Ask about the process first, then the equipment: the watershed in selection between silk screen printing and pad printing

The fundamental difference between screen printing and pad printing is the way ink is transferred. Silk screen printing relies on a scraper to press the ink through the hollow area of ​​the screen. The thickness of the ink layer can reach tens of microns. The imprint has strong covering power and obvious three-dimensional effect. You can feel the concave and convex by touching it with your hands. This characteristic determines that silk screen printing is irreplaceable in situations where a thick ink layer is required, tactility or high hiding power is pursued. But its limitations are equally clear: the printing surface must be flat or regularly curved so that the screen can fit evenly.

Pad printing took a circuitous route. The ink is first transferred from the gravure plate to the silicone head, and then pressed to the surface of the workpiece by the silicone head. The elastic deformation ability of the silicone head allows it to fit and transfer to irregular curved surfaces, concave and convex surfaces, and even tiny workpieces. When the substrate is a special-shaped plastic part of a car interior, a medical catheter, or a curved electronic casing, the screen printing screen cannot fit, so pad printing is almost the only feasible industrial solution.

Oulette"s product line unfolds exactly on this dividing line. Its OS series screen printing machines are designed to cover large areas of flat and regular curved surfaces, while OP series pad printing machines cover multi-color overprinting and special-shaped parts printing. It is worth noting that the horizontal oil cup pad printing machine developed by Ouellette for medical catheters and long workpieces uses a transverse structure to avoid interference areas of slender workpieces - this is not "equipment looking for scenes", but process difficulties that force structural innovation.