Pad Printing Cliches
PAD PRINTING PLATES (CLICHÉS)
Automark is a leading supplier of pad printing plates (clichés) for pad printing machinery. We supply several types of pad printing plates:
- Laser engraveable pad printing plates
- Alcohol washable polymer pad printing plates
- Water washable polymer pad printing plates
- Steel pad printing plates in both thin and thick steel
All of our plates can be delivered in any size required and if necessary fitted with punched holes for any pad printing machine in the market.
Questions? Please contact us. Our specialists in the field of pad printing plates are at your disposal.
Cliché Service
If you don’t want to make printing plates yourself or if you only need the occasional plate, it might be better for us to make it for you. You can send us the artwork and let us do the rest. Once received, we can make the pad printing cliché you require in any of the cliché types you wish.
Cliche Building
Learn the art of making your own printing plates
LASER ENGRAVEABLE PAD PRINTING PLATES
ALCOHOL WASHABLE PHOTOPOLYMER PAD PRINTING PLATES
WATER WASHABLE PHOTOPOLYMER PAD PRINTING PLATES
STEEL PAD PRINTING ETCH PLATES
Laser engraveable pad printing plates (Clichés)
YL50 Laser Engraveable
Pad Printing Plates
These laser engraveable pad printing plates are made of aluminum. These laser engraveable pad printing plates can be engraved on 2 sides with a premium side designed for higher print capabilities. Since they are aluminum, they are not magnetic so a magnetic backing plate needs to be run behind the plate for the ink cup to adhere to the plate. Additionally, this plate only works with fiber lasers. The plates can also be used on machines with mechanical ink cup pressure. They are also suitable for open inkwell machines. The YL50 plates premium side lasts approximately 35,000 prints while the non-premium side lasts approximately 10,000 prints.
COL 40 Laser Engraveable
Pad Printing Plates
These laser engraveable pad printing plates have a steel core with a photopolymer layer on one side. These laser engraveable pad printing plates can be engraved on 1 side and are easy to use in combination with magnetic ink cups. The plates can also be used on machines with mechanical ink cup pressure. They are also suitable for open inkwell machines. The COL 40 laser engraveable pad printing clichés can be engraved with either a fiber, YAG, or CO2 laser. The plates last approximately 50,000 prints.
Alcohol washable photopolymer pad printing plates (Clichés)
S58 Alcohol Washable Photopolymer Pad Printing Plates
These alcohol washable pad printing plates have a steel carrier with a photopolymer layer on top. These plates can be used in combination with magnetic ink cups as well as with mechanical pressed ink cups. They are also suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines. The alcohol washable photopolymer pad printing clichés can be used only on 1 side. This type of plate is simple to make without the use of aggressive chemicals. You can wash them out with our Automark alcohol developer. This type of pad printing plate is a lower priced variant of the S52 plate. Very fine rasterfilm can be used with allows for very fine detailed artwork. Typical plate life is 15,000 prints
ST52 Alcohol Washable Photopolymer Pad Printing Plates
These alcohol washable pad printing plates have a steel carrier with a photopolymer layer on top. These plates can be used in combination with magnetic ink cups as well as with mechanical pressed ink cups. They are also suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines. The alcohol washable photopolymer pad printing clichés can be used only on 1 side. This type of plate is simple to make without the use of aggressive chemicals. You can wash them out with our Automark alcohol developer. The quality of the S52 plate is higher than the S58 plate and lasts longer. Typical plate life is 30,000 prints.
Water washable photopolymer pad printing plates (Clichés)
WS43 Water Washable Photopolymer Pad Printing Plates
These water washable pad printing plates have a steel carrier with a photopolymer layer on top. These plates can be used in combination with magnetic ink cups as well as with mechanical pressed ink cups. They are also suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines. The water washable photopolymer pad printing clichés can be used only on 1 side. This type of plate is simple to make without the use of aggressive chemicals. You can wash them out with warm water (suggested demineralized water). The quality of the WS43 plate is excellent. Typical plate life is 15,000 prints.
WSA52 Water Washable Photopolymer Pad Printing Plates
These water washable pad printing plates are a thicker version of the WS43 plates and have a steel carrier with a photopolymer layer on top. These plates can be used in combination with magnetic ink cups as well as with mechanical pressed ink cups. They are also suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines. The water washable photopolymer pad printing clichés can be used only on 1 side. This type of plate is simple to make without the use of aggressive chemicals. You can wash them out with warm water (suggested demineralized water). The quality of the WS43 plate is excellent. Typical plate life is 30,000 prints.
Thin Steel photopolymer pad printing plates (Clichés)
Thinsteel pad printing plates
0.25mm, 0.3mm and 0.5mm
These steel pad printing plates are made out of steel and coated with a photosensitive layer, covered with a black foil. These pad printing plates can be used on both surfaces. These steel pad printing clichés can be used in combination with magnetic ink cups as well as with mechanical ink cups. They are also suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines. The pad printing plates can be etched with nitric acid, etching salt containing iron-tri-chloride. The thinsteel pad printing clichés are available in 3 thicknesses at 0.25mm, 0.3mm and 0.5mm. Typical printing life differs depending on thickness but generally lifespans range from 50,000 to over 100,000 prints.
Thinsteel pad printing plates
0.5mm lapped quality
These steel pad printing plates are made out of steel and the quality is the same as the normal thinsteel plates above. The difference is these have a lapped surface. One side of the pad printing cliché is perfectly smooth. This smooth surface ensures a much longer lifetime than a normal thinsteel pad printing cliché. These pad printing plates are mainly used for large printing runs. These plates can be used in combination with magnetic ink cups as well as with mechanical pressed ink cups. They are also suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines. The pad printing plates can be etched with nitric acid, etching salt containing iron-tri-chloride. Typical printing life is over 200,000 prints.
Thicksteel pad printing plates
10MM lapped quality
In general, thick steel printing plates are only used for very large runs. They are made out of hardened steel. We purchase this steel from a foundry in Sweden. This steel allows the print image to last a very long time. These can be supplied with a photosensitive layer. This way the pad printing clichés can be made similar to the thinsteel pad printing clichés.
We can also supply these pad printing plates without the photosensitive layer, which makes them suitable for laser engraving. The advantage of laser engraving is that you can engrave it very accurately, up to an accuracy of one micron. Also the positioning of the artwork on the cliché can be done very accurately.
Automark can also provide laser engraving for you.
These pad printing plates can be used in conjuction with magnetic ink cups as well as mechanical pressed ink cups. They are also very suitable for open inkwell pad printing machines.
These pad printing plates are available in any size required. One side printing is standard but they can optionally be purchased so both sides contain images or can be engraved.
Thick steel pad printing plates are available in a standard quality and in an alloy with 12% chrome. The chrome quality pad printing plates are even more durable. Chome coated plates cannot be etched with nitric acid.
