Flexography Printing Vs Screen-printing Advantages And Disadvantages
Flexography also known as Flexo or roll-to-roll or roll label printing
, this method prints labels from a roll of stock to a finished roll of completed labels. Material is loaded onto one end of the Flexo press and the material threaded through the press and each print station. Laminating and cutting stations are set up at the end of the press so completed labels are produced in one pass on the Flexo press. The printing head of a Flexo press is on a cylinder and prints directly, on to the substrate.
The Flexo presses have different printing stations for each color. Some machines have three colors stations some have six color stations. The cost of a Flexography print machine is a function of the number of color stations and the web width; a 3-color press narrow web would cost much less than that of a six or eight color wide web Flexo press.
The Flexo press can have another attachment; that is known as a turn bar. A turn bar is an apparatus that turns the stock over so you can print on the liner without removing the print job from the press. The other styles of printing do not offer this feature, if a print job calls for a coupon on the liner, the screen-printing press operator would remove the stock then reload the stock to print the liner.
The Flexo press also has an in-line cutting station. The labels can be left on the roll or can be individually cut into single units. In the other styles of printing, cutting of the label is accomplished off-line.
The advantage of the Flexo printing is once the machine is set up to print, the press operator would not have to touch the stock again until the completed labels are taken off the press. The other advantage of this method of printing is it is very fast.
Flexography printing is designed for large quantities; because set-ups and make-readies are expensive, thus roll label printing is not a good solution for 500 labels. The normal minimums for this type of printing would be 1,000 labels. Large quantities for this method of printing would be 100,000-millions.
The disadvantage of roll label is not a good solution for small quantities. In addition, the inks used by most roll label manufactures are water based and will fade in direct sun light.
Flexography printing can print on paper and plastic substrates, and is a great solution for inside applications. This type of printing is used to brand consumer products from salsa to televisions, and warning labels for inside factory machines.
Screen-printing is a very old type of printing invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960""1279 AD). This type of printing called silk-screening, because the mesh used to press the ink through was made of silk. The term silk-screening has not been used since the 1960"s. Currently synthetic threads commonly used in the screen printing process; the most popular mesh in general use is made of polyester. Special mesh materials of nylon and stainless steel are available to the screen printer.
Screen-printing uses a mesh of polyester, which resembles a screen hence the term "screen printing," the mesh coated with emulsion that is photo-reactive. When this emulsion exposed to light is leaves a stencil imprint of the graphic that is to be printed, each color to be printed has its own screen.
Screen-printing method because resembles a stencil and forces ink through a screen deposits many times the thickness of ink onto the substrate being printed. Each color has to be printed separately after the first color dries. Since the ink deposited is thicker, the resistance to fading due to sunlight exposure is a benefit. Disadvantage is each color is printed by resetting a new screen for the next color to print.
Obviously there still will be many questions, please , to ask your question, because nothing is ever black and white there are exceptions to the standard guide lines.
by: Mr. Decal
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