Rubber Stamps and Ink Stamps

Rubber Stamps - GLOSSARY AND TERMS

Our sole purpose for this section is to educate you on the different types of rubber stamps and ink stamps that are available in the market. You can buy any one of them but you will find that each type differs not only in quality but in price, as well.

Pre-inked Rubber Stamps: These ink stamps hold the ink in their dies and do not have an inkpad that flips up and down like a self-inker. Pre-inked rubber stamps are advantageous as they are available in large sizes and provide clearer impressions compared to self-inkers

Laser Engraved: Pre-inked rubber stamps at Xstamper are produced using laser engravers to cut away the rubber, leaving only the lettering or the logo. Extremely accurate, laser engravers are able to produce the best image quality. As a result, they are longer lasting than other rubber stamps in the market. All Xstamper rubber stamps are cut at 1200 dpi allowing for precise and detailed impressions.

Gel Rubber Stamps: The least expensive of the pre-inked rubber stamps, gel rubber stampsmanage to produce good impressions when they are new. But, their many disadvantages have made manufacturers of gel rubber stamps to begin their gradual phase out. Vulnerability to high temperatures often means a gel rubber stamp meltdown in transit. As the ink diminishes with use, it causes the stamp to dry out and warp, which means unclear impressions and the rubber stamp coming loose from the mount. Short lived and time consuming, the gel rubber stamp has a messy production process that hastens its demise.

Flash Rubber Stamps: Not as durable as laser engraved rubber stamps, these stamps can be made the same day they are ordered. Made with a stencil process, the rubber is covered with a thin plastic film and can be re-inked. These stamps can produce good impressions and are economical when you are ordering large quantities of rubber stamps.

Self-inking Rubber Stamps: Less expensive than pre-inks, the image quality of these rubber ink stamps is not clearly etched. Our line of Ideal self-inking rubber stamps has a mount with an in-built inkpad and a spring mechanism to automatically re-ink the die between impressions. Limited to small sizes, these stamps use water-based inks, which means they require re-inking more often then pre-inks.

Metal Rubber Stamps: We offer these metal date stamps in our Ideal line of rubber stamps. With heavy-duty construction and precision mechanism, they are the best choice for high-volume stamping in industrial environments.

Traditional Rubber Stamps: StampXpress does not offer these rubber stamps on our website as high quality self-inking and pre-inked stamps are more in demand. Requiring an inkpad, these rubber stamps are messy and awkward to use.

Photopolymer Rubber Stamps: Made from liquid photopolymer, our self-inking stamps produce dies that are either yellow or green in colour. This rubber ink stamp manufacturing method has helped reduce the cost of self-inking stamps; as a result they cost less than pre-inked stamps. However, bear in mind that these dies do not last as long as pre-ink dies, nor do they offer the same quality of impressions.

Non-porous inks: Used for making permanent impressions on glass, plastic, metal or glossy paper, the drying time for these inks is 15 to 30-seconds. Please call for info on stamps that use these inks including ink kits.

Laser Engraved Rubber: At StampXpress we are able to produce rubber dies for traditional rubber stamps using laser engraved rubber.