Analysis of Satellite Flexo Printing Machine (Part 1)
In fact, flexographic printing has a long history in China. As early as the 1950s and 1960s, the predecessors of the domestic printing industry have introduced this printing method into China, but at that time it was called flexographic printing. Due to the printing knowledge at the time and related supporting reasons, it was not able to develop in the end. On the contrary, the gravure printing machine that entered China in the same period was recognized. In the 1970s, flexographic printing technology developed rapidly after major breakthroughs in printing plate and ceramic anilox technology. Most packaging printing in Europe and America began to shift to flexo printing. China has also introduced related flexo printing equipment from abroad since the 1990s, and has developed rapidly in recent years. Let us take a closer look at the satellite flexo printing machine. Simply put, flexographic printing presses are currently divided into three types: stacked, unit, and satellite. The stacked type is the simplest structure and the cheapest flexographic printing method. It is also the flexographic printing machine with the largest market share in the domestic flexographic market. At present, the largest gathering place for such flexographic printing presses in China is in the Pearl River Delta region. In the early 1980s, Hong Kong companies followed the Japanese reform and opening-up policies and started selling in the country in the 1980s following the Japanese model. It is mainly used for printing of hand-held shopping bags, vest bags, simple clothing bags, electronic component outer packaging and other products. Because of the gravure plate-making time and price reasons at that time, the laminated flexo printing machine developed rapidly due to the advantages of fast plate-making time, cheap price, and low unit price of products. Subsequently, domestic laminated flexographic printing machines began to appear in the 1990s and gradually replaced laminated flexographic printing machines produced by Hong Kong companies. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 3,000 such flexographic printing machines in the Pearl River Delta, ranging from monochrome, two-color to ten-color. At present, there are manufacturers in the Yangtze River Delta who are producing laminated flexographic printing presses, and after absorbing foreign self-adhesive label printing equipment, they enter the label printing industry. The laminated flexo printing machine has the advantages of small footprint, simple operation, and low price. However, its shortcomings are more prominent, mainly due to low overprint accuracy, only ± 0.5mm, can not be used to print high-precision packaging products. The speed is slow, due to the structure and drying reasons, the fastest is 70m / min, and the monochrome printing of some machines can also reach 100m / min. Figure 1 Laminated flexo printing machine The unit-type flexo printing machine is the same as the current intaglio printing machine in China, adopting the unit arrangement and combination mode. At present, domestic and foreign manufacturers have proposed a platform concept on which printing color groups or functional color groups can be interchanged at will to meet the needs of freely changing processes, and are very flexible. With the introduction of the first equipment in China in the 1990s, there have been more than 500 imported and domestic flexo printing machines in China. And it will increase at an annual rate of more than 50 units. The unit-type flexo printing machine has a wide range of printing substrates and is easy to operate. The overprint accuracy is within ± 0.2mm. The printing speed belongs to the medium speed range, basically within 220m / min. However, the unit-type flexo printing machine's wide width is concentrated below 600mm, and it is often called the narrow-width flexo printing machine in the industry. Unit-type flexo printing machine is mainly used for products with higher added value such as cigarette packs, stickers, etc. Figure 2 Unit-type flexo printing machine Satellite flexo printing machine is a flexographic printing method that is used less in China and has developed more slowly, which has a greater relationship with its understanding and historical reasons in the industry. Satellite flexographic printing has many advantages, except for the advantages of high precision and high speed. When printing large-area color patches (on the ground), it actually has a very large advantage, which is comparable to gravure printing. The ceramic anilox roller is used to precisely control the amount of ink. Therefore, when printing large solid patches in flexographic printing, only about 1.2g of ink per square meter can be used without affecting color saturation. The gravure printing requires 3g / m2 or higher (some article data shows 4 ~ 6g / m2), plus the use of supporting solvents, the actual cost of ink is far higher than that of flexo printing. Another advantage is that users should pay attention to the issue of energy consumption. Due to the relationship between the flexographic printing structure, ink, and the amount of ink, etc., it does not require too much thermal energy to dry the printed work completely. . So usually an 8-color flexo printing machine, under the premise of speed 300m / min, the power of the electric heating method used does not exceed 80KW / hour. And other printing methods usually require more than 150kw / hour of energy consumption, or even higher. This is very good news when the current domestic electricity consumption situation is not optimistic. Of course, satellite flexo printing machine has its shortcomings. Mainly in the aspect of printing reduction, although the products can be printed to 175 lines, but with the increase in related costs, the overall application still has a gap with offset printing and gravure printing. When printing high-line-count products, there is no help. This is a common problem of flexo printing, and it is also the most in need of improvement. Figure 3 Satellite flexo printing machine (with front and back printing function) Let's take a look at the main technical parameters, components and structure of the satellite flexo printing machine. The technical level of satellite flexo printing machine can be more accurately expressed by the following performance system: l Maximum printing color number l Suitable printing materials l Printing width l Print image and text repeat length range l Drying method l Printing speed l Ink type l Control method The maximum printing color number represents the number of printing colors, generally at least four colors and at most ten colors; the suitable printing materials are very wide for satellite flexo printing machines, which is its biggest advantage. Almost all the rolls that can be printed on the market can basically be printed on a satellite flexo printing machine; the printing width refers to the widest range that the device can print; the repetition length of the printed graphics refers to the The minimum and maximum value of the equipment in the length direction. The standard satellite flexo printing machine usually ranges from 300mm to 1000mm; the drying method, according to the actual needs of the customer, can choose: hot air drying or UV drying; the printing speed is the maximum printing speed of the equipment; the ink type What kind of ink does the equipment use: water-soluble ink, solvent-based ink, UV ink, etc .; control method, whether the equipment uses manual rapid adjustment or automatic adjustment control. Generally speaking, the components of satellite flexo printing machine include: 1. Unwinding and input section 2. Printing section 3. Drying section (color space drying and final drying) 1. Unwinding part of upper and lower double station 2. 2. Correction system during unwinding Printing part 4. CI (Central Impressio) Central Printing Roller 5. Dry part 6. Online still picture monitoring system 7. 8. Deviation correcting system during rewinding 8. 9. Up and down double station winding part 9. Winding traction roller (with circulating cooling) metal rolling tray; smoking tray; cigarette tray; hand-rolled tray; NANTONG OUFEIYA IMP& EXP CO.,LTD , https://www.jsnantongoufeiya.com
4. Cooling section 5. Output and winding section 6. Wire processing section 7. Main drive 8. Control section
10. Main control panel