcontroller discussion list
[mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Spehro Pefhany
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2000 21:01
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [OT]: Engraving/hot stamping knobs?


At 12:00 AM 9/25/00 +1200, you wrote:
>You may want to have a look into "Tampo" printing. That's a brand
>name but I can't remember what the generic term is.

Yes, "Tampon printing" or "Pad printing" is what it is called, generically.
The machines are very expensive for some reason. You can print
(including multiple colors) onto practically any surface. One company
used to demo them at trade shows by printing onto walnuts or golf
balls.

>It's the method used to print logos on pens and other give aways. You
>make up a plate using a similar process home etching a
>photo-sensitive PCB and the machine has a rubber pad that stamps onto
>the plate to pick up the ink and then stamps onto your product.
>It's ideal for small volume, multiple version work and is a lot less
>hassle than silkscreening.

Except it's only suitable for fairly small items, distorts the printed
image more than a "silk" screen (particularly if the "silk" is stainless-
steel mesh), and the machine is very expensive. I'm not sure the cleanup
is that much less than a silk screen of comparable size.

Best regards,

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=
Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the
reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
Contributions invited->The AVR-gcc FAQ is at: http://www.bluecollarlinux.com
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