What is a UV offset printing
What is a UV offset printing machine?
UV offset press is an offset press that uses UV ink to print.
UV offset printing machine needs to install UV curing machine or built-in UV curing system and other equipment.
Due to the particularity of UV inks, the corresponding parts on the printing press need to be modified accordingly to meet the needs of UV curing.
* Cooling device: Since the UV curing machine device is a heat source, the cooling device cannot be ignored. The performance of the cooling device corresponding to the UV curing machine and other devices should also meet the requirements. The better the performance, the less the substrate is heated and the smaller the deformation, which is more conducive to printing and registration.
* Ink rollers and blankets: Offset UV inks are highly corrosive, which may cause ordinary printing ink rollers and blankets to swell and affect the stability of printing pressure. In severe cases, peeling or surface cracking may occur. Therefore, UV offset printing has extremely high requirements on rubber rollers and blankets, and the selection of ink rollers and blankets must be compatible with offset printing UV inks. The matters needing attention are as follows
* Ink roller: Ink roller needs to be replaced with UV dedicated or combined. Generally, rubber rollers made of EPDM rubber (ethylene propylene diene rubber) or silicone rubber are used, and the hardness is best at Shore 40. the above.
* Blanket: The blanket needs to be replaced with UV-only or both. The following two kinds of blankets can be used.
# UV special rubber cloth: The rubber cloth mixture is added with anti-UV resin component, which can resist UV light irradiation, and the rubber cloth is not easy to powder.
* UV self-adhesive blanket: The rubber surface contains anti-UV resin, which can extend the life when used for UV printing.
* Gripper: Under the irradiation of UV lamp, the part of the gripper will be thermally deformed, which will affect the registration and printing. Therefore, the grippers on the unit with UV curing system must be replaced with special grippers for UV. Ordinary offset printing units do not have strict requirements for grippers.
* Dedicated printing plate: The printing plate can be selected as a UV special or dual-use plate, or can be obtained by heat treatment of a common printing plate. The ordinary PS plate that is dried according to the conventional method needs to bake the plate for 10-15 minutes (temperature 250°C). The CTP version also needs to bake the version for 10-15 minutes (temperature 250°C).
* Fountain solution: The fountain solution should be one that does not contain too much gum arabic.
* Ink cleaning agent: Ink cleaning agent should be selected for UV printing, using ordinary ink cleaning agent will damage the UV printing plate.
The investment cost of UV offset printing machine is higher than that of ordinary offset printing equipment; the application range of UV offset printing is wider than ordinary offset printing, the market is fragmented, and the market development investment is large. Therefore, the market start-up is slow and the investment risk is greater.
In addition, the cost of offset printing UV ink is 4 to 5 times that of traditional offset printing ink, and the cost of printing materials is also very high. Therefore, the production management, process technology, and cost control in printing production need to be more rigorous. Once the loss of materials is not well controlled The ratio will cause the printing cost to be much higher than ordinary offset printing. Therefore, packaging printing companies planning to enter the offset UV market should choose offset printing UV equipment or transform existing offset printing machines according to their own conditions, and make records during the printing process, and master the offset UV process in order to be calm. To an increasingly competitive market.
