Product category:
General Print Supplies, Services for Printers
News Release from: Stork Prints | Subject: High-pressure water developer
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 30 March 2006
Label and Pack Braille From In-House
Imaging
Rotary screen printers wanting to create tactile features, such as Braille dots on labels and packages, will be able to image their screens in-house thanks to a high-pressure water developer.
Rotary screen printers wanting to create tactile features, such as Braille dots on labels and packages, will be able to image their screens in-house thanks to a high-pressure water developer from Stork Prints The developer will also enable those printers to offer a more responsive and flexible service
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 24 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The developer is claimed to enable fast and thorough cleaning of nickel screen cylinders with emulsion coverings above 200um immediately after the imaging process.
This is a vital stage in the imaging of tactile screens because the unit's high-pressure water spraying action ensures thick deposits are cleared before the exposed, hardened emulsion can react with the water, said Stork.
The unit is used alongside other equipment in the imaging cycle, for exposure, washing, drying and inspection.
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Wim Zoomer, account manager at Stork Prints, said: "With the launch of the developer, all the imaging equipment needed for creating very tactile screen cylinders is now commercially available." Zoomer explained why printers who carry out the screen imaging themselves can be much more responsive to customers' needs: "You can simply start pre-production work as soon as the proof is signed off.
With the high pressure developer included for washing tactile screens, printers can offer the high flexibility of service, whatever the application." Coating of Braille and tactile cylinders, though, is best done by the screen supplier as it needs specialist equipment.
Zoomer continued: "The re-imaging process for these screens would be a continuous collaboration between printer and screen manufacturer.
Stork can support the customer by delivering the pre-coated photo-sensitive screens, carrying out the stripping after the printer has finished with printing the design and recoating." Braille dots need a height of 250um, and 1.2mm in diameter.
Distance between dots is ideally about 2.5mm, whilst spacing between cells is about 6.0mm, with spacing between lines, 10.1mm.
Unless the label is for a very small container, uncontracted Braille has to be used.
UV inks are used for screen-printed Braille.
The ideal re-imageable screen-cylinder is Rotamesh 75, because of its 40 per cent open area, said Stork.
The rotary screen printing process lays down a controlled layer of varnish up to 300um thick in one go, and at high speeds, with customers' presses running at between 40 metres per minute - 60 metres per minute for Braille.
Quality is high because the UV-inks and varnishes employed offer high resistance against moisture, chemicals, abrasion and weather.
Registration accuracy is claimed to be high - about 0.1mm.
And because pure nickel non-woven screen cylinders can be re-imaged, costs are low as the same screen can be used for many different jobs or pack designs.
Stork Prints said that high-pressure spraying is not needed for cylinders carrying images of lower ink-deposits, such as line work, opaques or varnish finishes.
These just need a standard rinse after exposure. Request a free brochure from Stork Prints ...
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