Aiju Investigates the possibilities to use the technician ‘water printing' to print toys

The Technological Centre of the Toy (Aiju) has developed a project of investigation on technologies of personalised decoration of toys, between which finds the impressesion transfer in water (‘water printing'), that in the project has applied to the decoration of trucks to scale, with distinct designs and colours.

Miguel To. León, technician in Aiju of the project indicates that “of all the technologies that have investigated in depth for the decoration 3D of pieces of toy, this has constituted one of the newest and optimum for the decoration homogénea of pieces geometrically complex. We think that this will facilitate notably and will reduce the costs associated to the decoration 3D in series of pieces of these characteristics”.

The ‘water printing' consists in printing on a film of alcohol polivinílico (PVA) that it is soluble in water, the image with which wants to decorate the piece. The film enters in a tank of water and the ink, that floats, with help of an activador chemical wraps the piece to decorate, adhering on his surface.