Kolding, Denmark - At ICE Europe 2017, TRESU Group will showcase ancillary equipment, including, chamber doctor blades, supply systems and circulators for controlling and automating ink and coating supply in virtually all flexo printing situations (Hall A6, Stand 474, Munich Trade Fair Centre, Munich, Germany, 21-23 March, 2017). 

Henrik Kristensen, vice-president, TRESU Ancillary, comments: “With package converters facing demands for shorter production runs and greater quality consistency, controlling processes is essential, especially to protect productivity. At ICE Europe 2017, we will be exhibiting automated ink and coating supply solutions that meet these challenges, enabling increased uptime, faster printing speeds, minimal manual input and reduced material waste.”  

The TRESU F10 iCon ink supply system regulates ink flow, pressure and viscosity, ensuring a constant, accurate ink density on the printed substrate, without air contamination. This energy-efficient system also provides thorough automatic cleaning, achieving a complete ink change cycle in five to ten minutes.

TRESU’s chamber doctor blade systems bring reduced ink and substrate waste, uniform print quality, increased press speeds faster than 600m/min, shorter cleaning times and reduced emissions. Featuring the company’s patented seal system, they prevent leakage and air contamination, ensuring clean, blister-free print result with fast drying characteristics, better reflection and higher gloss values. When doctor blades need replacing, TRESU’s patented clamping systems enable changeovers in less than two minutes. The chamber programme includes lightweight, corrosion-resistant carbon fibre chambers that offer protection against detergents and adhesives with pH values in excess of 9.0, as well as and ceramic variants. All converting and coating applications are covered, from closed-cassette chambers for label presses, up to 6000mm-wide types for corrugated board and tissue printing.

The latest chamber innovation from TRESU is an ‘all-in-one’ concept for wide-web and corrugated printing, comprising a chamber doctor blade, inking system and integrated cleaning system. Available in widths from 1600mm to 6000mm, the chamber features an integrated cleaning nozzle with a robustly designed low-pressure water-shot mechanism, to ensure efficient cleaning of the chamber and anilox roll in a short time. The chamber offers fast emptying performance because the ink or coating fluid is evacuated through both the chamber’s inlet and outlet. 

For narrower printing widths, examples of TRESU’s doctor blade system offering include the FlexiPrint IMW E-Line, for widths up to 1800mm (70.8in) and speeds faster than 600m/min (1640ft/min); and the closed-cassette FlexiPrint Reservoir, which needs no pump and operates at press speeds of up to 300m/min (984ft/min). 

TRESU’s coating circulators precisely regulate the flow of the water-based flexo varnishes for label and packaging applications, including those that require careful handling because of their relatively large particle sizes. Examples of sensitive varnishes include those for high lustre, metallic and brilliant colours, as well as appealing sensual and scented effects. A highlighted product in the circulator programme, launched in the Autumn of 2016, is the TRESU XL5i, a compact system with two speed-controlled peristaltic pumps, ensuring varnishes are kept at precise viscosity and pressure levels. This means the desired print result can be achieved without disturbance, at high production speeds. The circulator is used in combination with a chamber doctor blade and customized open-cell anilox roll, and easy to operate thanks to semi-automatic cleaning and timer settings.