Rotogravure printing
Rotogravure printing machines are used for printing on flexible materials, such as aluminium foil, cardboard, paper, heat shrink polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene. Inks for rotogravure machines are based on highly volatile solvents, which makes it possible to print on higher speed. Due to costly manufacturing process of rotogravure rollers, this technology is mainly used for producing large quantities of packaging. Rotogravure machines use intaglio printing. Intaglio printing is a printing technology, in which ink is transferred with a cutout plate where printed elements are incised into the plate and are sunken compared to spacing elements. It is different from the flat printing and relief printing in a way that the ink layer thickness in one print may vary from tens to hundreds micrometers. This feature of the technology creates the relief of the printed image, which is raised above the surface of the base material. Rotogravure intaglio rollers are chrome-plated metal cylinders with engraved image. The image is printed on the substrate by transfer from the printing roller, where the ink sits in the sunken printing elements. Excessive ink is cleaned off of the spacing elements with a doctor blade. Halftones on the printed material are formed with variations in the ink layer thickness. Due to varying thickness of the ink layers, image quality is better.
Fully automated cleaning systems for chrome-plated rollers are designed for deep cleaning and recovering intaglio sleeves and rollers of any size for the operation process.
Moreover, such systems are a perfect tool of daily cleaning and maintenance of the rollers.
