subject: Bring Your Flexo Press into Register in One Press Length [print this page] Using the easily attached Servo 3000 Flexo press upgrade can substantially reduce waste in Flexo printing as a standard press upgraded with the Servo 3000 will come into register in one press length. This is the absolute minimum for any press.
The Problem of Material Waste in a Standard Flexo Press
As a standard Flexo press starts up, material in the press can be stretched at one point and allowed to bunch up in another. It is only as the press gathers speed that web tension evens out throughout the press. Color "pull out" is a common occurrence as the press gains speed. This phenomenon provides proof of the varying tensions within the press as speed picks up.
With color "pull out" the colors appear to wander about the web. The blues may migrate north and the reds may head south. Although the yellows may stay put the blacks might just go east! The blurring of an image obviously destroys the worth of the print job until the press gains speed and all of the colors come home "to roost." Of course, all of the material that passes through the press on the way to full speed, and even web tension, is wasted. With a standard press this happens every time the press has to be stopped and then started again. When your pressman changes a roll, removes waste matrix, or a material spice moves through the press a standard press has to be restarted and another run of waste materials occurs. Everything over press length is wasted unnecessarily.
The Solution to Excessive Material Waste on a Flexo Press
The servo infeed system of the Servo 3000 Digital Infeed + Re-register system makes the infeed follow the press and not the other way around. Thus the infeed starts out being paced correctly and remains that way. Using the Servo 3000 bypasses the infeed gear train as well as the existing infeed/pacing cylinder. Bypassing used and worn mechanical gears and gear boxes with the Servo 3000 eliminates backlash and gives the press much more precise tracking. With the Servo 3000 a press prints at .0025" resolution even at full press speeds.
Using the Servo 3000 system will get a Flexo press into register in one press length greatly reducing material waste on each start up. Because the Servo 3000 maintains a high press resolution throughout the press run and allows the roll to run down to the core it may also reduce the frequency of stopping and starting the press. Rotary Technologies who make the Servo 3000 even have a savings calculator on their web site to help those interested in upgrading performance of their Flexo press calculate potential material cost savings with the easily attached Flexo press add on.
More Benefits of the Servo 3000
This discussion only has to do with bringing a press in register as fast as possible. It does not address the many other benefits of using the Servo 3000 to allow a press to print on a wider variety of substrates nor do such difficult jobs asprinting multilayer labels or finishing multi layer labels from a digital press.
Bring Your Flexo Press into Register in One Press Length
