Sleeve looks like an extremely simple tool from the outside, but further you will have a look at "some complexity in simplicity" and you will see that without the sleeve, many developments in flexographic printing are impossible Become reality. Laser engraving of ceramic anilox roller sleeves and plate sleeves. The use of fast, safe and lightweight sleeve changing technology directly relates to the development of flexo printing and promotes it towards high quality, high security and high standardization. Aspects of development.

The disadvantages of high cost, low efficiency, time-consuming work, inconvenient storage, poor flexibility, and non-standardization brought about by traditional roll systems are obviously incompatible with the development of modern flexographic printing technology. However, most people who already have a flexographic press or will use flexo technology in China do not know exactly how sleeve technology is used in flexo printing. What are the characteristics of sleeve technology? The problem.

The advantages of sleeve technology

Judging from the development of flexo printing, the sleeve system is gradually replacing the traditional roller because the sleeve system brings many advantages: the sleeve can be handled by one person; the position can be easily changed or positioned on the air support roller In the same air spring roll can be installed on the need to 2 or more sleeves, etc., its greatest advantage is that it can be reused, and ready to install the printing plate on the sleeve.

The so-called repeated use is that it is convenient to remove the used printing plate from the sleeve according to needs, and then use it to attach other printing plates.

How to explain "can be installed on the sleeve at any time printing plate" it? We assume that you have a 500mm print perimeter of the traditional plate roller working on the press, and the second batch of prints also has a 500mm print perimeter. You can only have two options: First, the more expensive The funds will order a 500mm printing perimeter of the traditional plate roller so that the printing plates of the second batch of prints can be pre-mounted on the plate rollers. Secondly, after the first batch of printed materials are printed, the rollers of the rollers are removed. Printing plate, affixed to the printing plate of the second batch of printed matter. Regardless of which of the above options is taken, production costs will increase. However, with the sleeve system, the printing plate can be easily attached to the plate sleeve in advance, saving plate loading time, improving production efficiency, and achieving high flexibility, and the sleeve cost is lower than the traditional version. Roller.

In general, a 350-500mm sleeve with a printed perimeter requires only one air support roll because the inner diameter of the sleeve is the same within this print perimeter. Changing the printing perimeter of the printing plate, ie changing the circumference of the sleeve, the wall thickness of the sleeve also changes accordingly.

At present ROTEC's advanced sleeve system can adapt to the printing perimeter of 130 ~ 2000mm, printing width can be changed within 100 ~ 4500mm, can be used for almost all flexographic printing: small to large labels to large corrugated boxes.

The advantages of the sleeve system are: low cost, high efficiency; loading and unloading plates are safe and easy, reducing loading and unloading time; convenient storage, small floor space; high flexibility; long service life; high system accuracy.

However, it should be noted that the use of a poor-quality sleeve system will affect the printing accuracy and service life.

Today, almost all flexo press manufacturers face the pressure of adopting a "quick change" system in designing new models. It is this pressure that has pushed the application of sleeve technology to flexo printers. Currently, almost 100% of wide-format machines use a Sticker sleeve. Sleeve technology is not only applied to printing plates, but also to anilox rollers. Almost all modern wide-format flexographic printing machines use anilox roller sleeve technology. The "quick change plate" technology of the sleeve has become an important technical indicator for measuring whether the flexographic printing press is advanced.

Air support roller

The air support roller is very similar to the plate roller. The same shaft has the same length, but there is an air inlet hole on the gas support roller with one end of the gear, and the air bearing roller surface has some precise holes. These holes The air inlet is continuous with the air inlet hole. After the compressed air is introduced into the air inlet hole, the compressed air can be evenly discharged from the small holes on the roller surface. The inner diameter of the sleeve is generally smaller than the outer diameter of the air support roller to ensure meshing. When the compressed air is input, the compressed air is evenly discharged from the small holes of the roller, forming an air cushion between the sleeve and the air brace roller. This air cushion expands the inner diameter of the sleeve and allows the sleeve to be freely expanded. Slide on air lift roller. When the compressed air is cut off, the sleeve is immediately contracted and held tightly with the air brace roller.

Basic sleeve

The basic sleeve is made of high-quality natural resin coated on the surface of a special multi-layer glass fiber, which is characterized by high temperature resistance and no deformation. The basic sleeve is coated with a rubber or photosensitive resin plate, and a laser-engraved seamless printing plate can be produced by laser digital engraving. The application of this technology has greatly promoted the scope of application of flexo printing, making continuous printing a reality. Those continuous pattern or the same background color of wrapping paper, wallpaper, etc., must use laser-engraved rubber seamless printing plate sleeve, printed by continuous printing.

Blue light sticker sleeve

The blue light weight sleeve is designed for loading plates and can be used to attach plates with conventional double-sided tape or padding. The surface material has high hardness, impact resistance, and resistance to cutting. The wall thickness of the sleeve can be arbitrarily chosen from 1.4 to 25 mm, which means that only one air support roller can increase the printing perimeter by about 150 mm.

The blue lightweight sleeve not only has the advantages of easy loading and unloading, low cost and easy storage, but also has no difference with the traditional printing roller in terms of printing quality, and can completely replace the traditional printing plate roller.

Air cushion plate sleeve

The application of thin-type printing plate technology is the basis for promoting the development of air-cushion sleeves, as thin-type printing plates are widely used for high-quality printing and have been accepted as a standard by the flexographic printing industry. The combined application of air-cushioned sleeves and thin plates can not only achieve high standards and standardization in flexo printing, but also reduce plate wear and prolong service life.

The surface material of the ROTEC air bearing sleeve is an open, honeycomb, highly compressible polyurethane foam based on MDI (standard application hardness is 65HV). Due to the high hardness of the surface material of the air bearing sleeve, it is very favorable for printing on-site full plate; on the other hand, since about 80% of the volume of the foam is compressible, the elasticity is good, which is a good ratio for printing fine dots and control dots. It has far-reaching significance, such as printing bar codes, thin lines, and fine mesh prints.

Some people may say that the high hardness of the surface material of the cushion sleeve and its excellent elasticity seem to be a contradiction. In fact, the physical characteristics of this material have the above two characteristics. After many years of application and practice, the effect is extremely satisfactory. This is ROTEC's contribution to the flexographic printing industry.

Thanks to the use of air-cushion sleeves, it is possible to standardize flexo printing. You do not have to be as busy with the choice of adhesive tape or pad liner. Standardization here refers to a standard thickness thin plate and air bearing sleeve.

Based on the above introduction, the air-cushion sleeve has the following advantages: standardization of printing; the ability to simultaneously satisfy the needs of halftone images, fine lines and full-field printing; the dot gain is controlled; the service life is extended; and the impact resistance and cutting resistance are high Sex; printing quality has improved significantly; has good shock absorption performance. Obviously, the application of air cushion sleeves and thin plate technology will be an important part of the development of the flexographic printing industry.

MEGA ultra-light sleeve

The MEGA ultra-lightweight sleeves are specially filled with materials and processes to ensure the sturdiness and high accuracy of the sleeve. This sleeve is mainly designed for modern flexo presses such as W&H, F&K, COMEXI. These flexo presses use a "quick change" system that requires a fixed air support roll on the press. The diameter of the air-bearing roll is constant, and the desired various printing circumferences are obtained by using the sleeve having the same inner diameter and different outer diameters. The wall thickness of the MEGA sleeve is 10 to 70 mm, and the printing perimeter can be increased by nearly 400 mm.

Self-adhesive sleeve

The sleeve is coated with a special adhesive on the surface of the above-mentioned affixing sleeve to replace the traditional double-sided tape. This special adhesive coating can be affixed to the printing plate repeatedly, and it can be used for more than 1 year, which can save a lot of cost.