Barb Hanson, recognized for 45 years of service at Davies Molding
December 20, 2013
The Impact of 3-D Printing on Custom Plastic Molding
January 15, 2014
Shifter knobs can be found in vehicles, cranes, tractors, and other types of machinery where manipulating gears are required. Davies’ shifter knobs can be customized to meet specific requirements such as operating instructions or customer logos. Secondary operations include laser engraving, pad printing, or hot stamping, applying inlays or mylars, color matching, drilling, machining, and a new finishing trend- hydrographic printing.
Hydrographic printing is a popular trend for adding customizable designs, colors, and textures to shift knobs. As you might have guessed, it’s a water-based printing process and a high gloss polyurethane hydrographics clearcoat makes the printing durable and long-lasting.
Spectrum Industries, does a good job of describing the process in 6 easy steps.
1) Parts are loaded onto custom tooling.
2) Parts are prepped by washing or painting.
3) Parts are dried.
4) Parts are dipped in the hydrographic printing bath.
5) Top coat is applied based on the application for the part. Exterior and Interior durability options.
6) Parts are inspected before shipping.
Check out this neat video of how hydrographic printing works.
Plastic knobs designed for heavy equipment and industrial use are available in a wide range of sizes, but the most popular are ball and lever knobs. Our ball and lever knobs come in a variety of styles and sizes and are available in phenolic, nylon, or polypropylene. Phenolic materials are typcially stonger that thermoplastics like nylon, and are a popular choice for durable, long-lastic shifter knobs. However, thermoplastic materials such as nylon have a high impact strength, and can be molded into just about any color you can dream up. And now with hydrographic printing, you can choose the material you want and add a customizable finish that makes it yours. Want more information? Call us at 1-800-554-9208.
