At Teca-Print, we offer pad printing services and equipment for numismatic and commemorative coins. Pad printing allows for the colorization of minted coins to enhance their color or add desired elements such as holographic effects, images, and more. These coins often have certain significance and collection value, so it’s important to use advanced equipment that can handle complex coin shapes and print on precious metals.
How to Print Coins with Pad Printing
Printing on coins comes with many challenges. Since numismatic and commemorative coins are typically circular and feature 3D embossed effects, it’s important to choose a printing method that can work with intricate shapes.
Pad printing, commonly known as tampo printing or tampography, is an indirect offset printing technique where a silicone pad takes a 2D image from an etched printing plate (known as a cliché) and transfers it onto a 3D object. Since the process relies on a soft silicone pad, it can apply ink onto a variety of shaped surfaces and textures, i.e. a coin’s relief.
The process follows these steps:
- Step 1. An ink cup glides over the cliché containing the etched artwork, flooding the engraved sections with ink.
- Step 2. As the cup moves away, it removes any excess ink, exposing the engraved image that is now filled with ink. The ink becomes tacky when exposed to air. This allows it to properly adhere to the silicone pad and later to the coin being printed.
- Step 3. The soft silicone pad presses itself into the ink-filled engraved area of the cliché, transferring the image from the etched plate to the pad. As the pad lifts away, it picks up the tacky ink from the engraved artwork area.
- Step 4. As the silicone pad moves forward, the ink cup glides over the cliché again, filling it with ink to prepare for the next cycle.
- Step 5. The silicone pad moves to the coin and compresses down onto it, transferring the image picked up from the cliché onto its surface. It then lifts off and returns to the home position, completing the printing cycle.
Industry Uses of Coin Printing Machines
One of the primary industry uses of coin printing machines is the production of colorized coins. These coins feature partly colored minted motifs and have become increasingly popular among users and coin collectors alike. Coin colorization provides variety to the otherwise limited design choices in coin minting, which is why nearly all official mints now offer colorized coins.
To achieve high-quality printing results on 3D minted coin reliefs, coin blanks must be accurately aligned before printing. It’s also important to monitor the printing process to ensure the images are being transferred without deviations. At Teca-Print, our pad printing machines can be automated to include robotics, feeding systems, camera inspection, and more to ensure optimal coin alignment and print quality. Our technologically advanced pad printing machines can accommodate multiple colors and produce intricate, high-resolution images on various numismatic and commemorative coins. Because of this, our equipment is used by government agencies and private mints around the world.
Numismatic Coin Pad Printing Machines from Teca-Print
At Teca-Print, we offer some of the most advanced pad printing equipment available. Our machines are capable of printing quality images onto a variety of complex substrates, including those found on numismatic and commemorative coins.
We thoroughly understand the technologies and machinery behind the pad printing process, making us uniquely qualified to deliver sophisticated custom pad printing solutions to meet your coin printing needs. For more information about our equipment, or to get started on your custom coin printing solution, contact us today.