Hello - I need help!

[RogerB]

Wow! All this information is excellent! Thank you very much! Sorry for the late reply, been seriously busy.
I have looked into sub contracting but I'm just trying to do as much research as possible to educate my self on this whole process, and see if it is economically viable to do it my self.
Would something like this do the job do you think?
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/330927103667?nav=SEARCH
Too over kill? Not enough?

How reliable is the whole pad printing process? What's the quality like? What's the running costs like? Is the ink expensive?
Again, thank you very much! I really appreciate it!
Luke

In your position I would think very hard before investing in any machinery for this job. Pad printing is a well-established process, but like any other process there is a finite learning curve, and the processs needs careful control. The machine that you linked to, although very basic, may well do the job - but only after you have learned how to set it up and control it to give consistent results. You would need to budget for a significant reject rate in the early stages, and for an initial quantity of 500 you would be looking at an up-front unit cost in excess of £1. I'm sure that a sub-contractor could beat that.

You haven't given any indication of what your product is, but I'm pretty sure that pad printing is not one of your core technologies. That being the case, sub-contract makes sense. Spend your time on what you do best.

 

[The Hat]

@luke.96 Here is another type of printer that might solve your problem, if it can print onto USB sticks then I am sure it could be adaptable to print on your product, it’s worth checking out..!

http://www.nexcopy.com/usb-clip-printer/

 

[Smile]

Whatever OP buys he should test the print on his product to know that it works. You need to contact the printer seller and arrange that. You send them your product box they demo print on it. You receive it back and evaluate.

If you don't do this you can get very bad printer in that print surface requires special treatment etc.