Secondary processing refers to additional operations performed on a product after primary manufacturing or production processes. These processes are used to refine, enhance, or modify the product to meet specific requirements or add value to the final product.
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At Timely, we offer exceptional quality customized rapid prototyping of various parts. Whether you are looking for CNC machining, 3D Printing, or die-casting prototyping, we ensure the prototype parts are made with the best quality material under expert surveillance.
We offer no minimum order quantity (MOQ) policy to fulfill customers’ demands from prototyping to low-volume production. With the fastest turnaround, we ensure you get your prototypes cheaply.
With quality control certifications, we follow a rigorous inspection process to ensure the products are manufactured with consistent industrial quality and precision. We perform dimensional verification to ensure error-free production.
Timely is a one-stop solution with strong manufacturing capabilities and quality manufacturing processes. From prototyping your designs to production and final assembly, Timely is a one-stop solution for all manufacturing needs.
To meet the on-demand production, we provide the fastest lead time of within 7 days with production specialties, such as advanced equipment, qualified technicians, and tracked development process.
We offer reliable warranty services to ensure you are satisfied with the quality and functionality of delivered products. Moreover, with one-on-one assistance, we provide after-sales services for product troubleshooting and improvements.
If you need assistance choosing materials, surface finishes, and design optimization, Timely is your top choice. We provide 24/7 engineering support to ensure you select the proper tooling and material for your production.
We source rapid prototyping of more than 60 plastic and metal materials.
Silk printing is silk fabric synthetic, fiber fabric or metal mesh wireframe on the net frame using manual engraving plate-film or optical plate making method to produce a silk printing plate. Modern silk printing technology is using photosensitive materials to make silk printing plates by photographic plate (making silk printing screen holes instead of graphics parts screen holes blocked).
Printing through scraper extrusion makes ink transfer to the substrate through the mesh hole of the text section forming text similar to the original document. Silk printing equipment simple operation convenient printing plate easy to plate low-cost adaptability strong. Silk printing applications are widely used in printed materials: color oil paintings posters, business cards, binding covers, commodity labels, printing textiles, etc.
Screen printing is not restricted by substrate size and shape, and it can use in different shapes and concave surfaces. A soft and flexible layout is one of the lowest printing pressure printing. Screen printing mode ink thick and strong adhesion. Only ink and paint can be used through a mesh diameter of mesh. It can print monochrome, also can color printing, and add screen color printing. It has strong light resistance, convenient plate making, low price, flexible printing style, diversified technology easy to grasp.
Pad printing is an indirect printing technology, a unique printing method, suitable for decorative three-dimensional and small objects, and the printing pattern is very well.
Etching images on a plate normally called plates. Each printing cycle includes printing ink on a printing plate making ink filled with concave image areas.
A scraping knife scraping ink on the engraving plane leaves oil ink in the concave image area. Then press print head press to engrave text, ink transfer to silica gel shift head. The image silica gel is moved and pressed back to the decorative workpiece so that the workpiece can be printed and imaged. At least in pad printing, the largest user is special advertising, then the automotive industry.
There are many decorative applications in the automobile industry, such as speedometer instrument lever ball adjuster and radio panel.
Heat transfer printing is a type of technology of printing the pattern on the heat-resistant adhesive tape and printing the design to the finished material by heating and pressing. Heat transfer is divided into Heat transfer (suitable for a large number of printing methods) and digital heat transfer (appropriate for small quantities and making products with their own characteristics).
The principle of heat transfer printing is to print the pattern we need on the special transfer film with the particular ink through the printer. And after that, use the heat transfer machine to transfer the design to the working surface at an appropriate high temperature and pressure. Then complete the thermal transfer process.
It can be applied in leather, textile cloth, plexiglass, metal, plastic, crystal, wood products, copperplate paper, and other relative plane materials, one-time multi-color, any complex color, transition color printing digital printing machine. It does not need plate making, color matching, or complex board process, and will not cause damage to the material.
Heat transfer technology can also use a variety of different transfer materials to achieve distinct printing effects. And its most important types are film transfer and sublimation transfer.
Water transfer is a printing method, which uses water as a medium to transfer color patterns on a paper base or special PVA to the surface of the substrate, including water stickers and water coating. In the transfer printing, the polymer film carrying the grain (the main component is PVA) will gradually dissolve in water, and the color lines can be uniformly transferred to the product surface by the principle of water pressure.
The process of water transfer is as follows: Film printing “spray primer” film extension “activation” transfer printing “washing” drying “spray painting” drying.
In short, it is to use water to transfer the base paper to print all kinds of patterns and then print the cover oil to make flower paper. Soak the flower paper in clean water to separate the pattern from the base paper. Paste the design on the decorated item, scrape off the moisture, and dry. Take post-processing means to combine the design with the object.
Water transfer has no restrictions on the shape or material of the substrate, and water transfer is environmentally friendly and pollution-free. In the printing process, because the product surface does not need to contact the printing film, it also reduces the possibility of damaging the product surface.
Because water transfer printing avoids direct printing on parts, and instead prints on a special permanent transfer base paper. It overcomes many products, like ceramics, wood, iron, and steel, etc., due to shape or material reasons. Hence, it is difficult to print directly on it for decoration, or the printing effect is poor. Printing with special water transfer base paper not only reaches the product decoration but also a better result of direct printing.
Painting is a kind of surface coating processing of industrial products. Generally, Painting processing is mainly engaged in plastic Painting, silk printing, and pad printing processing. It needs to meet the quality requirements of high temperature, friction, UV, alcohol, gasoline, and other test products.
Painting can make the monotonous product look more beautiful after spraying various colors, at the same time, it can also extend the service life and service life of the product due to more protection. It can solve the problems that the spray injection molding process encountered, such as flow lines, welding lines, with spray rubber oil (touch paint) experience, with touch paint rework technology.
Heat transfer printing is a type of technology of printing the pattern on the heat-resistant adhesive tape and printing the design to the finished material by heating and pressing. Heat transfer is divided into Heat transfer (suitable for a large number of printing methods) and digital heat transfer (appropriate for small quantities and making products with their own characteristics).
The principle of heat transfer printing is to print the pattern we need on the special transfer film with the particular ink through the printer. And after that, use the heat transfer machine to transfer the design to the working surface at an appropriate high temperature and pressure. Then complete the thermal transfer process.
It can be applied in leather, textile cloth, plexiglass, metal, plastic, crystal, wood products, copperplate paper, and other relative plane materials, one-time multi-color, any complex color, transition color printing digital printing machine. It does not need plate making, color matching, or complex board process, and will not cause damage to the material.
Heat transfer technology can also use a variety of different transfer materials to achieve distinct printing effects. And its most important types are film transfer and sublimation transfer.
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Generally, secondary processing is about the processing progress of plastic injection molding products. It means the process of doing a second process on the part surface after plastic injection molding so as to make its surface satisfy the customized needs, and both of its outside and inside surface are qualified to customer’s expected properties.
For secondary processing in the industry of plastic injection molding, there are various types, such as screen printing, pad printing, heat transfer printing, water transfer printing, painting, powder coating, ultrasonic welding, laser etching, anodizing, electroplating, IML / IMD, etc.
Here are some advantages of secondary processing.
1.It is helpful to improve the product surface quality.
2.It can increase product life.
3.It helps to improve product corrosion resistance.
4.It is beneficial for adding product features.
5.It also helps to increase product added value.
6.It saves time and cost for customers as well.
In plastic secondary processing, there are several common quality defects.
1.Painting: thin oil, less oil, frying oil, oil accumulation, dust spots, wrinkling of orange peel, polished mark, color difference, oil residue, etc.
2.Hot stamping: dust spots, wrinkles, dents, burnt, peel-off, and so on.
3.Screen printing/pad printing: ghosting, blurred fonts, lines without smooth, different font formats, color difference, and so on.
4.Flying oil: means the paint adhesion appears on the non-painting area, which is usually for the reason that the painting fixture and the product are not consistent in size. Besides, inappropriate fixture design or loose fixture not assembled in place will also lead to flying oil issues.
5.Oil accumulation: This means the spray is so thick that caused excessive paint accumulation. And the reason for this issue is spraying too much on the part. At the same time, it leads to wrinkle or orange peel on the part surface.
6.Color difference: is the deviation among the painting color, the model, and the color palette, which is because of the poor paint quality, improper paint ratio, or irregular painting movement.
Screen printing means using silkscreen as a plate base, a screen printing plate with graphics and text is completed by the way of photosensitive plate making. Screen printing includes these five elements: screen printing plate, scraper, ink, printing table, and substrate. Screen printing is based on the principle that the mesh of the graphic part of the screen printing plate can penetrate the ink, while the mesh of the non-graphic part cannot penetrate the ink.
Pad printing is one of the special printing ways in secondary processing. Through this way, text, graphics as well as images can be printed on the surface of irregular and heterogeneous objects, and now it has become more and more important in our daily life. For example, surface text and patterns on mobile phones are printed in this way, and the external printing of many electronic parts such as computer keyboards, instruments, meters, etc. is all done by pad printing.
There are several advantages of screen printing in secondary processing.
(1) It is not limited by the size and shape of the substrate.
Screen printing can not only print on a flat surface, but also print on molded objects with special shapes (such as spherically curved surfaces), and even shaped objects can be screen printed as well.
(2)The layout is soft and flexible.
(3)It has Strong ink coverage.
(4)The ink type is not restricted.
(5)The finished product is not affected by temperature or sunlight.
(6)It has flexible printing methods.
(7)It is convenient in plate making, low in price, and easy-to-master in technology.
(8)It has strong adhesion.
(9)It can be printed either by hand or by machine.
(10) It is suitable for long-term display, which makes outdoor advertisements more expressive.
There are also some disadvantages of screen printing in secondary processing.
1. Multi-color
As we all know, silk screen printing can only print a single color at a time. As a result, it is very necessary to carry out complex and tedious chromatography for multi-color printing! Chromatography has such high technical requirements that there is relatively few technical personnel. If you need to print four or five colors at a time, it is inevitable that there will be inaccurate chromatography, which will accordingly increase the scrap rate of the product and the total cost as well.
2. Small batch
If silk screen printing needs to print patterns, this set of processes is required: plate making and film production. If the printing quantity is small, then the total costs will be quite high. That’s why most screen printing companies do not take small jobs.
3. Radian limit
Screen printing is only suitable for relatively flat products, but cannot work for three-dimensional products.
4. Uncontrollable ink volume
Some products (especially textile products) need to retain their original state while printing. After printing, many customers want to maintain the effect of textiles, however, screen printing cannot satisfy such requirements.
In secondary processing, there are several differences between pad printing and screen printing.
1)Ink layer
For pad printing, the ink layer is thin, and it can be printed on any object except water and air, so it has highly good color expression and printing adaptability.
For screen printing, it can only be printed on regular or curved surfaces. The ink layer is thick, and the printed pattern has a strong 3-dimensional effect. It is ideal for surface printing of high-end products. It also has good color expression but has difficulty in multi-color overprint.
2)Printing area
For pad printing, it is limited to the printing area.
For screen printing, the printing area is basically unlimited, and the cost of the screen is low and can be recycled.
3)Product appearance
For pad printing, it has no limitation on the part appearance.
For screen printing, it needs the part surface to be a flat, pure plane, or regularly curved.
4)Chromatography
The pad printing machine can do up to 12 color chromatography on one machine, and print the products at one time. More importantly, its cost is quite low.
The screen printing machine can also do multi-color overprinting, but the cost is very high. In addition, one-time multi-color overprinting equipment occupies a large area and requires more labor.