Brummen, Netherlands - The new Colorsat® Switch gravimetric flexo and gravure ink dispenser from GSE Dispensing provides an immediate, precise, waste-free means of providing spot colours for label and narrow web production runs, regardless of ink set.

Designed to dispense aqueous, UV or solvent ink batches into 5-litre buckets, the Colorsat Switch features a dispensing unit and a control cabinet connected to a maximum of 20 base colour components of max. 25 kg, conveniently stored by modular “waterfall frames”. It is also possible to connect 200-litre barrels or 1000 L containers to the dispenser. Couplers to the hoses make faster and cleaner exchange of barrels possible without risk of leakage. The Switch can be specially adapted for dispensing solvent inks thanks to long-lasting hoses, fittings and pumps and a fully closed, pressurised control cabinet, ensuring compliance with the ATEX Equipment Directive 94/9/EC.

Designed for both speed and accuracy, the Colorsat Switch mixes and dispenses a four-colour 5 kg recipe of water-, UV- or solvent-based ink in three to four minutes to an accuracy of 1 g. Powered by GSE’s proprietary Ink Management Software IMS^TM, which provides a user friendly interface, the Switch provides a means of achieving the exact volume requirements without performing complex, time-consuming manual calculations. Any excess ink left over from a print job can be easily calculated into new recipes, thus greatly reducing waste.

Maarten Hummelen, marketing director of GSE Dispensing, comments: “The trend towards shorter production runs in label printing has made greater control of the colour mixing stage a necessity, to avoid production bottlenecks and overconsumption. The Colorsat Switch offers the safe, automated and universal solution to achieving the desired quality while removing ink waste from the process. It is the perfect complement to a workflow where maximum flexibility and frequent job changeovers are the norm.”