Pad Printing Cliches

PAD PRINTING PLATES (CLICHÉS)

We are a leading supplier of pad printing plates (clichés) for all pad printing machinery.  We supply several types of pad printing plates:

 

  • Laser engravable 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 cliché type 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 engravable pad printing plates are made of aluminum. These laser engravable 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 your ink cup to adhere to the plate. Additionally, this plate only works with fiber lasers. These plates can also be used on machines with mechanical ink cup pressure. They are suitable for open inkwell machines. The YL50 plate premium side lasts approximately 35,000 prints while the non-premium side lasts for about 10,000 prints.

COL 40 Laser Engraveable
Pad Printing Plates

These laser engravable pad printing plates have a steel core with a photopolymer layer on one side. These laser engravable 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 suitable for open inkwell machines. The COL 40 laser engravable pad printing clichés can be engraved with either a fiber, YAG, or CO2 laser. These plates last approximately 20,000 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 alcohol developer. This type of pad printing plate is a lower priced variant of the S52 plate. Very fine rasterfilm can be used which 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 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 (we suggest 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 (we suggest demineralized water). The quality of the WS43 plate is excellent. Typical plate life is 30,000 prints.

Thin Steel photopolymer pad printing plates (Clichés)

Thin Steel 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 sides. 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, which is etching salt containing iron-tri-chloride. The thin steel 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.

Thin Steel 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 thin steel 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 thin steel 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, which is etching salt containing iron-tri-chloride. Typical printing life is over 200,000 prints.

Thick Steel 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 thin steel 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 with great precision.

We can also provide laser engraving for you, if you prefer.

These pad printing plates can be used in conjunction 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 or in an alloy with 12% chrome. The chrome quality pad printing plates are even more durable. Chrome coated plates cannot be etched with nitric acid.