How to Make Photopolymer Plates for Pad Printing Machines

Over the years we here at Inkcups now have gotten many phone calls and emails pertaining to polymer plate making, also known as photopolymer plates. Customers often don’t understand the technical aspect of creating a film positive or they get stuck at a step in the process. We have decided the pain and anguish has gone on long enough! Creating photopolymer plates for pad printing machines should be fun, not difficult! Inkcups Now has created a two-part instructional video to show each step (in detail) in the polymer plate making process using alcohol wash plates.

The first video showcases how to create the film positive on your computer using the Adobe Illustrator software. We created a step by step instructional guide to assist the user through the process because this is often where the user has the most difficulty. The second video shows the entire polymer plate making process. We captured the whole process on video so the user can visually see exactly what to do.

Photopolymer plates are great to use as a pad printing plate. The image can be created with great detail for clear/sharp looking prints. Polymer plate making is much more time consuming than laser engraving by about 20-30 minutes, however, it is a much more cost-effective process.

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Want to Learn More about pad printing? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Pad Printing Machines

Plate used in this project:

Type: Alcohol Wash
Brand: Photopolymer Plate
Color: Green
For use with ICN-B100, ICN-2200, ICN-150, ICN-2500, ICN-2506
More info: Photopolymer Printing Plates page