Vector Motorcycle Helmet

Posted in Motorcycle Helmets by admin on July 24, 2010

Vector Motorcycle Helmet
How Graphics are Printed onto Helmets/Plastic?

hey guys. I was wondering if you guys know anything about painting or putting graphics onto plastic...mostly motorcycle helmets. My friend has a graphic printed (iono how it was put on) onto her shoei rf1100 and I couldn't figure out how they did it.

Stuff like this: http://www.writingfordesigners.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/TokidokiImmagini.jpg

As you can see, it couldn't be painted...it's just straight up...vector style, no airbrushing graphics. All of that just printed on.

How do manufacturers put graphics onto motorcycle helmets in the first place?

Anyway, thanks in advance guys. I hope you guys can provide me with an answer.
I am asking if anyone knows how graphics are printed onto plastic that is not flat. A helmet is round.

Imagine this design:

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/230/2/9/Tokidoki_Seamless_Repeating_by_amebachic.jpg

Put onto a motorcycle helmet (which is made of plastic).

There are several ways.

One is just printing a sticker and sticking it on. Every helmet I every bought had the brand name printed in big 3" characters, but they were only stickers so I peeled them off. Big stickers can be made 'stretchy' so they can conform to the surface of the helmet.

The next is what's called a 'transfer'. I'm not sure this can be done with a 'complex curved' surface, but the idea is to print the pattern on a piece of paper or other backing material, then press it against the helmet and apply heat (or microwaves or sound waves or whatever) and the ink liquifies and sticks to the surface.

Finally there's good old pad printing. A pattern is made for each color, a 'plate' with sunken areas where the ink goes. A squeegee goes over the plate and deposits ink in the recesses. Then a big rubber pad comes down and squeezes against the plate, and it picks up the ink. Then the pad comes down on the surface to be printed and deposits the ink. (It sounds more complicated than it is). You need a different 'setup' for each color. There are big automatic machines that move from one color to another, just like multi-color screen printing. The cool thing about pad printing is that it works on all shapes of surfaces because the pad is soft and it distorts to fit the surface. Almost anything you see that's plastic and has something 'printed' on it is done this way.

I know about pad printing 'cos I do it myself, but I can't do multiple colors or anything as big as a motorcycle helmet with the equipment I have.