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What's New Products: March 2009

Published: March 01, 2009

Install Brakes Easily

The CD2 module for company's CD Series brakes is said to make installation and setup easier, improve performance, make brakes more sensitive, and permit lower tension applications. The new version has pistons on both sides of the module, and the dimensions are the same, making the changeover transparent. Module also is available for new installations.

Laminating Ink Is MEK-Free

Belle Color gravure laminating ink system for flexible packaging now is available throughout North America. Provides advances for retort pouch, boil-in-bag, and snack food applications. MEK/toluene-free ink reportedly prints as well as traditional formulations. Bond strength is said to be excellent.

Air Shaft Allows Fast Response

The Model D5 differential air shaft offers a core-slip design that enables a faster response to slit recipe changes and improves efficiency and accuracy in high-volume operations, company reports. Features removable, interchangeable core position trays to simplify repositioning and loading. Core position tray allows simultaneous adjustment of core position, reducing overall setup time.

Chucks Aid Roll Handling

Fast-clamping air adapter chucks attach to existing shafts easily to securely accept rolls with larger cores. An inflated pneumatic bladder provides high-torque engagement for gripping cores. Dual chucks can share an air configuration for faster setup. Eliminate need for expensive shafts sized for larger core diameters.

Film Biodegrades, Heat Seals & More

NatureFlex NK offers biodegradability and compostability as well as a moisture barrier said to approach that of coextruded OPP. Transparent, general-purpose, packaging-grade film is suitable for many food applications and for lamination to other biofilms. It is based on renewable raw materials, is heat sealable on both sides, has a print-receptive surface, and reportedly offers high transparency and gloss.

Secure Large Rolls

Precision-cut custom endboards are combined with sleeve plugs to secure and protect medium to large rolls during shipping and storage. Endboards are made with high-density particleboard, plywood, or hardboard up to 2 in. thick with any variety of holes, slots, notches, and other precision cuts. Both standard and custom sleeve plugs are available.

Inks Support Sustainability

INK

Eekoflex inks and varnishes offer a cost-effective way to provide a more sustainable printed product. They are made from paper residue, contain little or no VOCs, are shipped in reground plastic buckets, and pigments are without any heavy metals. Reportedly print the same as other water-based flexo inks with the added benefits.

Handle Larger Sheets

The Diamond V3000LX sheet-fed press handles a larger sheet size than the previous Diamond 3000 Series presses. Said to be engineered for exceptional performance on different stock types across a thickness range from 0.0016-0.040 in. Features include scratch-proof, smudge-proof transfer and delivery skeleton cylinders, air showers above impression cylinders, a gripper height adjustment device, and an individual air chamber at each printing unit.

Gravure Ink Is Consistent

INK

LioValue solvent-based gravure lamination ink prints on a wide range of substrates with no primer. Applications include retort, and printability is consistent over long runs, company says. Reported benefits include high color, low solvent retention, excellent lamination qualities, and no MEK in formulation.

Eliminate Backlash

The RS indexing drive is a backlash-free alternative for linear motion systems. Available in seven sizes to meet axial thrust requirements from 22-450 lbs. Inner race of the rolling ring bearings is in constant point-contact with the shaft. There is no play or free movement between shaft and bearings. This is said to assure that when the shaft rotates, the rotary motion input is immediately converted into linear output, including during reversal.

Measure Tension With Accuracy

The TR Tension Roll transducer measures tension at critical points in the web path. Robust, dead-shaft idler roll has high-accuracy tension sensors built into each roll end. No assembly is required.

  • Dover Flexo Electronics | 603-332-6150 | www.dfe.com
    PFFC-ASAP 410

Guide Sensor Aids Press Speeds

The SE-46 line guide sensor eliminates the need for printed elements used solely for guiding. Requirements for printed elements are minimal, including a minimum line width of 0.5 mm and “smallest detectable feature” of 3.7 mm width at 600 mpm. Higher scan frequency and a large proportional band allow for faster press speeds.

Analyze Oxygen Rate with Ease

The Ox-Tran Model 1/50 oxygen transmission rate analyzer offers an absolute coulometric method, built-in software to minimize user error, and automatic RH controls. Small footprint uses minimum bench space, and operator input is simplified. Said to be an ideal entry-level oxygen analyzer, unit is designed to test medium-to-low barrier film and also can test coated paperboard.

Rolls Offer Options

Felt rolls come in lengths to 300 in. and more. Rolls are dynamically balanced at each customer's line speed to ISO grade G2.5 or finer. Options include air release grooving for increased felt life and better drying; bolt-on journals for easy maintenance; and alloy steel journals for heavyweight applications. Optional chrome plating and a wide range of rubber coverings are available.

Film Suited for Cold

Apex 3739 MW (microwavable) sealant film is offered in clear or opaque sealant film, providing an improved printing base for lamination to reverse-printed PET or PP. This multilayer, coextruded film is designed to withstand cold temperature burst, reducing costly product loss during distribution of frozen packaged goods. Film has a low seal initiation temperature, high seal strength, improved slip properties, and a broad sealing window said to provide improved packaging speeds and efficiencies on VFFS machines.

Data Logging Is Simple

Multi-feature digital display temperature and humidity data loggers offer both push-to-start and push-to-stop functions. Data recording is said to be clean and easy-to-read. Other features include easy-to-read digital displays; options to display current or min/max temperature and humidity readings; user-replaceable battery; and USB-enabled triple-speed data downloading.

Measure Color With Precision

The BetaColor S7 Spectro XPress is described as an advanced, economical, seven-color spectro-densitometer that incorporates all features of company's S Series densitometers plus precise spectro measuring. Said to be versatile and user-friendly, unit's LED technology makes it possible for two AA batteries to achieve 500,000 measurements, while eliminating recharging, calibration during normal use, and bulb replacement for measurements in 1/10 of a second.

Overwrap Offers Strong Seal

Triad high-barrier, solvent-free overwrap uses company's proprietary metallocene-based sealant chemistry. The sealant layer bonds to foil without solvent- or water-based materials. This extrusion-coated lamination of polyester, aluminum foil, and metallocene is engineered to provide a strong hermetic weld seal in high-speed, chemically sensitive, pharmaceutical applications.

Create Precise Reference Planes

The Precision 90-Line Square Plane is configured for creating precise reference planes with company's Microgage Alignment System. Also creates precise parallel lines for checking roller alignment, tracks, and mechanical guides. Built with a durable housing for holding precision optical elements that redirect the laser beam. Product is machined from a solid, aluminum block and protected with a hard, anodized coating.

Control Many Factors of Melt

The OPT•TROL modular polymer melt control system is said to give users the ability to control pressure and temperature precisely on most extrusion lines. It offers adaptive, autotuned temperature, pressure, and speed control as well as differential control and process-variable trending from a user-friendly color touchscreen operator interface. The system, which can be used on new extruders or retrofitted on existing equipment, can be configured with as few as eight zones and expanded to a maximum of 40 zones of control.

Print Mirror-Like Effects

PlatinStar GX-2901 solvent-based gravure ink is for reverse printing on transparent film to create mirror-like effects. Also suitable for surface printing on transparent and opaque films. Said to provide good rub resistance on almost all substrates.

Inspect At High Speeds

The Smash system delivers full-width, 100% print inspection at fast production speeds. Automated inspection reduces waste through immediate notification of repeating or continuous defects. System provides a sharp image of each defect and the location of it in each repeat.

Reduce Engineering Time

Three Inline I/O modules are said to reduce engineering time and cost while adding functionality and versatility to company's scalable PLCs and PACs. Modules include the SSI and INC IN, which bring powerful encoder feedback capabilities to even smaller PLCs, and the PWM/2 module for step and direction control or pulse width modulation.

Sheet Short Orders

The MSE sheeter is capable of operating at speeds to 300 fpm and is designed for ease of setup and delivery of press-ready skids of material. Capable of converting rolls to 56 in. wide, sheeter can produce cutoffs from 15-50 in. long. Compact footprint makes it ideal for short-order and low-volume work on all types of material to 0.020 in. thick.

Dryer Has Compact Design

The SpeedMax support roll dryer features dryer sections to 6 m long at a competitive price/performance ratio, company says. Dryer is built with hollow support rolls, and nozzles are individually exchangeable. Offers production speeds to 1,200 mpm and compact design results in short heat-up and cool-down times.

Remove Die-Cutting Waste

The Series 1000 web cleaner is used to remove waste particles, or chad, after die-cutting during the manufacture of plastic bags. Cleaner combines static eliminators, brushes, and a high-power vacuum dust collection system designed with a vacuum control plate that gives complete coverage of the material surface. Flexible ducting carries the contaminants to the collection system where they are collected in a filter bag. Noncontact system leaves no scratches on the end product.

Sheet Tough Shapes

The Variable Chip-Out SW sheeter from ESS Graphic includes die-cutting units, flexo units for varnish, and glue or scratch-off and patch applicators. It is able to sheet and stack difficult-to-handle shapes or products that have multiple thicknesses or have been finished to add value. As a servo-driven unit, sheeter can be added and moved to any production line. Features an automatic register control to ensure cut-off accuracy.

  • Matik North America | 860-232-2323 | www.matik.com
    PFFC-ASAP 426

Get High Adhesion Levels

INK

Santel 180-H water-based resin, coating, and ink vehicle provides high adhesion levels to a variety of porous and nonporous surfaces. Can be used as a clear, glossy overcoat or can be pigmented or dyed to produce a glossy ink. Dried surface said to be very durable.

Valves Offer Speed

The 300 Series electric valves are said to offer unprecedented speed in a 15-mm-wide package. Valves can apply very short patterns at high machine speeds, and life cycles exceeding 1 billion are possible with a lightweight plunger featuring a carbide ball seating on a ceramic nozzle tip.

Conveyor Oven Cures

The No. 972 electrically heated, 250-deg-F, two-zone belt conveyor oven is used to cure a coating onto plastic sheets. Controls include digital indicating temperature controllers, manual reset excess temperature controllers with separate contactors, recirculating blower airflow safety switches, 10-in.-dia, two-pen circular chart temperature recorders, and SCR power controllers for the heating zones.

Sweep Gaylord Containers

The Sweeper continuously sweeps the length and breadth of the top level of resin in a Gaylord container, reaching into every corner as it uses vacuum to transfer the resin to a processing machine or dryer. Said to reduce labor and material waste, save energy and plant space, and help users avoid the high cost and safety issues of conventional tilt tables. Operation is said to be simple, and the device continues to work without operator intervention.

Dispense Paste Precisely

The RTP3000 automated paste-dispensing system controls dispensing precisely to provide excellent formula repeatability from batch to batch. Also serves as a complete inventory management tool. Requires no costly pumps, and maintenance is minimal, company says. System handles formula storage, batch dispensing, job costing, production reporting, and inventory control.

  • Spec/Southeastern Process Equipment & Controls | 704-483-1141 | www.spec-inc.com
    PFFC-ASAP 431

Foam Has Recycled Content

Astro-Foam Renew PE foam sheet features up to 35% preconsumer recycled content. Regrind content ranges from 15%-35%, with an average target of 25%. Available in 1/8-in. thickness, foam reportedly offers excellent cushioning and energy absorption over broad load ranges. Product is tear-resistant and can be laminated to adhesive or cohesive film, kraft paper, PE films, or foil for additional performance properties.

Cut Plate-Changing Time

AutoPlate XL features the Intellistart process-oriented operator guidance system, which is integrated into the Prinect Press Center high-performance control station. Because the processes are performed simultaneously, all the plates in a press can be changed in almost the same time it previously took to change the plates in just one printing unit, company says.

Motor Control Aids Profits

The DC590+ Integrator Series 2 offers control over a range of DC motor applications, reportedly improving performance and profitability. A flexible control structure allows a combination of functions, and the series provides additional functionality and enhanced I/O while serving as a backward-compatible drop-in replacement for any existing DC590+ applications and configurations.

Analyze Oxygen for Many Packages

The 8000 Series oxygen permeation analyzer offers precise control of RH and temperature for a wide variety of packages. No special gas mixtures are required. Unit features a user-friendly design; easy input of all operating parameters; the ability to recall stored parameters; total data tracking, storage, and output capabilities; and internal system diagnostics.

Software Simplifies Access

Software offers simple mobile interface to guide work and allows all members of supply chain access. Converting module allows user to change source rolls for jobs on the fly, schedule, issue stock, receive finished goods, and return unused material. Other modules include inventory, shipping, customer relations, purchasing, and more.

Recyclable Materials Print Easily

Sustainable packaging materials include nonlaminated UniLustre, which includes no film or foil, and holographic UniLustre papers and boards. Materials are recyclable and can be made from recycled PCW. Company says materials print easily with conventional high-speed methods, offer excellent dead fold properties, are curl-free, and do not flake.

Fight Static with Many Products

Line of anti-static products ranges from passive products — including JemmStat Anti-Static Tinsel, brushes, and JemmCord Anti-Static Cord — to JemmStat active anti-static bars, including the Pulsed DC bar. Products are said to offer converters a high performance, cost-effective solution to the types of static problems that are affiliated with the converting industry.

Inspect with Savings

The Marksman press-side, full-sheet inspection scanner for sheet-fed presses compares the printed sheet to approved proofsheets and identifies and highlights variances and defects. Advanced digital-detection software provides digital inspection analysis with savings on paper, ink, and labor. System can scan complete 40-in. sheets and analyze more than 10 million pixel elements in 30 sec while detecting hickies, streaks, voids, scumming, shifts, tinting, ghosting, and more.

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