Vulcanized Rubber Stamps

The conventional red rubber stamp that everybody is familiar with will have been made in a vulcanizing press. The first rubber stamp vulcanizing press was patented in 1890 by Charles Schultze in New Orleans USA. Vulcanizing is today one of the most cost effective methods of making rubber stamps for standardized stamps. Each batch of stamps is produced utilizing a mould. This approach of manufacture is more suited to mark making where the same moulds are used over and over once again. Making custom made stamps with a vulcanizing press needing ‘as soon as only’ moulds will drive the expense of manufacture up significantly.Making the mould-before a mould can be made you need to have a master plate manufactured from metal or polymer, the master plate has the essential relief( the artwork is raised )to make an impression in the mould. Having a master plate made each time a mould is needed is what increases the cost of manufacture for vulcanized stamps. Pushing the master plate into a Matrix board creates the mould that will accept the rubber. Heat and pressure is applied to the master plate and matrix board inside a Vulcanizing press. The Matrix follows the shape of the relief supplied by the master plate, this then solidifies on cooling.Making Rubber Stamps-Creating stamps is a simple process once the

mould is made. Raw rubber stamp gum is placed on top of the mould and after that positioned inside the stamp press. Hydraulic pressure is placed upon the rubber and the mould from within the stamp press causing the rubber to melt into the locations of the mould which contain the images and text, treating and hardening takes about 10 minutes. Once treated the sheet of rubber is retreated from the mould and cut up into specific stamps to be attached to mounts.Cost of a vulcanizing system is approximately

$12,000 AUD Advantages -Low cost of production for mass produced stamps, excellent ink transfer.Disadvantages – Expense of producing master plates and moulds for custom made stamps.Laser Engraved Rubber Stamps The traditional raw rubber used for vulcanizing stamp passes away is quite inappropriate for the production of laser stamp passes away, the laser process needs an extremely even density and blemish complimentary surface area to produce an acceptable printed image from a stamp pass away. The rubber must also go through a specific curing procedure before it can be exposed to the elevated temperature of a laser beam.The depth of the engraving is identified by the laser speed, its wattage and the density of the rubber. A 50 or 100W engraver will engrave the rubber deeper and faster than a

25W machine, which may need a 2nd pass to achieve a comparable result. Normally supplied in an A4 size sheet form, a great quality laser rubber is required for inscribing stamp dies and need to also have ideal compression strength and ink transfer properties.To help the inscription process, it is required to remove the excess dust which is constantly created by the laser cutting action with an effective exhaust purification system. As very couple of, if any, CO2 laser engraving devices were at first function developed for etching and cutting rubber, setting up and preserving a reliable dust extraction system pays long term dividends. Mirrors, lenses and any exposed bearing surface areas need to be cleaned up thoroughly as part of a routine upkeep program. Any disregard in this location will be harmful to total problem totally free laser operation, as the develop up of dust and residue will impact running efficiency and the quality of the ended up stamp die. Lasers are controlled straight from a computer system, the software drivers supplied with lasers deal with numerous graphic programs such as CorelDraw.Approximate cost of a 25 watt Laser suitable for stamp making is$40,000 Benefits-Production is computer controlled, customized made stamps can be made quickly Downsides- High capital expense, maintenance costs and running will be much higher than vulcanizing or polymer techniques of manufacture.Liquid Polymer Rubber Stamps Transforming rubber

stamp polymer from a liquid into a strong to make stamps is quite interesting. Polymer stamps are produced in between 2 sheets of glass using accuracy controlled UV light which goes through an unfavorable including the stamp artwork strengthening the polymer. Unfavorable production has been streamlined with the introduction of water based

negative innovation, photographic chemicals for producing negatives are now a thing of the past.The first action in making polymer rubber stamps is to print your images, clipart or text onto Vellum, a nearly transparent paper like movie. To produce quality stamp artwork you should utilize a printer, inks from bubble jet printers are clear permitting UV light to pass where it must not. Water based negatives are easily rinsed after being exposed for a few minutes in a UV exposure stamp machine.Polymer contained in a sachet is now replacing the older