In one of my past job I was involved in wires manufacturing.
For my experience, the easiest and fastest solution is rubber roll
used for print transfer.
Very good imprinting up to 0,5 mm (or less).
Remember that Silicones need different ink from PVC which is different from PE.
Same probably apply for Ink Jet.
And, if you need a durable and good looking marking, you need some
sort of corona effect (this apply to some sort of PE, and all PFA,
MFA ecc. (fluoro derivated).
Hope this can help you,
Simone
2008/5/15 tgr8883 <
symansky@...>:
> Hi All,
>
> Even though this isn't directly a PCB-related topic, I figured it
> applies enough and the information would be valuable to most of us. I
> make a lot of wiring harnesses, sometimes with wire of the same color.
> I've been thinking of various ways to print directly on the wires.
> The wires I work with are PE/PVC/silicone insulated, 20-24ga. stranded
> copper wires. Here are a few ideas I've had:
>
> ∗Secure a professional hot stamp/ink jet wire marking machine: very
> costly and probably overkill.
> ∗Devise a small machine based on rubber stamps. Rubber stamps are
> cheap, but can they print small enough text?
> ∗Devise a different small machine based on stencils. Many of us,
> myself included, use mylar laser-cut stencils for SMT PCB's. I know
> they can be cut with enough resolution, so why not just make a small
> jig to hold the wire while a pad wipes ink through the stencil? Not
> as cheap as the stamps, but not bad... especially if you panelize.
> ∗Build a DIY ink-jet printer. Parallax used to sell a serial ink-jet
> kit for under $100. I'm sure I could scrounge the parts and a surplus
> controller board from somewhere... but can it print small enough?
>
> Any other ideas? Do any of you have experience with this?
>
> I've seen the thermal label "wire" printers that print to adhesive
> labels, but they're too time consuming. If any of these methods work,
> I'm sure I could automate the process to a degree. My goal is to
> easily mark bundles of 20-40 wires (each with different labels), about
> 12' long marked every 3-4".
>
> Thanks!
>
> -PS
>
>