PRINTING PROCESS AND APPARATUS

摘要

A method of printing the sidewall (13) of a three-dimensional article such as a plastics cup (12), comprises rotating the article about the principal axis (A) thereof such that the sidewall is caused to pass a plurality of ink-jet heads (6, 7, 8; 20, 21, 22, 23) directed towards the axis (A), and controlling the firing of the ink-jet heads in response to a measure (5) the angular position of the article about said axis, as provided by an encoder (4) on the drive (10) to an article mandrel (2), to deposit components of a required design onto the sidewall (13). Different components of the design may be applied at a single station, or at different stations in which case the mandrels (2) may be carried by an indexing table (18). The ink-jet heads are arranged to be retractable, either axially or radially relative to the article mandrel.