Plastic Cover with Pad Printing
A long, slim appliance fascia cover moulded in one shot and decorated with a pad printed mark, so the panel leaves the tool shop already branded.
The problem
A long flat cover is the part where sink marks, warpage and a crooked printed logo show up first.
A long flat cover is the part where sink marks, warpage and a crooked printed logo show up first. Buyers usually discover it after the tool is cut, when the only fix left is a re-spot.
TJ-Teck treats the cover and its decoration as one job: the fill and cooling layout is checked in simulation before steel is cut, and the pad printing fixture is built off the same 3D model as the cavity, so the printed mark sits in the same place on every shot.
How this part is tooled
The part is a long, narrow cover with a high-gloss face and a single printed graphic near the centre. Parts of this shape are dominated by two things: how flat they stay after ejection, and how repeatable the print position is. Both are decided long before the first shot.
On the tooling side the cover is a straight-pull part, which keeps the mould simple and the cost down. The work goes into the cooling layout and the ejection pattern, because a slim cover that is pushed out unevenly will bow along its length and no amount of printing accuracy will rescue it.
On the decoration side the pad printing fixture is machined from the same CAD data as the cavity, not from a sample part. That removes the stack-up between a worn sample and the fixture nest, which is the usual reason a printed logo drifts across a production run.
Part and tooling data
| Part type | Long slim cover / fascia panel |
|---|---|
| Process | Plastic injection moulding |
| Secondary operation | Pad printing, one colour as shown |
| Mould action | Straight pull, no slide required for the shown geometry |
| Surface | Gloss face, as polished in the cavity |
| Material | Per your drawing or part specification |
| Colour | Matched to your reference sample or colour code |
| Cavitation | Quoted to your annual volume |
Values marked “per your drawing” are set from your data at quotation stage. TJ-Teck does not publish assumed dimensions for a customer part.
Typical applications
- Appliance and consumer electronics fascias
- Control panel covers
- Instrument and meter face plates
- Branded trim covers on industrial equipment
Industries
Engineering that applies here
Frequently asked questions
Can you build the mould and do the pad printing in the same quotation?
Yes. Tell us the print artwork, the colour reference and the annual volume together with the 3D data, and the quotation covers the tool and the printing fixture as one scope.
What data do you need to quote this part?
2D and 3D data, or a simple sketch if the design is not frozen yet. A quotation comes back within 1-3 working days.
How do you keep a long cover flat?
Cooling layout and ejection are reviewed in the DFM report before steel is cut, and Moldflow simulation is used to check the fill pattern and the last-filled areas along the length.
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View partQuotation for the plastic cover with pad printing
Attach 2D and 3D data, tell us the annual volume and the material, and a quotation comes back in 1-3 working days.