# coule I use a pad printer to add a label inside my shirt?



## OTFINC (Mar 24, 2009)

could I use a pad printer to put a label inside my shirts? such as this one
New Pad Printing Printer Machine Equipment - eBay (item 330524913661 end time Feb-28-11 12:52:46 PST)


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## taricp35 (Dec 10, 2008)

yes you can, but don't no anything about that printer. what did the seller say?

Check out this video:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfywZS1Ozzk&feature=player_embedded[/media]


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## idonaldson (Sep 29, 2008)

Yes you have the option of manual - like imprintor or air operated one like ink-cups. At the ISS long beach show - incups were doing clothing labels and handing out samples. There is a standard of what must go on the label as a minimum but once you cover those you can add what you want.


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## FatKat Printz (Dec 26, 2008)

Remember you will need plates made ($25-50$each) or buy an exposure unit ($200-500) and blank plates.. 
and you need special textile ink..


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## TheBradley (Feb 21, 2011)

Yes you can. We opperate these machines for neck labels all the time and customers have been very happy with results. Costs do add up though. They lure you in with a reasonably priced machine and a really low ink cost per shirt. What they don't talk about is the plate costs, the thinners and hardeners, the pads themselves, etc. Great equipment if you are doing high volumes...otherwise maybe not the best solution.


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## OTFINC (Mar 24, 2009)

after posting this thread I did some more research online and found this company. They seem to have all the supplies.


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## OTFINC (Mar 24, 2009)

TheBradley said:


> Costs do add up though. They lure you in with a reasonably priced machine and a really low ink cost per shirt. What they don't talk about is the plate costs, the thinners and hardeners, the pads themselves, etc.


Im very curious about this. Is there anywhere that goes over the process in detail. I watched how plates were made last night and how the machine ran. But im curious about he hrdeners and thinners. how do these work. What kind of cleanup is involved? all solvents and stuff?


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## TheBradley (Feb 21, 2011)

OTFINC said:


> Im very curious about this. Is there anywhere that goes over the process in detail. I watched how plates were made last night and how the machine ran. But im curious about he hrdeners and thinners. how do these work. What kind of cleanup is involved? all solvents and stuff?


I know inkcupsnow.com has a lot of videos on the process, although I don't believe they get into the mixing of thinners and hardners too much. I'm sure any company that is selling this equipment or supplies will be happy to share with you the correct process for their goods, as they want you to suceed and keep buying supplies from them. 

The mixture of ink hardners and thinners depends on both the substrate you are printing to, as well as environmetal factors. We've found that we need to adjust our ratio of thinners depending on both temperature and humidity of our facility for optimal results.

The mixing process is pretty easy and certainly simplified by a gram scale for acurate measurements. Generally, when you first start, it may take you 20-25 minutes to get the mixture to the right consistancy, but you can get this down to about 5-10 minutes once you really know what you are looking for. This process may be a little different for maual pad presses - but for air powered (such as we use) it's fairly standard accross the board. 

If you decide to pull the trigger, please feel free to send me a PM and I'll give you are mixture calculations. As for clean up, it's pretty easy. You can just use the same thinner you use in the mixture to wipe down your plates and equipment, and plain old packing tape will take the ink of of a silicon pad without damaging or weakening it with ease.

Hope this helps and again, if you decide to do this and need details, send me a PM.


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

You can get the entire kit from All American Supply one of the vendors here. They have manual and automatic presses. They also have classes. That's where I got mine from. I bought the press on ebay and the rest of the kit from them.


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## OTFINC (Mar 24, 2009)

cool. Im sure we will get one at some point. just looking at all the options out there. Really appreciate all the info.


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## brice (Mar 10, 2010)

TheBradley said:


> As for clean up, it's pretty easy. You can just use the same thinner you use in the mixture to wipe down your plates and equipment


This has to be the under statement of the year. 

However, if you can get the work and know what you are doing, one good airpress can tag 700 shirts an hour. 

I haven't done tagless printing, but I'm up to 500 hour printing bottles and I'm slow...


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## OTFINC (Mar 24, 2009)

Im not to worried about how many we can do per hour at this point. just the ability to do so is good enough for now.


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## brice (Mar 10, 2010)

Well, when you have several hundred to do, it will matter.


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