Plate Making Department

Our Plate Department factors in all aspects of your particular job
specifications and examines variables that will affect printing quality. Your questions are answered with the expertise to guide you to the most cost-efficient solutions.

Our plate department also works closely with our Graphics Department to assure your artwork looks the way you think it should. We're the ones who are going to make sure that your pad printing results are the best that they can possibly be.

• We'll factor in the length of the job and the technical requirements.
• We look at how the product will be handled by the end-user
• Determine what course of action needs to be followed.
• And, if and when your job changes, we'll do it all over again to make sure you look good.

Polymer Plates

Alcohol or Water Wash - When selecting polymer plate material, cost and number of impressions are a determining factors. Polymer plates come in different hardness and are rated for jobs that run as few as 10,000 impressions to projects that extend for 70,000 impressions, or more.

• Consist of a steel backing layer
• Layer of UV sensitive nylon
• Removable protective coating

Thin Steel Plates

.018" or .020" thick - For runs up to 500,000 impressions with a closed cup system, and less than 100,000 with an open well system and are available in various sizes up to 7.874" wide, both in etched and unetched plates.

• Bright polish carbon steel
• Rockwell hardness of 48-52
• Flatness of 0.2%

Thick Steel Plates

.25" or .50" thick A2 steel with a Rockwell hardness of 61-62 - Thick steel plates are generally not sold as stock, but as etched only, and are most appropriate for long- run jobs. Thick steel plates are rated to last for 1 million impressions. Thick steel plates are custom in all aspects, including size, thickness and number of etches.

Important: The plate life may vary depending on the type of ink you use or the presence of dirt and debris that contaminate the plate surface.

Information needed when ordering a plate

Our customer service representative will ask you several questions:

• What plate material are you ordering?
• What size (width by length) do you need?
• How many plates do you want to order?
• Do you want us to punch holes in the plates for you?
• Do you want us to etch the plates for you?
• Do/If you etch your own plates, do you need any more supplies?

Art Requirements

Click on the link to view Art Requirements for plate making.