Adventures in Pad Printing

[LiamB]

Hey guys, I have been working on a project to make my own watch dials over the past few months. I thought I would share my progress with you thus far. It has been an awfully expensive endeavour, and I have yet to reach a final dial but the work is well underway. I have purchased a pad printing machine, speciality inks and pads as well as a custom engraved cliche of my design. Now I’m putting it all together, I have been practing printing on plastic watch crystals, until I have my silver dials complete to print on. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Cheers 

[Jon]

That's brilliant!

I bought a pad printer a while back, which unfortunately haven't done anything with yet.

Could you tell me specifically, what inks are you using and where did you get them from? Which pad out of the three you have posted work the best for the acrylic blank you have been using? Where did you get the acid etched metal plate made up and how much did that cost? Did you design the dial yourself, because it looks really good? What software did you use, if you did?

I know that's a lot of questions, but this has given me a kick start to be enthused about doing this myself, rather than my pad printer collecting dust

Thanks so much for your post as well Liam!

[Tmuir]

I am impressed and I look forward to reading your answers to Jon's questions

[LiamB]

Thanks Jon, I’m glad someone is intrigued by what I have been doing.  

I am using ink made by Berlac, several Swiss firms sell it, including Bergeron. It’s expensive but I didn’t want to experiment with other inks. 

I have used all three pads, however the one in the center has produced the best results thus far. 

I got the plate etched for me by a US firm, but any pad printing supply company should be able to etch steel.  Mine cost about $500 Canadian dollars. 

I did design the dial myself, I am going for a vintage vibe. Thanks for the compliments! I used adobe illustrator to design it as it is software I am familiar with. Photoshop or any graphics program can do the trick.  

It has been a fun adventure thus far, but I am excited to have a watch with my own dial. Nothing gives me more respect for the watchmakers in Switzerland then seeing all the effort that goes into such small aspects of a watch. 

 

 

 

 

[AndyHull]

Excellent results.

What resolution of detail can you produce?
What depth do they etch the steel?

Have you considered etching your own plates?
It shouldn't be too much more complicated than etching copper clad PCBs, which are fairly easy to do in the home workshop.

https://www.wikihow.com/Acid-Etch-Steel

I had planned a few experiments using basic materials, but like a lot of projects, the missing material was spare time.

I will need to take another look into this.

[utzelu]

Excellent results so far. The printing looks really sharp. I am also looking into having a steel cliche made for me, but somewhere in Europe.

[manodeoro]

Hi LiamB ... Congratulations !!!
Your printing on crystal is wonderful and you an impressive work there ...
I've been trying silk-printing with so so results so I really want to try pad-printing, so may I ask you where you got your pad printer ?
It looks like it's a vintage one but if not would you share a link to where you bought it ?

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[LiamB]

I thought about making the steel cliche myself at home however I didn’t want the mess and adittinal difficulty of doing it myself when a professional could provide me with an excellent cliche.  As for what detail it can produce, and the depth of the etch; I cannot answer that question. However I can say that the detail is very high. (Just another reason to get it made by a professional)  

I wish I could share a link to where I purchased this machine, however I bought it on eBay. The owner claimed to have purchased it from a sale of old equipment from a Longines production facility in Switzerland. They are difficult machines find, and I was lucky to find such a high quality model. One of my main reasons in purchasing it was seeing the same machine used in some watchmaking pictures and videos of brands like Patek Phillippe. 

[manodeoro]

Is there any brand on that machine ?

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[AndyHull]

I can't quite make it out from the pictures, this is the best I can do.

[Flubber]

I'm impressed and yes, that looks expensive.

[manodeoro]

I can't quite make it out from the pictures, this is the best I can do.

Thanks AndyHull ... I couldn't see that on tapatalk

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[manodeoro]

Just found one ... about €1850 [emoji33]

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[toptime810]

Looks really good, can you make these fit and case size and any caliber

Edited December 27, 2019 by toptime810
left something out

[LiamB]

My machine is made by Schmid Machines, (http://www.schmid-machines.ch/web/index.php) 

and yes they sell for around $2000USD used. Schmid sells the new machines for around $5000CHF. Definitely not cheap     

As for toptimes question, I am machining the dial to fit a particular case, and a specific caliber, although they can easily be made to fit most center seconds caliber, however the limiting factor is obviously the size of image on the cliche.