Northwest Aerospace News February | March 2018 Issue No. 1

Eclipse Screen Printing Delivering Graphic and Interface Solutions for Aerospace By Staci Nelson, Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium Staci Nelson Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium Executive Coordinator www.inwac.org INWAC SPOTLIGHT W hen most people think of screen used in the past by screen printing shops, es, including laser cutting, die cutting and printing, they visualize baseball caps and Eclipse uses UV-ink technology, which even waterjet cutting. Optical measuring t-shirts. But you won’t find any apparel at is closer to a liquid plastic and provides systems are used to insure compliance with the Eclipse Screen Printing facility in Spo- a high wear surface that also resists specifications. kane, Washington. Instead, you will find chemicals and UV exposure. Tools such as membrane switches and printed circuits optical measuring devices and spectropho- with integrated LEDS, as well as high-tech tometers allow for extremely accurate color labeling. consistency and dimensional tolerances. The aerospace sector demands a higher level of performance for their product iden- tification needs than most industries. La- bels and nameplates must survive exposure to harsh chemicals and extreme weather conditions. Depending on the application for the product, regulatory standards must be met not only for the FAA, but also for electrical specifications from Underwriter’s Laboratory, CSA, and EU. Instead of the traditional solvent inks 52 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS Conductive inks and dielectric inks are used to create very thin circuitry for mem- brane switches—a technology that is often seen in controls for consumer products like microwave ovens, but also is used in the aerospace industry for audio volume and channel controls for commercial aircraft. In addition to printing, virtually everything that is manufactured by Eclipse requires some type of cutting. To meet that need, the company employs a variety of process- One of the areas that Eclipse sees as a competitive advantage is their ability to help meet the increasing need for fast turn- around of new products. “Using digital printing and laser cutting, we are able to bypass the time and cost of higher-volume production processes,” according to Matt Sarner, president at Eclipse. “This is a big help for companies that are just beginning the iterative phases of product develop- ment, who often need to vet prototypes before they lock in the final design.” Like most successful companies, Eclipse places a high value on their people. Bruce Colwell, vice president at Eclipse, asserts,

Northwest Aerospace News February | March 2018 Issue No. 1 | Page 52