Modern printing technologies. types of stamp products. Polymer Illumination Technology

To date, there are several technologies: polymer illumination; laser engraving on rubber; production of rubber by vulcanization; from porous rubber using flash technology (paint-filled technology); creation of squeeze seals.

Polymer Illumination Technology

This is the fastest, easiest and cheapest printing plate technology.

However, this technology has its drawbacks. Sometimes the quality of seals made using this technology does not satisfy customers. The fact is that the photopolymer, which is used in the manufacture of this technology, does not tolerate the effects of solvents and alcohols, that is, you can only use water-based paint, and you can put them exclusively on paper. Indelible, non-fading stamps for foil, cardboard, fabric, etc. must be made using other technologies.

In addition, the photopolymer has a low resolution, the quality of thin lines and raster images will be low. And with intensive use, the material will "float" in just a few months, increasing the diameter by 1 - 2 mm, which in some cases is already quite critical, and you have to order new prints from prints.

But - it's simple and cheap, and it takes a little time to manufacture. It is used for a number of purposes, for example, confirmation of papers with a small amount of documentation.

Very practical technology. are quite durable, resistant to oil, alcohol, solvents (they can be applied not only to paper using indelible, resistant paints), the material is quite cruel. And most importantly - the resolution is very high.

Laser engraving technology allows you to transfer even very complex graphic images. However, production takes quite a long time, and over time, with intensive use, thin elements, especially those standing separately, begin to “crumble”.

This technology makes it possible to obtain durable seals from oil-petrol-resistant rubber, which does not need to be changed every few months, like photopolymer rubber - it will last all ten years.

Disadvantages of the technology: material consumption, labor intensity, multi-stage and a certain complexity of the manufacturing process - and, consequently, sufficient high cost, especially for single orders. Also, it is not possible to transfer bitmaps.

Production from cellular rubber using flash technology (red-filled technology)

One of the most promising technologies, but so far only beginning to spread in the world. In the US, it already produces 25% of prints, in Russia so far - only 5%, but, apparently, we should expect the spread of flash technology in the near future.

The resulting seals made of microporous rubber are almost reliefless, they do not need a pad, they are very comfortable. They have a high resolution high purity print. In addition, flash technology makes it possible to produce multi-color printing plates.

Disadvantages, however, also exist: ink sometimes flows (like ink pens), and can end at a very inopportune moment. Only special inks are needed.

Reusable, refilling costs around 100 rubles, it is enough for about five to ten thousand prints.

Creation of squeeze seals.

Another interesting technology that allows you to create original prints by extruding paper. It is, of course, more expensive than usual, because it provides a small manual machine.

An unmistakable choice of manufacturing technology for your printed advertising project can be made based on a good knowledge of the various aspects of individual methods and technologies of printing production. Where to start and how to decide on the choice of method and technology for printing a particular publication?

It is necessary to take into account the following parameters related to the printing of the publication: money, time, circulation, printed material, color, print quality requirements and the form (type) of the publication.

Finances and quality are proportional, the size of the circulation, the amount of ink and the cost of one printed copy are also tied to each other, the type of material (paper) also significantly limits the choice of printing technology, because not all methods and printing techniques are suitable for one or another printed material.

The most difficult parameter is time. The folk aphorism "time is money" in the domestic printing industry has long become tangible.

Modern printing technologies.

In the printing industry, there are many different printing technologies, these are:

The variety of technologies is not inferior to the variety of printed materials. Each of them has its own characteristics, limitations and preferences. Some printing technologies were specially invented for some special cases, for example, aniline printing (later renamed flexography) - for printing on cellophane and not only, which we are witnessing today

Letterpress printing technologies with metal printing plates have lost their dominant position in the segments of most types of publishing products in recent decades, although they still occupy a significant market share - up to 30%. Such a large proportion of letterpress printing is due to its universal reproduction capabilities when reproducing originals of various types: text, illustrations, mixed, single and multi-color. Letterpress prints are characterized by great clarity, sharpness, saturation of tone and color. A positive feature of the technologies of this method is also the stability of the image reproduction quality throughout the entire run, due, in particular, to the absence of such “disturbing” factors as moistening the forms in traditional offset printing or removing ink from blank elements of gravure printing forms.

An important stimulus for the development and maintenance of the competitiveness of letterpress printing was the introduction of flexible photopolymer full-size forms with a small (0.4-0.7 mm) gap depth. Photopolymer printing plates, combined with an increase in the rigidity of the design of printing machines and the use of synthetic deckles made of reinforced materials on a porous fibrous base, have made significant changes in letterpress printing technology and have made it possible to significantly increase work efficiency by reducing the time s x the cost of preparing for printing.

At the same time, photopolymer printing plates contributed to the additional development of such advantages traditionally inherent in letterpress printing technologies as good resolution, which makes it possible to print single- and multi-color illustrations using a raster (depending on the paper used) with lineature up to 60, and on coated papers - and up to 80 lines/cm, sufficient graphic, gradation and color accuracy of reproduction of images different in nature. This is due, in particular, to the possibility of obtaining clear, sharp contours of line and raster elements on the print, the relative simplicity of the technological process, the ease of preparing the machine for printing and printing the circulation.

According to forecasts, the "classic" letterpress printing from metal printing plates will lose its importance in the future.

The progressive development of traditional offset printing technologies with moisture is due to a number of objective reasons, which include:

• universal opportunities for artistic design of publications (great freedom in the layout of material within the strip, the use of image elements of various configurations, sizes and colors and their combinations, etc.);
• the possibility of double-sided printing of multi-color (including highly artistic) products in one run;
• b about Greater (compared to letterpress printing technologies) availability of manufacturing large-format products on sheet and roll machines using papers of various densities;
• availability of high-performance and technologically flexible printing equipment;
• improvement in quality and the emergence of new materials, primarily printed papers, various types of plastics up to raster (for lenticular printing) and lens (for 3D technology) plastic materials, printing inks, deckle and rubber-fabric plates;
• the introduction of flexible and efficient options for plate production into practice: now offset printing plates can be made by photomechanical, diffusion, electrophotographic, laser and other technologies, and the use of pre-sensitized plates of various types and automation of their exposure and processing contributed to the normalization of the quality parameters of printing plates.

Modern offset production is characterized by the intensive use of electronic technology at all stages of preparing a publication for printing and carrying out the printing process, as well as by a fairly wide introduction of standardization and optimization elements. The latter include test scales for operational control, matching of gradation and colorimetric characteristics of color proofs and production prints, normalized densitometry, including the use of spectrodensitometers. Currently, a wide variety of publications are printed with offset technologies: books, magazines, newspapers, all kinds of printed promotional materials. Offset printing equipment has undergone significant changes in recent decades. - sheet and roll rotary machines. Its main part is multi-color machines built on a modular basis, that is, from unified printing units with wide opportunities. For example, varying the brilliance of the front and back sides of a paper sheet or web, operating speed up to 10-18 thousand cycles / h (sheet) and up to 90 thousand cycles / h (rolled) and means that provide effective implementation printing process.

The most important advantages of sheet-fed machines include: the ability to change the format and color of printing, a wide range of printed materials - from light papers with a thickness of at least 0.04 mm and a weight of at least 40 g / m 2,

to cardboard up to 1.2 mm thick and weighing up to 1000 g / m 2, a relatively small amount of paper waste and less harmful to environment. Strengthening the positions of sheet offset printing is also facilitated by such factors as the gradual transition from large-circulation printing to the production (primarily of books and advertising) of products in small print runs. Intensive equipment of sheet-fed presses with microprocessor systems for control, regulation and reduction of machine preparation time during order changes, contributing to an increase in productivity and profitability of the printing process, expansion of demand for high-quality multi-color products in various formats obtained on sheet-fed presses through the use of, for example, two built-in varnishing units for varnishing both the face and the back of the print.

Today, offset printing machines have been created with sections for embossing, foiling (cold foil stamping) and creating diffraction patterns on a UV varnish layer. Printing with UV inks in sheetfed offset printing is gaining new market niches for printed products.

Advantages web-fed rotary offset presses primarily due to the high technical speeds of their work, the presence of a folding machine that allows you to get a semi-finished product at the exit, ready for further processing, a fairly wide range of printed papers, the weight range of which lies in the range from 28 to 145 g / m 2, obtaining at the exit from machines for printed products in the form of a roll, individual sheets or notebooks. The technological flexibility and efficiency of web offset printing, combined with the intensive introduction of electronics in the field of prepress operations, allow it to effectively compete, on the one hand, with sheetfed offset for short runs, and on the other hand, with gravure and letterpress printing for large runs. The main disadvantages of roll-to-roll (and not only offset) machines are the “rigidity” (preset) of printing formats.

A not very prominent place in the arsenal of modern (primarily publishing) printing is occupied by gravure printing technologies. The period of the most intensive development of these printing technologies was the 70s of the twentieth century.

It should be noted that intaglio printing has become widespread in the field of non-publishing production. This is printing on packaging (including synthetic) materials, making labels, designing wallpaper, the so-called decorative printing - imitation on paper of a pattern of valuable wood, stone, fabric, printing of securities, obtaining images on paper for their subsequent reproduction on fabric, in particular by thermal transfer.

The undoubted advantages of the gravure printing method are the most high speeds, achieved through the use of an electrostatic field in the printing area and inks based on volatile solvents, which ensure their fast fixing. In the last 10-15 years, the speed of gravure printing machines has doubled. These machines do not require regulation of the thickness of the ink layer applied to the printed surface. Gravure printing provides the most accurate reproduction of the color and gradation parameters of images that are embedded in the printed form and do not change during the printing process. This advantage of the intaglio printing method makes it possible to reproduce single-color and multi-color originals with literally photographic accuracy.

Along with this, however, there are also serious reasons hindering a wider

spread of gravure printing technology. First of all, this is a high capital intensity, leading to the concentration of large production capacities, which in many cases makes it difficult to use them for sufficient effective level, as well as quite significant costs of manual labor at the final (control and proofreading) stage of manufacturing plate cylinders. Due to the significant complexity and time involved in producing gravure cylinders (although as shown by drupa 2008, Hell has introduced a number of innovations to reduce cylinder production and imaging times), the use of technology deep way printing is beneficial only when printing large runs - from about 150-250 thousand prints and when reprinting the same order, for example, printing packaging or decorative materials.

Thermal transfer (thermal transfer printing), although not a pure printing technology, helps out in cases where it is necessary to transfer the same image to materials of different composition. The image carrier for subsequent thermal transfer is usually paper or cloth. And the essence of the technology itself lies in the fact that a colorful mirror image and a layer of hot-melt adhesive are applied on paper using a screen, electrographic or offset method. The finished workpiece is transferred to materials of various textures and shapes. Akin to thermal transfer printing on cutting plotters. Unlike the first, the second method is effective in the manufacture of single copies.

Materials that are printed on

The printing process involves printing on a wide range of materials: paper, cardboard, film, plastic, foil, tin, as well as finished products, such as lighting bodies, ampoules, ping-pong balls, lighters, pens or T-shirts, as well as on natural products - for example, chicken eggs. With such a variety, it is very important to choose the right method and technology for printing a particular order.

Often the material to be printed almost unequivocally dictates the method of printing, in other cases, in order to make optimal choice, you need to consider additional factors: the possibilities, conditions and limitations of the technological process.

Paper is the most common material for any known printing technology, which is produced specifically for printing. To choose the right printing method and technology, it is necessary to consider additional factors: circulation, print format, suitability of paper for a particular equipment, interaction of its surface layer with ink.

For a more prominent identification of the problem, consider the second most common printed material - cardboard. It is thicker than paper, has a higher surface density, stiffness and a tendency to warp. Since thick cardboard cannot be rolled, only sheet-fed printing is suitable for it. It should be noted that cardboard, as a rule, is produced as a packaging material, and printers are forced to print on it.

Other less common print materials, which are still used quite often, include plastic, different kinds films, foil, glass, wood, concrete, fabric or finished products such as lighters, ashtrays, bottles, corks, etc. Sometimes you have to deal with such unusual surfaces as chicken eggs, ampoules and Christmas decorations.

From the above examples, it becomes clear that the printed materials differ not only in structure, but also in thickness, flexibility, elasticity, brittleness, rigidity, properties of the surface layer, the geometric shape of the printed surface, which can be convex, concave, regular and irregular. How to understand such a variety and interweaving of properties?

Printing paper was created and produced specifically for the manufacture of printed products using printing technologies. The variety of grades and types of printed paper, although of course, is difficult to see. All this is created for the manufacture of printed products. The most important thing here is to choose the right paper that is most suitable for a particular case. With cardboards it is more difficult because of the ambiguity of choice. The range of boards is smaller, and, most importantly, they are created not only to seal their surface, as is the case with paper. Cardboard is used to make covers of publications, book covers, boxes, and corrugated cardboard is used to make boxes. First of all, cardboard is selected in accordance with its main function, and it is on it that you have to print.

With regard to paper, we can say that, having the technology, you can choose the appropriate paper or, if the paper is already defined, you can choose the appropriate technology, and the paper will even prompt this choice. For cardboard, this rule does not work - it is chosen according to other criteria, and therefore the printing and ink technology is selected for the already selected cardboard.

Due to its low strength under pressure during the printing process, corrugated board can only be printed with flexography or with analog screen printing (silk printing) or digital technologies. inkjet printing. For small areas to be printed, it is theoretically possible to use pad printing. All of these printing technologies have either elastic printing elements (flexography), or low printing pressure (screen printing and pad printing), or no printing pressure with inkjet printing.

Thin films tear during ink transfer due to the hardness of letterpress printing elements or the very high tackiness of offset inks. There is also a problem with the drying of the paint. The surface of the films, as a rule, does not absorb ink, and therefore printing inks with rapidly evaporating solvents or binders (alcohols, water, light petroleum products) or special UV inks are required. This is especially important for conventional flat offset printing, where the binder inks must be oil based. In summary, thin films, due to their fragility, require the use of printing technology with elastic printing elements, with low printing pressure, or the use of inks with low tack. All films have non-absorbent printed surfaces, which imposes severe restrictions on the composition of the ink and its technology, reliability and setting time on the print.

Self-adhesive materials, foil, different types plastics, metal surfaces, thick flat glass. Everything that has been said about films applies to them as well.

However, there are also features. Thick flat glass, plastic, metal, stone, concrete and wood surfaces are rigid and usually very heavy. To seal light and rigid planes from various materials, special sheet-fed offset, flexographic or screen printing machines are used. For very heavy and flat stationary surfaces, only screen printing can be used, and for small printed surfaces, portable small flexo printing plates in the form of seals and stamps can be used.

For some materials, the printed surface absorbs paint well, but it has a very rough texture, such as wood, fabric, concrete. To create a rich print, you need to apply a thick layer of ink, which only screen printing is capable of. The thickness of the ink layer in silk screen printing can reach 600 microns (0.6 mm). When using stencils, the thickness of the paint is not limited. Spray can be used as an ink for screen printing, which greatly facilitates the application of ink and its economy, since there is no need to fill the pores of the texture to create a rich color. For comparison: in traditional offset printing, the thickness of the ink layer does not exceed 2 microns (0.002 mm).

Printing on thin flat glass, on ampoules and chicken eggs is complicated by the fragility of the surface itself. Printing technologies with minimal pressure and a gentle touch are needed, which only screen printing and pad printing are capable of. The ideal case - when there is no printing pressure, as in inkjet printing when using a stencil and spray paint - this is the same inkjet printing with a permanent printing plate, which during the printing process only touches the printed surface without pressure.

And one more feature that arises in the manufacture of souvenirs is the geometric shape of its printed surface. Regular convex geometric shapes (cylinder, cone, ball) can be printed using screen, inkjet and pad printing technologies. The screen printing plate can cover any regular or not quite regular convex geometric surface. Elastic and soft with a gentle touch to the surface of the tampon during pad printing, if it is correctly selected in shape, it can cover a convex and concave surface of any complexity. Non-contact inkjet printing technology does not touch the surface and is not limited by its shape. Therefore, any convex or concave surfaces can be printed using pad (theoretically and inkjet) printing.

How not to make a mistake when choosing

From the above material, one, but significant, conclusion can be drawn: the variety of printing technologies is not inferior to the variety of printed materials and colorants: paints, inks, varnishes, toners and foils. Each of them has its own characteristics and limitations.

Initial parameters	Recommendations
Large edition, many illustrations and high print quality	Sheetfed or web offset (high quality multi-color printing, high quality halftone printing, high level of normalization and standardization, wide variety of inks, papers and equipment, high productivity) or gravure web printing (high quality multicolor printing, high quality halftone printing and high performance)
Medium print run, many illustrations and high quality	Sheetfed offset printing (high quality multicolor printing, high quality halftone printing, high level of normalization and standardization, and cheap printing plates)
Large and medium print runs of newspapers	Roll-fed offset printing (high quality and productivity) or flexography (high print runs, high productivity, low cost of production due to cheap inks and equipment compared to offset printing)
Small editions, many illustrations, high quality	Small format sheetfed offset (high quality multi-color printing, high quality halftone printing, high level of normalization and standardization, wide variety of inks, papers and equipment and high productivity), DI and Indigo digital web and sheet printing (high quality and fast order fulfillment)
Large and medium print runs, text and line illustrations, high quality	High quality roll printing with photopolymer plates (high quality multicolor printing, high quality line art and text printing, high normalization and standardization and high productivity)
Large and medium print runs of labels and packaging with many post-printing operations - creasing, embossing, die-cutting, numbering, varnishing, cutting	Flexography (high runtime of printing plates, low cost of production compared to offset and gravure printing due to cheap inks and equipment in the form of aggregates - production lines, high productivity due to in-line production)
Medium and small runs of labels and packaging with many post-print operations - creasing, embossing, die-cutting, numbering, varnishing, cutting	Narrow web flexo (all the advantages of large flexo, but cheaper equipment compared to large flexo)
Small runs of large format and high quality	Sheetfed offset printing (high quality and cheap printing plates) and silk screen printing (cheap printing plates and color saturation due to the large thickness of the ink layer on the print). Low resolution in silk screen printing is not a decisive quality parameter for large format images that are perceived from a distance, and color saturation only improves the quality and perception of posters.
Ultra-small and single runs of large format	Inkjet plotters (large format digital printing with its efficiency, printing without a permanent material printing plate and without spending money and time on its production)
Ultra-small and single runs of small format (up to A3)	Printers and Indigo type digital printing (small format digital printing with its efficiency, printing without a permanent printing plate and cost and time for its production)
Any circulation, high quality with personalization or when there is not enough time	Any digital printing at the minimum order value (speed and flexibility of digital printing)
with strict quality requirements	Flexography (elastic and soft printing elements, low printing pressure, high run-time of printing plates, high productivity, low production cost due to cheap printing plates and equipment compared to intaglio)
Printing on thin films and materials with non-absorbent surface with stringent quality requirements	Gravure (high print quality)
When using for printing UV inks and varnishes	Flexography (there are no restrictions on printing inks, as in offset, when choosing the compatibility of colors and varnishes on the print, cheap forms compared to gravure printing). Depending on the circulation - narrow-web or wide-web printing machine
For printing on flat, any composition materials using any printing inks	Silk-screen or screen printing (no restrictions on the composition of inks, cheap printing plates)
For printing on any composition of flat materials, if the inks are suitable (compatible) for the printed surface	Pad printing (small formats) and inkjet printing (any formats)
with a convex surface geometric shape	Pad printing, screen printing or screen printing (flexibility of the printing plate or pad and ability to cover the printed surface) and inkjet printing (no printing plate, non-contact printing method)
For printing on materials (products) with a convex surface of irregular geometric shape	Pad printing (tampon flexibility and ability to cover the printed surface) and inkjet printing (no printing plate, non-contact printing method)
For printing on materials (products) with a concave surface of irregular geometric shape, but not very deep	Pad printing (the ability of a swab to penetrate surface depressions and apply ink) and, theoretically, inkjet printing (no printing plate, non-contact printing method)
For printing on materials (products) with a concave surface of irregular geometric shape of any depth	Pad printing only (the ability of a swab to penetrate into surface depressions and apply paint)
For printing on fragile materials and materials with a surface of any geometric shape	Pad printing (gentle touch of the swab when applying paint) and inkjet printing (non-contact printing method)
For printing on very fragile materials	Inkjet only (non-contact printing method)

Notes:

1. For thin cardboard that can be wound on a roll and passed through a web press, everything is the same as for paper.

2. Thick cardboard can only be printed on specially designed sheet-fed offset (high quality), flexo (low production cost and high print plate runtime), gravure (high quality, high print plate run time) and screen printing (cheap print plate ), and everything else - as for paper.

3. Microcorrugated board and corrugated board can only be printed with flexography (elastic and soft printing elements, low printing pressure) for large runs and screen printing for small runs (cheap printing plate, low printing pressure). The choice is specified by the terms of production and the cost of the finished product.

4. On microcorrugated cardboard, you can also print on sheet offset machines (rather an exception than a rule), which are specially designed for this - they have grippers with graphics (hooks and needles) and a very soft offset cloth (high print quality).

Strengths and weaknesses of printing technologies

Inkjet printing (screen printing) does not impose special requirements on the microgeometry of the surface of the printed material. Jet supply of paint provides simplicity of filling of all microroughnesses of a surface. For this reason, apparently, it is possible to achieve a high intensity and brightness of the print with a minimum thickness of the ink layer. Today, inkjet printing technologies are rapidly developing, improving and successfully replacing traditional offset printing from market niches where print quality is the optimization criterion.

Flexography (high printing method) has recently been rapidly gaining niches occupied by gravure and partly by offset printing.

Due to the elasticity of the printing elements, flexography is suitable for printing on thin paper, thin plastic film,
tin, self-adhesive film, metallized paper, foil, on any cardboard, including corrugated cardboard.

Traditional offset printing (wetting flat printing method) is also developing. In order to avoid rupture of the surface of the plate and offset cylinders, the Sleeve technology was invented (sleeve plate and offset materials were created).

Rigid printing elements, high printing pressure and viscous and very sticky ink in letterpress technologies create relief and tear thin printed materials, crumple corrugated board and pluck the surface layer of loose (puffy) materials.

Letterpress prints best when printed on uncoated, rough, puffy and thick paper, which allows the printing elements to sink and create relief. There is a “pillow” effect with text and illustrations located on it. Letterpress machines are designed to print on rigid papers (cardboard), wooden stands, measuring rulers, medals and coins. Letterpress provides designers with special print qualities. Since the ink is transferred to the paper with strong pressure, the print resembles embossing - it is characterized by the clarity of the elements and the three-dimensionality of text and line illustrations.

In conventional tampon printing (offset printing of the gravure printing method), the ink is transferred from the gravure printing plate to the surface to be printed by means of an elastic tampon. Pad printing is used for printing on surfaces with an irregular geometric shape - on pens, lighters, on fragile surfaces - on ampoules, eggshells, lighting flasks and on the recessed surfaces of bottles.

When it is necessary to apply a thick layer of paint or varnish, the technology of the screen printing process (traditional screen printing, silk screen printing) is second to none. These technologies can apply the ink to a surface of any convex geometric shape without imposing special requirements on the ink, as long as it passes through the printing elements and is fixed on the printed surface.

Single Decisions

Among the many solutions, there are unambiguous ones that should be highlighted in particular:

• printed matter with a circulation of less than 100 copies. - digital printing technologies: inkjet, laser printing, electrography (xerography);
• publishing and promotional products on paper and thin cardboard - offset;
• printing of packaging and containers on corrugated cardboard with a circulation of more than 1000 copies. - flexography or stencil. Doubts about this choice may arise in the case of border circulation. Then the print format, time and money will incline towards flexography or stencil;
• printing on finished industrial products (non-flat surfaces and volumetric industrial products) - inkjet, screen, pad printing technologies;
• label and packaging made of paper, thin cardboard, self-adhesives and foil with an increased requirement for print quality - definitely offset;
• printing of publications strict accountability(tickets, forms, excise and other stamps, coupons) - several technologies, such as offset, stencil and flexography, and more. This is dictated by the need to protect against forgery;
• printing on thin and stretch films - flexography;
• in-line production of labels and packaging in large numbers post-printing and finishing technologies - flexography lines, which can also include offset printing units, if the quality requirements for individual plots are increased.

Although of questionable quality, flexography, for example, is ideal for most types of packaging. Its inherent flexibility and a wide range of printed material in terms of composition, thickness and surface features, as well as its low price, make it very attractive. Flexographic machines are capable of not only printing, but also varnishing, embossing, creasing, carving, sticking a window, folding a box, gluing - and all this in one technological cycle. The ability of flexographic presses to work with water-based inks rather than oil-based inks is simply invaluable. Water-based paints are also preferred for environmental reasons.

Knowledge and the problem of choice

We can say with confidence: there are no bad and good ways and printing technologies. Them strengths appear in the area for which they are intended. That is where they should be used.

Today, there are many printing technologies. They can be divided according to the material from which the seal is made. These are, first of all, liquid and solid photopolymers, rubber and microporous red-filled rubber. Naturally, they differ in price, cost, resolution and organization of production.

photopolymer technology

This technology is based on the property of a photopolymer to harden under the influence of ultraviolet light of a certain spectrum.

Let's first look at fabrication from a liquid polymer.

To make a seal, it is necessary to draw a negative of the seal using a computer and bring it to film using laser printer. The resulting negative is covered with a so-called border, otherwise called a border tape to set the print height, thereby forming a mold for pouring into which the polymer is poured, then a transparent film is applied on top of the polymer. The filled form is clamped between two glasses and placed in the exposure chamber, where the illumination takes place. First of all, the side without the negative is illuminated, thereby forming the substrate ( reverse side) printing. Then the form is turned over and there is a light from the side of the negative. Where the negative was light, the polymer hardens, where it was dark, it remains liquid. Then the remaining polymer is washed off with water and an image is formed. After washing, it is necessary to illuminate the resulting print under ultraviolet light to give it greater hardness and get rid of residual stickiness. The print is ready to use.

Production from a solid polymer is distinguished by the absence of the need to illuminate the substrate (due to its presence initially) and the long exposure time of the relief side. At the same time, there is no need for illumination after washing.

Advantages:
1. Low production cost
2. Small cost for the organization of production
3. Easy to manufacture
4. Does not require specially equipped premises

Flaws:
1. Limitation on resolution

Similar polymers are used to make flexo forms for applying images to various packages, which significantly expands the scope of application, as well as cliches for hot foil stamping (used in the manufacture of business cards) and clichés used in the manufacture of rubber stamps by pressing.

rubber stamps

Can be made in two ways - laser engraving and vulcanization (pressing raw rubber).

Laser engraving on rubber

The process of laser engraving on rubber is the removal of blank elements of the printing matrix using a laser beam. By using a laser, high resolution can be achieved.

Advantages:
1. High resolution
2. Easy to manufacture
3. Almost does not require specially equipped premises
4. Low costs for organizing production (from 55 to 95 thousand rubles)
5. Fast payback equipment and the possibility of its use in the processing of other materials (additional profit)

Flaws :
1. The need to install an exhaust (ventilation), which should come with a laser machine

Vulcanization - long, multi-stage, labor-intensive technological process, as a result of which a print is obtained from raw rubber. It is as follows:

1. from the existing negative in the exposure chamber, a cliché is made of a solid photopolymer;
2. further, a matrix of the future rubber seal (from Bakelite) is made from the existing cliché with the help of a thermal press;
3. in this matrix, the future rubber seal is vulcanized using a heat press.

Advantages:
1. Allows you to get a print from rubber (in cases where it is necessary) without laser engraving. It is especially beneficial for large quantities of the same (such as "RECEIVED", "PAID", etc., which can be bought).

Flaws:
1. Restriction on resolution.
2. The inevitability of the appearance of an error due to the multi-stage technology.
3. High cost for piece orders.
4. An increase in the cost of organizing production due to the need to purchase a thermal press and a drying chamber, as well as an increase in cost due to the need to use intermediate consumables.

Flash technology

The use of this technology makes it possible to obtain stamp products with a very high resolution (if necessary), which, in turn, allows the production of stamp products with a higher degree of protection against counterfeiting.

The principle of the technology is based on selective baking of the pores of thermosensitive microporous rubber. With the help of a special carbon film, the light energy of a flash lamp is converted into thermal energy(70-75 C).

To create a printing surface on rubber, films with a positive image obtained from a laser printer are used (matte films Kimoto, Folex, transparent films Folex, 3M, etc.).

It is possible to use negative or positive films from photo output devices. Using negative films no carbon film required.

The carbon film, absorbing the light of the installation lamp, heats up and, upon contact with the rubber surface, bakes its pores.

The pores below the image remain open. The ink is poured through a special hole (fitting) into the tooling with a soldered or glued seal and saturates the seal within 1-2 hours. Filling time can be significantly reduced by heating the ink to 30-35C. After the seal or stamp is saturated with ink, the ink output required for filling is determined from the table (for an ordinary round seal with a diameter of 40-45 mm - 2-3 grams).

Advantages:
1. 5-8 thousand high-quality prints can be made from one refill of the print. The number of subsequent refueling is unlimited.
2. The quality of seals obtained by this Japanese technology is not lower than the level of seals made by laser engraving.
3. The technology makes it possible to obtain high-quality multi-color prints.

Flaws:

1. High cost of finished products.
2. The impossibility of making more than six standard seals in one cycle.

Equipment for making seals and stamps: 5 types of stamp products + 5 technologies for making seals and stamps + how much does it cost necessary equipment+ where to buy equipment for making seals and stamps?

It is unlikely that you will be able to imagine an enterprise or its director without a seal. This small item has become an essential attribute of any organization.

It serves as a confirmation of the authenticity of documents or simply indicates the action taken, the date or the person who delivered it.

Despite the fact that all documents are gradually “moving” to computers and gaining popularity electronic signatures, prints are in no hurry to go out of use. They have been in demand for many years and there is every reason to believe that demand will continue.

Accordingly, the number of their producers is increasing. If you have also set your eyes on this type of business, then you will be interested to know what is the equipment for the manufacture of seals and stamps what technologies are used and other details.

What is the difference between seal and stamp?

Seal- this is a mandatory attribute of the organization, which confirms the authenticity of the document. Most often it has a round shape and contains only printed elements.

Also, fixtures with company logos or other drawings are becoming popular now. The seal is affixed to important documents.

For everyday documents use stamps. They may already be various shapes and carry different information. Most often stamps are triangular or rectangular.

Compared to a stamp, a seal has greater legal force and must comply with certain standards. Stamps are used mainly for internal documents.

5 types of stamp products

Depending on the type of stamp products, it has a different purpose:

The law requires the mandatory presence of a seal for enterprises and private individuals. They are also necessary for government agencies and various legal organizations.

They are ordered legal entities for internal use. These are different dates, numerators, accounting marks (“received”, “corrected to believe”, “paid”).

Official seals

Such attributes are required government bodies authorities, including the President of the Russian Federation.

Facsimile

This is a copy of a person's signature, made in the form of a stamp. It is used as officials as well as ordinary citizens.

Souvenir products

Recently, souvenir stamp products are gaining popularity. It can be any pictures and inscriptions that are presented as a gift to teachers, doctors or just friends.

5 main technologies for making seals and stamps

Seals have been in demand for many centuries. Previously, they were used to seal "closed" letters and envelopes. True, the devices for this looked a little different than they do now.

Let's take a closer look at 5 existing stamp production technologies, as well as the equipment that is needed for this.

No. 1. Wax seals.

The main parts of such devices were a signet with a pattern (most often it was the coat of arms of a family or clan, state) and plastic material - sealing wax.

Sealing wax is made from the following raw materials:

• mixtures of solid resins (most often it is shellac or turpentine);
• aromatic resins and balms (sandarak, etc.);
• essential oils to drown out the unpleasant smell of resin;
• dyes (soot, ocher, red lead);
• chalk or gypsum, to increase refractoriness, i.e. so that the sealing wax does not melt at air temperature and does not spread strongly during melting.

The technology for making sealing wax is simple and does not require special complex equipment, but has its own nuances:

• The mass is melted at a low temperature in a sand bath furnace. It is best that the dishes are enameled.
• First, solid resins are melted, and various impurities are added later. Aromatic elements are added at the very end.
• After pouring the mass into molds, do not cool them with water or in refrigerators. So sealing wax can become brittle.

The seals themselves used to be made exclusively by hand by mechanical engraving, applying engraving to wood or metal. Then they were framed in a suitable tooling. The finished item could be an ordinary wooden one or made from precious metals and stones.

Now the variety of stamp production technologies is much greater.

No. 2. Curing.

Vulcanization is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process, which is better suited for high-volume production.

Production is carried out by squeezing out a cliché from a rubber base. Due to the multi-stage, the risk of errors increases. This method of manufacturing stamp products requires not only complex and bulky equipment for, but also the use of a separate room.

The vulcanization technology is used less and less and is gradually falling out of use, so we will not consider it in more detail.

Number 3. Photopolymerization.

In short, the essence of this technology is as follows:

1. First, a layout is prepared on a computer and printed on a matte film.
2. A special substance (photopolymer) is superimposed on the negative of the image and placed between the glasses.
3. The resulting structure is placed in an exposure chamber and illuminated with ultraviolet light.
4. The result is a blank print or stamp, which is attached to the tooling.

To use photopolymerization technology, you will need the following materials and equipment:

PC		Using a PC and a special software develop a layout of a seal or stamp.
Laser printer		The layout is printed on matte paper using a laser printer.
exposure camera		In the exposure chamber, the polymer is sequentially illuminated with ultraviolet light and a cliché blank is obtained.
photopolymer		The photopolymer acts as a raw material for future harvesting. It is either liquid or solid.
Other Consumables		These include auxiliary materials: matte film for printing negatives, detergents, brushes, special sprays, etc.

Printing time using photopolymer technology - from 30 minutes.

No. 4. Laser engraving.

Laser engraving allows you to get stamp products High Quality with the transmission of the smallest details. The process of making a seal on special equipment is fully automated and does not require the participation of an operator.

All that is needed is to connect the engraver to the computer and start the layout.

What you need to make stamps using laser engraving:

laser engraver		This engraver is connected directly to the computer and is highly accurate.
		Exists special rubber for laser engraving. You can, of course, use ordinary black rubber, but you should not save on this. Engraving on black rubber produces a lot of soot, contaminates equipment and is not of high quality.

The print layout is created using a PC for almost all technologies.

The process of creating a stamp using laser engraving takes no more than 6 minutes.

No. 5. Flash technology.

Flash technology is generally similar to photopolymerization. Porous rubber acts as a basis for printing.

In the manufacture of the workpiece, the parts that are under the pattern are baked. The rest of the porous base is saturated with paint. Thus, a stamp without relief is obtained.

Flash system		Flash lamps bake the surface of the stamp, which is under the surface of the matte film with the image. After that, the workpiece is saturated with paint for 30-60 minutes.
foam rubber		Heat-sensitive rubber with micropores allows you to print without relief.
Expendable materials		To make a positive for the future stamp, a matte film is used. Ink is also needed for refilling the finished print, etc.

The indisputable advantages of stamp products made on flash equipment are their service life, the possibility of refilling and a high level of protection against counterfeiting.

Equipment for the manufacture of seals and stamps: cost and benefits

Those wishing to start their own business should choose among the last three methods: photopolymerization, laser engraving and flash technology.

Consider how much the minimum equipment for making seals and stamps costs, as well as what the cost of one sample we will eventually get:

Method	Equipment	Cost, rub.	Cost of printing with a diameter of 40 mm
Necessary equipment for all technologies	PC	from 40 000	-
	Laser printer	from 7 000
photopolymerization	exposure camera	from 7 000	180
	photopolymer	from 2 000
	Other Consumables	from 5 000
			Total: from 14,000 rubles
Laser engraving	laser engraver	from 55 000	220
	Rubber for laser engraving	from 5 000
			Total: from 74,000 rubles
Flash	Flash system	from 40 000	200
	foam rubber	from 5 000
	Expendable materials	from 15 000
			Total: from 60,000 rubles

As you can see, the cheapest option is the production of seals and stamps by photopolymerization. But when choosing, it is also worth considering the production time of one workpiece, the possibility of simultaneous production of several samples and ease of use of the equipment.

Where to buy printing equipment?

It’s worth starting with the fact that you can buy both new and used equipment. Buying used machines, you run the risk of getting unusable or pretty outdated equipment. But if you are good at this, then you should look for a suitable option through popular bulletin boards on the Internet.

For example, used equipment has a chance to be found here:

• https://www.avito.ru
• https://www.do-ska.top
• https://russiabazar.com

In case you decide to buy everything new, there are two options:

1. Buy equipment for making stamp seals in a specialized store.
2. Search for a better option in the online store:

• https://www.pechati-lubye.ru
• https://www.poligraph.ru
• https://www.print-m.ru

Want to learn more about how seals are made?

Then watch this interesting and educational video:

In the production of stamp products, the main thing is good technical support. Therefore, before starting your own business in this area, explore existing stamp making equipment, its features, advantages and disadvantages.

This will help you produce high quality products at affordable prices. And most importantly - to get a decent profit from your own business.

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