Upgrades on five presses
IN ORDER to print UV curable inks on unsupported films, Impresora Silvaform Mexico, needed to upgrade four of its web offset forms presses. The UV upgrades on a Didde, Hunkeler and two Harris presses was carried out by GEW, which supplied UV lamp heads to the company.
Impresora Silvaform says the upgrade was essential as a result of a growing demand for customised security forms and labels.
Brian Wenger, president of GEW’s USA operation comments, “Printing films on a web offset press has to be carried out with UV technology in order to avoid tracking and smearing of the ink. All the machines were upgraded with our HCP system with water chill rollers to keep the unsupported film cool. In all four cases, we had to modify the machine framework to install the UV lamp head and chill rollers. On the Didde press, we also had to fully remove the compensator/ registration roller and make one to our own design that was subsequently mounted just after the UV lamp head.”
Silvaforms has five printing plants located at key locations throughout Mexico. The company prints a wide range of products including labels, direct mail, holograms, cards, scratch off and security documents. Ms. Emiko Silva, director, commented, “The UV upgrade enables us to provide what we call ‘Intelligent Forms’ that combine and integrate different elements from our larger product range into one form. This means we can offer customer’s solutions tailored to their needs and simplify the end use application of the product. The GEW systems are reliable and easy to use and our operators appreciate the fact that very little maintenance is required.”
Wenger says also: “The HCP water-cooled UV lamp head is designed for presses from 254mm-559mm and its compact design permits it to be fitted to a wide range of presses. The system is capable of running the majority of print jobs with only 140W/cm, due to its efficient reflector design with considerable energy savings for printers. The UV lamp heads were supplied with GEW’s energy efficient, e-brick power supplies that reduce energy consumption and take up very little space in the printing plant.”
GEW will be unveiling a new range of technologies for its UV curing systems at Labelexpo Americas in September.
“We will be leading the way in UV curing by showing some innovative new products and developments says managing director, Malcolm Rae. “These have been designed with the specific goal of performance improvement, and energy optimisation. The new developments take the efficiency of our award winning technologies to an even higher level and will further increase press output for our customers.”
GEW:
T: + 44 (0) 1737 824 500
E: Sales@gewuv.com