Products adapted for flexographic ink users Flexo Technology
Printers and converters operate in a diverse range of product sectors from printing bread wrappers, wrap around labelling, folding cartons, POS materials and more. Productive printing presses achieve the desired effect on-press; however, meeting the requirements of the customer with ink can sometimes be difficult. There are many variables to contend with, colour is in itself an abstraction and largely subjective. Our cultural and emotional make up influences what is seen and whether the colour chosen is determined as appropriate to be used in the first place. However, this is not the only challenge for ink users and producers. Ink manufacturers have many masters; they need to formulate a product that
takes into account the end use of a printed product and the various converting or finishing processes. Devices such as the FlexiProof 100 and
associated variants, including the FlexiProof UV and FlexiProof LED UV, were developed for both users and producers of flexographic inks. Users are able to colour match off-press and resolve ink and other related issues easily and quickly; reducing on-press waste and providing savings in other areas such as time, energy costs and press downtime. Designed and developed by RK Print Coat
Instruments, the FlexiProof can be used to determine printability - gloss, flexibility, durability and rub resistance - prior to full-scale production, and may also be used in place of a production press for trialing new materials. The FlexiProof UV differs from the original
FlexiProof 100 in that it incorporates a miniaturised UV system for UV flexo ink manufacturers and users. The most recent innovation, the FlexiProof LED UV, is a solid-state device that takes the printing and curing of UV products a step further. It operates within a relatively narrow part of the UV spectrum and outputs either at 385 or 395nm wavelength, so that heat sensitive substrates can be cured. Another quality control product development
tool is the K303 Multicoater, available with quick and easily interchangeable gravure, flexo and metre bar coating heads. As a standard gravure proofer it is often used in laboratories for quality control on all ink and substrate combinations for
colour comparison, but also for determining factors such as printability and adhesion. Fitted with an RK Print Coat flexo print head, the K303 Multicoater utilises doctored anilox flexo plates from which the ink is transferred via the stereo roller onto the substrate. Very fine pressure adjustments can be made to obtain a perfect print on most substrates by the use of micrometers – this facility enables the user to record settings for any given substrate. The flexo head can be used to produce ‘gravure-
offset‘ proofs, while the addition of a meter bar coating head expands possibilities further still.
www.rkprint
The July/August issue of will be at LABELEXPO 2017
To advertise contact Zoe Revell 01622 699117
zrevell@datateam.co.uk
www.convertermag.co.uk
AUTO K LOX PROOFER
June 2017
ESIPROOF
FLEXIPROOF 100
K LOX PROOFER
33
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