DSS Sleeve Technology Injects New Energy into Flexible Printing

In packaging or decorative prints, it is often encountered that some designs are full and consistent, and they can be cut at will, but the joints at both ends do not meet the requirements of seams. This is true on a monochrome press, regardless of offset or softness. India is hard to do. Although it can be done on a reel type printing press, if a single-piece printing plate is used to print on a plate cylinder, it is also difficult to make joints without visible seams. Monochrome is so, color is more difficult.
Only use sleeveless plates to plate.
However, if the answer is to use an analog method, that is, through the film to the seamless sleeve-type printing plate, to avoid seams on the plate, it is not an easy task. Only with digital technology, data directly from the computer to the printing plate upswing, then to be seamless, in order to be easy.
Flexographic printing is a common printing process for packaging and decorative printing, and often encounters such printing requirements. In the early years, flexo printers often found it difficult to meet such prints. However, since the CTP technology was adopted to manufacture seamless sleeve-type flexo plates, such problems were solved.
The basic plate making method of DSS (Digital Seamless Sleeves) digital jointless sleeve printing plate is as follows:
The first step is to apply a layer of hot-melt adhesive to the space nickel or other metal roller. After drying, fix the photopolymer plate that has been printed on to the metal roller and put the two ends together. Vacuum is applied to the inner core of the metal roll (the surface of the roll has many small pores), which makes the photosensitive plate adhere to the surface of the metal roll. It is then placed in an oven and warmed to fuse the plate with the adhesive layer on the surface of the metal roll and then removed for cooling.
In the second step, the cooled version of the sleeve is placed on a peripheral grinding machine. According to the size requirements of the print, the outer diameter of the sleeve plate is ground to a certain diameter (detected by a laser). The layout is naturally smooth. After wiping it clean, apply a black coating to the sleeve plate surface. Let it dry and set aside.
The third step digitally laser scans (CTP) the sleeve version prepared in the second step so that the black coating on the sleeve plate is thermally etched by the laser and then exposed to UV light (as usual with the flexographic UV light) The same exposure).
The fourth step is to put the exposed sleeve plate into the corrosion box for flushing and then remove and blow dry. It can be proofed and submitted for use.
What happened to the DSS investment in the flexo market? The United States OEC Corporation was the first company to formally adopt DSS technology in 1997, and its development experiment has begun in the early 1990s. In the US flexo printing market, more than 10 sets of such platemaking systems have been put into use now, providing platemaking services for hundreds of flexographic printing companies, including both narrow and wide formats.
The US-renowned Kraft Foods flexible packaging has changed the packaging printing on one production line to DSS digital seamless sleeve printing, and is also preparing to convert all of its product packaging printing to DSS technology in 2001 (regardless of offset printing Or flexo, or other printing methods). Moreover, according to the expectations of professionals, DSS technology will be further welcomed and promoted because of the following reasons.