# Best commercial small-scale (~200/mo pieces) pad printer?



## cyprus106 (May 3, 2010)

Hey all, we have an e-commerce retail shop primarily selling t-shirts, and printed glassware such as mason jars and pilsner glasses would fit very logically into our available products. We do almost everything in-house, so we'd like to purchase our own equipment. 

We've researched it, and it seems like pad printing is the way to go (correct me if I'm wrong, there). I've been looking for a decent pad printer, but there's a pretty wide disparate number of prices and varieties and it's hard to figure out what's not going to be a misstep buying equipment. Can anyone give me some opinions on the best pad printer (or the best method to print, say, 100-200 pieces of glassware MAX per month)?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

IMO pad printing is not best option for glassware / mugs.....With PP you end up with a small 1 sided imprint....

But having said that, the folks at All American have a 1,495.00 package... tampoprinters.com/pad-printers/starter-packages/manual-pad-printer-package.html


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## cyprus106 (May 3, 2010)

OK, cool! Thanks Royce! We're still pretty early researching this stuff, and since writing that, we're kind of discovering the same thing. In your opinion, what IS the best way to print??


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

No printing in house for me.....I sell lots of drinkware but rely on specialized vendors and purchase it already printed.....


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## cyprus106 (May 3, 2010)

ok! Maybe that really is the way to go. Is there somebody specific you like to use??


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

I am in Canada so my suppliers will not be very useful to you....Where are you located.....What kinds of items do you want to buy?...

PS....Do you screen print in-house?...


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

I just bought a pad printer $1795.00 
Now I can have more fun!


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## cyprus106 (May 3, 2010)

skdave said:


> I just bought a pad printer $1795.00
> Now I can have more fun!


How do you like it?! Where'd you buy it from?? I'd love to know!


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## cyprus106 (May 3, 2010)

royster13 said:


> I am in Canada so my suppliers will not be very useful to you....Where are you located.....What kinds of items do you want to buy?...
> 
> PS....Do you screen print in-house?...


We do screen-print in house, yes. I'm located in Missouri, US.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

cyprus106 said:


> We do screen-print in house, yes. I'm located in Missouri, US.


The reason I asked it that if you are already making screen, maybe a cylindrical printer is a better idea....

There are some manual ones that can be had for 300 to 2,000 $s.....

Amazon.com: Manual Cylinderical Screen Printer-1 , Pen, Mug, Bottle Printer + fixture to print mug with grip: Sports & Outdoors

Print A Round Cylinder Printer


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## FPF (Feb 11, 2013)

is a pad printer a good way to relabel care tags on tees? if so, what else do you need? I would like to relabel my shirts on my own since it seems cheap and simple and will be farming out the rest of my screen printing.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

skdave said:


> I just bought a pad printer $1795.00
> Now I can have more fun!


How did this work out?.....


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

I have not had time to open the dam thing.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

skdave said:


> I have not had time to open the dam thing.


So nice to be busy.......


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## wardogbobie (Oct 10, 2013)

did you buy one


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## Adam_N (May 3, 2010)

If you need for up to 200 glasses per month I would advise you to sub contact it.
By the time you buy machine, ink, air compressor, plates, oven (don't forget you have to bake them) you will be so much in red that 200 peaces per month will take a loooong time before you are back in black.
Don't forget that there is steep learning curve (with a lot of hair pulling) for glassware printing and it will take a lot of your time.
If you decide to go down that road, I would advise you never to get manual pad printer. You will end up going nowhere and most probably you will toss it at the end.
If money is an issue, at DigitSmith you can get good second hand semi automatic one for few hundred bucks.
If money is not great issue go with new one. I would contact Tom at WinonUSA. His machines are of great quality and his knowledge is priceless. He will be there for you to guide you and help you when you are stuck and trust me, there will be a lot of such instances


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Adam_N said:


> ...oven (don't forget you have to bake them).....


There are lots of very good air dry inks these days......For small runs an oven is not needed.....


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## Adam_N (May 3, 2010)

royster13 said:


> There are lots of very good air dry inks these days......For small runs an oven is not needed.....


That is true to some degree. 
Ink that is designed for printing on metal and ink for glass and ceramic will air dry on glass after few days providing that is not to humid or to cold, but if you want for print on glass, and to be dish washer safe you have to use ink for glass and ceramic and to bake it straight after printing.
At least, I am not aware of any ink manufacturer that will guarantee for their ink to be dish washer safe unless it has been baked.


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