Finishing & Screen Printing
TRESU demonstrates iCoat coater for integration with HP Indigo digital presses for cartons and synthetics applications at Interpack 2017
Tuesday 02. May 2017 - At Interpack 2017 on the HP stand, TRESU Group will demonstrate the productivity of its iCoat flexo coater for applying added-value varnishes to digitally printed folding cartons and synthetic materials, seamlessly inline with an HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press (Hall 13 Stand C77 Messe Düsseldorf, Germany, 4 - 10 May, 2017).
In addition to coating machines, TRESU offers a complete supply of consumables such as varnish media, tapes and sleeves, as well as cutting equipment, thereby covering every element in this coating workflow.
TRESU iCoat applies TRESUs private label iVarnish range of UV-curable or aqueous varnishes, optimised to offer excellent adhesion properties on both plastic as well as board substrates. Like the HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press, TRESU iCoat has a maximum speed of up to 4600 sheets per hour (3450sph in four colours), handling substrates of maximum format 750mm x 550mm in paperboard and metallised boards between 250µm and 600µm. It also accommodates PVC and polypropylene substrates up to 630µm, and PET substrates up to 400µm.
The coater also comes with quick-change sleeve technology and automatic chamber cleaning, enabling varnish change-overs within minutes. Its sleeves assure smooth production without mis-registration at maximum speeds equivalent to that of the HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press.
Kim Krintel, vice-president, TRESU DigitalSolutions, comments: “Coating is a vital post-print stage in the digital packaging printing process, ensuring the finished product is both resistant and aesthetically appealing. The TRESU iCoat coater integrates perfectly with the HP Indigo digital press, applying full and spot varnishes in perfect register with minimal makeready time, and the result is a high-speed single-pass line with minimised waste or logistics. Its efficiency means converters can efficiently offer a host of added-value short-run or variable-data solutions that reduce supply chain costs, including targeted promotions, multi-versioning, unique package designs, serialised data, and samples on-demand.”
Live daily demonstrations of the HP Indigo – TRESU digital printing line, plus an abundance of samples, will give visitors a real-time impression of the quality and efficiency achievable for applications including food, beverage, pharmaceuticals, personal care and industrial products.
Besides the TRESU iCoat coater, TRESU provides a complete workflow of consumable products and equipment including coating media and tapes, coating circulators and sleeve cutters. There are also twin-unit and inkjet coating machines.
A TRESU innovation for the digital workflow to be used with TRESU iCoat demonstrations at Interpack 2017 is TRESU iTape, a double-sided adhesive, developed in partnership with Lohmann Bonding Engineers, of Neuwied, Germany. Benefits are superior dot gain control and varnish transfer, and fast frictionless demounting, eliminating the possibility of causing sleeve damage.
The TRESU iCut plate cutter provides a fast, straightforward means of imaging flexo plates for the post-print spot coating of digitally printed folding cartons. The plate, mounted on a sleeve, is cut directly from the file by a rotating knife, with 100% cross-directional register precision, without the need for shrinkage compensation. TRESU iCut is designed to process the same software as the digital printer, as well as the accompanying analogue coater. Processing times are less than ten minutes. Once imaged, the plate, together with the sleeve, are ready to be mounted on the coater for production.
TRESUs iCoat 30000 TWIN, featuring two flexo coating units, applies a combination of aesthetically appealing spot, line, matte and gloss varnishes in a single pass. Also available is an inkjet coater called the TRESU iJet, for variable positioning of spot coatings, integrated into the TRESU iCoat.