IQS Newsroom Articles on Marking Machinery
About Marking Machinery and Marking Machine Manufacturers,
Including: Embossing Machines, Engraving Machines, Etching Machines, Hot Stamping Machines, Industrial Inkjet Printers, Laser Marking Equipment, Marking Systems, Marking Tools, Numbering Machines, Pad Printing Machines, Scribers & Steel Stamps.
Marking machinery consists of a broad category of equipment used to
create designs, images, logos, identification codes or other markings
on parts and products. They value, deter counterfeiting, ease returning
products and create more customer recognition. Most businesses in the
automotive, medical and aerospace industries refuse to even consider
purchasing inadequately marked products from suppliers. Many common
everyday products have been marked with those products fabricated by
marking machine manufacturers. While metal marking remains a common
marking system process, marking machinery is able to mark other
materials, such as paper, plastic, wood, leather, glass, fabric and
textiles. Credit cards, jewelry, writing utensils, packaging, greeting
cards, wood trim and glass sculptures represent the wide range of
materials on which marking machinery systems are used. Marking
machinery can also produce marks for tracking parts within the whole
manufacturing process, making the marks invaluable for quality
assurance. Marking systems
are machines used to emboss, etch, stamp or print designs on many
different surfaces. They employs many techniques, including laser
marking, press marking, roll marking, stylus marking, and nameplate
marking, and use different marking tools such as laser marking equipment, presses such as nameplate presses, stylus marking devices, engraving machines, roll or rotary marking devices, hot stamping machines, numbering machines, embossing machines and etching machines such as plasma etching machinery. These machines often employ marking tools like steel stamps and scribers . Printing machines, like industrial inkjetprinters or pad printing machines, are also used for marking the surface of flat products.
Marking machinery uses a variety of techniques to create designs on
products, the most popular of which are laser marking, plasma etching
and hot stamping. Laser marking is an environmentally friendly process
that utilizes a high energy beam of laser radiation to directly mark
the surface of materials. The types of laser marking are classified
according to the length of the beam. Plasma etching is divided into two
categories: vacuum type, the most common process, and normal-pressure
type. In the vacuum type, plasma is generated from gases, such as
oxygen, under vacuum pressure to activate the molding surfaces. This
type is the most effective for the purpose of surface modification but
is inferior in workability, since it must be a batch process and can
cause deterioration of moldings if the processing time is too long.
There are also two different methods of hot stamping. In using a stamp
press, a metallic stamp is heated with a hot plate and a foil is
pressed on the surface of the molded part. Hot stamping using a rubber
press is very similar to that in which a stamp press is used, except
that a heat-resistant rubber plate is used.
Some marking machines use other methods to apply marks to products.
Embossing machines mark ductile material like plastic and leather with
a 3 dimensional image via heat and pressure that imprints product
information. This is how credit cards are marked. Engraving machines
are similar, but cut grooves into much harder surfaces like metal.
Jewelry is engraved this way. Numbering machines are used to print
consecutive numbers on paper, mostly for legal purposes. They are
printed on industrial inkjet printers, a larger version of printers
used at home and in the office. For 2 dimensional marks that need to be
printed on 3 dimensional products, pad printing machines are used.
These printers use silicone pads to transfer images from a printing
plate to a product's surface. They are used to mark products like
electronics, toys and medical equipment. For low volumes, steel stamps
are used to mark products by hitting or pressing a marked stamp into
material. These include hand stamps and stamp marking kits, which are
done by hand, and press stamps, which are components in a stamping
machine. Scribers are components of any machine that engrains a mark on
material. They are thinly shaped and made of metal, diamond or lasers.
Marking machine manufacturers produce a variety of machines and
models. The proper selection of marking machinery systems depends on a
variety of factors, including industrial application, product material
and product volume. Hand stamping is cheap and easy to implement, but
it is labor intensive and inconsistent. Chemical etching is also
inexpensive, but it too provides inconsistent results. Ink jets are
faster but are an impermanent and environmentally hazardous solution.
Presses can make fast, permanent marks, but they are not very flexible
and are time consuming to set up. They also cannot be used on hard or
fragile parts and can be dangerous to operate. Before choosing marking
machinery that is appropriate for the application, consider the cost of
spare parts of the marking machinery, the difficulty of maintenance,
the size of the marking system and the degree of difficulty of
integrating the system with other systems already in place.
Types of Marking Machinery
-
use a CO2 laser system to mark metal tools and parts with barcodes and
serial numbers. The markings are permanent and impervious to scratching,
lubricants, salt water spray and abrasion.
- a product with a code to convey information
such as the product packaging date and expiration date.
- imprint patterns on paper or
thin card to produce tactile Braille symbols. The products manufactured
by computer controlled Braille embossers vary according to whether
they have been developed for home use or production.
- use a metal die to leave a 3D implant on a surface.
- cuts into a product to produce a wide variety
of characters that can then be colored. Engraving is a common
metal marking
technique often used to mark round objects, such as jewelry,
cables and wires.
- use chemicals and acids to engrave metal surfaces.
- consists of a press containing a heated printing
head and an engraved die, which can produce holograms, credit
card characters and many different package designs. The press pushes
hot stamping foil on to flat paper, plastic, wood, leather, or
certain
fabrics, leaving the design imprinted on the material in the
color of the foil.
- mark objects through laser radiation. No contact
occurs between the laser marking system and the product,
making this process advantageous in marking sensitive products, such
as glass.
- works manually or automatically to mark products,
such as license plates, tags and keys, with bar codes and
other numbers.
- consist of cylindrical roller dies with engraved
impressions of the required design, which produce indentations
and graduations on an object. Roll marking is used on products
with flat
or round surfaces.
Marking Machinery Terms
- A code used in the identification
of products through electronic scanning, consisting of a sequence of
parallel lines that vary in width. The spacing between the individual
bar lines also varies.
- The slant from the surface
of an engraved character to the background is referred to as the first,
or character, bevel. The second bevel is the clearance taper, or sighting
angle, which is usually a 45-degree angle on each side of the hand stamp.
- Impressing a stamp or die to the background of the
characters or design. Bottoming also refers to the ironing out of metal
displaced by a stamping die.
- In marking systems, the individual letter or number
marked upon an object. Character faces and styles vary.
- A frame of metal in a hot stamping press that holds the
die in place during the stamping process.
- A process in which a mark is burned onto a product
through the application of a screen and an acid.
- In marking machines, a metal plate onto which a design or
image is etched or engraved to be stamped, rolled or printed onto a product.
- Also called "dot peening," it is a type
of micro-percussion marking system in which sequences of dots are used
to mark an object according to design requirements.
- A process in which a metal plate is coated with wax through
which lines are cut. A corrosive acid is applied, which removes the metal
under the lines.
- In hot stamping, a thin,
flexible material consisting of a coat of color that transfers to the
stamped product during the stamping process.
- A steel stamp that engraves a design onto an object
by striking the stamp with a hammer. Hand stamps are useful when producing
low volumes of products.
- The process of transferring a special ink
based on a sublimating dye to the inside of molded parts. Impregnation
printing is useful in applications requiring wear resistance.
- Marking system in which a mist of ink is transferred
to an object to mark the object according to design requirements.
- A stamp or type placed with a piece of marking equipment,
such as a die, to produce a particular design or image.
- An image or design created by engraving the design onto
a metal plate and filling the recessed design with ink. A damp piece
of paper is then pressed against the plate in a roller press, producing
a reverse image on the paper.
- A depression or cavity in a die into which an insert
is placed.
- A device that marks products with multiple characters
simultaneously for fast and consistent identification.
- The process of
transferring ink to a molded part by filling ink in a plate in which characters
are engraved hollow, moving it to a pad and pressing the pad on the face
of the molded part; the ink is then cured by thermal treatment, ultraviolet
treatment or other curing processes.
- A die that can be heated to a temperature
sufficient for burning characters or designs into wood, leather and other
materials.
- A marking device that is pressed or hit into a material.
Steel stamps include hand stamps, press stamps and stamp marking kits.
- A number code below the bar
code that consists of 14 numbers, which provide product identification.
- A unique combination of letters
and numbers created by a vehicle manufacturer to accurately identify
a vehicle.