More Flexo Press Applications with the Servo 3000

Nov. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- A flexo printing business that can find more applications for its flexographic presses will typically be a more profitable business. A standard flexographic press can print on a variety of substrates in a number of colors. However, the press may be limited in that it can only print four colors or that it cannot maintain web tension precisely enough to print on very thin substrates. Also a standard press may not be able to re-register the web with sufficient accuracy to do such jobs as printing flexible electronic circuits, doing finishing work for short runs of a digital press, or printing multilayer and extended content labels. All of these jobs CAN be done by a flexo press by adding the Servo 3000 Digital Infeed + Re-register™ system made by Rotary Technologies.

By adding the easily attached Servo 3000 to a standard flexo press the printer can commonly widen the range of substrates he prints on and, with second pass printing, maintain full press speed and maintain 0.0025 inch resolution throughout. A servo assisted standard flexo press will experience substantially less waste when printing on expensive substrates such as BOPP, polystyrene, or Valéron. This reduction in material waste makes many jobs substantially more profitable and thus provides more applications for a standard flexo press.

A four color press can print eight, twelve or even more colors with the use of the Servo 3000 press attachment. This application requires the precise web re-registration of which the Servo 3000 is capable. Because the Servo 3000 allows the press to print at full speed at 0.0025 inch resolution of subsequent passes it allows for additional colors to double or triple the press’s normal limit.

A useful and profitable flexo press application is to use the Servo 3000’s precise re-registration to re-run digital press labels. Although a digital press can be an ideal solution for short runs of almost anything the digital press cannot finish its own work. Rather than purchasing a “stand alone” finishing solution a printer can use a flexo press fitted with the Servo 3000 to laminate and die cut digital press jobs.

An excellent flexo press application using the Servo 3000 is printing multilayer labels. The first layer can be printed on any press. Then a Servo 3000 assisted flexo press will re-register the web for the first print run and hold both webs in precise resolution as it prints the second, third, and more layers. This is a difficult job for an operator of a standard press. With the Servo 3000 it becomes substantially easier, faster, efficient, and profitable.

Printing electronic circuits with a flexo press requires substantially higher resolution than a standard flexo press can maintain. The press prints layers of conducting and insulating material which need to be very precisely aligned. Because the Servo 3000 re-registers the first print run it can run subsequent layers at full press speed and print at 0.0025 inch resolution. This is a 70 micron tolerance and is basically at the limit of what any servo driven flexo press can obtain. Because the servo driven press can come into register within one length of the press it greatly reduces waste of substrate as well as the expensive conducting and insulating inks used in this kind of work. Flexo presses are used for this kind of work because they can produce circuitry by the kilometer. This can be a lucrative flexo press application for the standard flexographic press equipped with the Servo 3000.

By using the easily attached Servo 3000 a printer can upgrade a standard flexographic press to accomplish a wide variety of applications that would typically require a new, high end flexographic press. For a mere fraction of the cost of a new servo press a printer can reap the profits of substantially more and more profitable printing applications.

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Rotary Technologies produces the Servo 3000 Infeed and Re-register System. This servo and re-register system is an easily attached upgrade for rotary presses that reduces material waste and allows a press to run a wider range of substrates than normally.