JP2001194773A - Flexographic plate making factory - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flexographic plate making factory which wraps rectangular sheet-like flexographic printing plate materials within one turn around handling rolls to form handling works and is capable of subjecting the flexographic printing plate materials to fully automatic flexographic plate making. SOLUTION: The rectangular sheet-like flexographic printing plate materials 1 are wrapped within one turn around the handling rolls 2 to form the handling works W and the flexographic printing plate materials 1 are subjected to flexographic plate making by handing over the flexographic printing plate materials between an industrial robot 3 of a traveling type having robot hands constituted with both end faces so as to attach and detach a pair of U-shaped plates and suitable processing devices 4 to 7 having a pair of chuck cones for fitting and supporting the holes to be chucked of both end faces.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexographic printing method in which a rectangular sheet-shaped flexographic printing plate is wound around a handling roll within one turn to form a handling work, and the flexographic printing plate is subjected to fully automatic flexographic printing. Regarding plate making factory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, there has been no fully-automatic flexographic plate making line apparatus. Each of the flexo plate processing apparatuses was an independent apparatus.

[0003]

In particular, many printing companies and plate making companies that make plate-making stock 20 to 40 flexographic printing plates in the plate-making room in the evening and store them at night. It is desired to provide a total line device that can perform a fully automatic plate making unattended.

[0004] The present invention provides a flexographic plate making factory in which a rectangular sheet-shaped flexographic printing plate material is wound around a handling roll within one turn to form a handling work, and a fully automatic flexographic plate making is performed on the flexographic printing plate material. It is intended to be.

[0005]

According to the first invention of the present application, a flexographic printing plate material made of a resin which has photosensitivity and flexibility and which is not eroded by a developing solution when exposed to light is applied to a handling roll. A flexographic plate making factory that performs flexographic plate making for flexographic printing plate material by winding it within the winding to make it a handling work.The black film applied to the flexographic printing plate material is lasered to correspond to the image area. A laser ablation device for forming a black film negative image corresponding to the non-image area by ablation, and irradiating the entire surface of the flexographic printing plate on which the black film negative image is formed with ultraviolet light with a black film negative image A full-surface exposure / latent image forming apparatus that exposes and cures the resin corresponding to the unprinted image area, and a handling work that has completed the latent image formation is rotated at both ends while supporting and supporting the work. A developing device for eroding the unexposed and non-image area resin portion of the printing plate material with a developing solution, and irradiating light of a required wavelength to the entire peripheral surface of the flexographic printing plate material after completion of the development. An entire surface exposure drying device that performs exposure and curing is disposed in the plate making room, and the handling work is provided with an industrial robot having a robot hand configured to move a pair of U-shaped plates toward and away from each other, and an industrial robot having both ends. It is configured to perform flexo plate making for a flexographic printing plate material by transferring between a suitable device having a pair of chuck cones that fit and support the holes to be chucked, and a black film is applied on the surface. It is concealed by a surface protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties, and is coated with an adhesive on the back side and concealed by a back-face protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties. Then erosion to the developer A flexographic printing plate material winding device for flexographic printing plate material, which is configured to peel off the surface protection film and the back surface protection film and wind and bond the back surface of the plate material to a handling roll, It is an object of the present invention to provide a flexographic plate making factory, which is provided in a space where manual work can be performed in a plate making room or adjacent to the plate making room.

The second invention of the present application relates to the first invention,
Further, the winding end of the flexographic printing plate material before peeling off the front surface protection film and the back surface protection film is made substantially coincident with the upper end of the receiving roll, and the handling roll is pressed onto the receiving roll to make at least one rotation and the back surface protection. A flexographic printing plate winding device that can be peeled off the film and then separated from the receiving roll and peeled off the surface protective film to be placed on a roll placing table as a handling work. Or a flexographic plate-making factory characterized by being provided adjacent to a plate-making room.

The third invention of the present application relates to the first invention,
Furthermore, a freely rotatable receiving roll and a winding end of the flexographic printing plate material before peeling off the surface protection film and the back surface protection film are made substantially coincident with an upper end of the receiving roll, and a winding end of the flexographic printing plate material is removed. An apron table that can be placed in a horizontal state that substantially matches the upper end of the roll, receives a winding end side portion, a roll mounting table that is provided above the apron table, and on which a handling roll can be mounted, and an integrated and tip of a pair of arms The handling roll mounted on the roll mounting table is supported at both ends by a pair of roll supporting means provided on the part opposing surface, pressed on a freely rotatable receiving roll, rotated at least one turn, and then separated from the receiving roll. Can be temporarily stopped, where the surface protection film can be peeled off. Roll, which can be transferred directly to the industrial robot at that position without interfering with the robot, or can be placed on the work table at that position. An object of the present invention is to provide a flexographic plate making factory, wherein a flexographic printing plate material winding device provided with the device is provided in a space where manual work can be performed in the plate making room or adjacent to the plate making room.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A flexo plate making factory according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, this flexo plate making factory winds a rectangular sheet-shaped flexographic printing plate material 1 around a handling roll 2 within one turn to form a handling work W, and has a pair of U-shaped end faces.
Traveling industrial robot 3 equipped with a robot hand configured to approach and separate the dial, and appropriate devices 4 to 4 having a pair of chuck cones for fittingly supporting chucked holes on both end surfaces.
8 to perform flexo plate making on the flexographic printing plate material 1. The flexographic printing plate material 1 has a rectangular sheet shape, a black film capable of being laser ablated is applied to the surface, and is concealed by a surface protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties, and an adhesive is applied to the back surface. It is concealed by a backside protective film that is light-shielding and mold-releasing, has photo-curing properties and flexibility, and is eroded by a solvent or water before photo-curing and eroded by a developer when photo-cured. It is made of resin that is no longer used. It is preferable that the resin be eroded by water from the viewpoint of being friendly to the global environment. In addition, as a material of the black film that can be laser ablated, for example, flammable substances (nitrocellulose, ethylene vinyl acetate strong polymer, unsaturated polyester resin, epoxy resin, allyl resin, polyurethane resin, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, One or more of polyacetal, natural rubber, etc .: 75% by weight), an oxidizing agent (ammonium nitrate or chloric acid compound: 10% by weight), and a light absorber (carbon black: 15%)
(% By weight) and a material having etching resistance capable of laser ablation is applied to the roll surface so as to have a thickness of several μm.

This flexo plate making factory is provided with a traveling industrial robot 3 in the center of a plate making room H1, and a laser ablation device 4 and an entire surface exposure / latent image forming device around the plate making room H1. 5, a developing device 6, a whole-surface exposure / drying device 7, a stock device 8, and a carry-out device 9 are provided. Further, outside the pre-pressmaking chamber H2, a flexographic printing plate material winding device 10 and a controller 12 for controlling the entire system are provided adjacent to the prepress-making chamber H1, and an opening provided in the chamber wall of the prepress-making chamber H1 is provided. Has a work placement table 11
Is provided.

The industrial robot 3 is a robot arm 3b that travels on a track 3a, can reciprocate in a range of 360 degrees, swings up and down, and can twist and rotate around an arm axis.
And a robot hand 3c provided on the robot arm 3b to approach and separate a pair of U-shaped plates (for example, see Patent No. 21).
No. 36697) has a handling function of sandwiching both end surfaces of the handling work W (both end surfaces of the handling roll 2) and transferring the plate-making roll R to and from another device.

The laser ablation device 4 receives and rotates the handling work W, which is held by the industrial robot 3 at both ends after being coated with the black film and supported by a pair of conical chucks, and rotates. The black film applied to the plate material 1 is flashed and irradiated with laser light so as to correspond to the image area, and is subjected to laser ablation to form a black film negative image corresponding to the non-image area. The laser ablation device 4 can use a laser beam of a yag laser, an infrared laser, or a semiconductor laser that emits a laser beam having a wavelength of about 800 nm. In laser ablation, a laser beam is absorbed by a black film and converted into heat, and a combustible substance constituting the black film is heated and evaporated instantaneously under an oxidizing agent. When the laser ablation is completed, it is handed over to the industrial robot 3.

The full-surface exposure / latent image forming apparatus 5 rotates after supporting the both ends of the handling work W conveyed by the industrial robot 3 with the pair of conical chucks after completion of the laser ablation. By irradiating the entire surface with ultraviolet rays radiated from a light source for about 20 minutes, a portion of the resin corresponding to the image portion not covered with the black film negative image of the flexographic printing plate 1 is sufficiently exposed and cured to form a latent image. I do. When the exposure and curing are completed, it is handed over to the industrial robot 3.

The developing device 6 rotates after supporting the both ends of the handling work W conveyed by the industrial robot 3 after the formation of the latent image by the pair of conical chucks. After removing the black film negative image of No. 1, the unexposed non-image area resin portion covered with the black film negative image is eroded with a developing solution, and the exposed and cured portion is left as a letterpress portion. In order to effectively reduce the erosion by the developer, the flexographic printing plate 1 is subjected to shower development and the brush roll is rotated in contact with the plate. Thus, the black film is removed by the brush roll, and the developer is constantly brought into contact with the uncured resin portion by the brush roll to perform erosion. Further, it is preferable that the lower side of the handling work W is immersed in a developer and irradiated with ultrasonic waves. When the resin constituting the outer layer portion 1b of the flexographic printing plate material 1 in the form of a rectangular sheet is soluble in a solvent, a solvent is used in the developing solution. When the resin is water-soluble, water can be used in the developing solution. .
When the development is completed, it is handed over to the industrial robot 3.

The whole-surface exposure / drying device 7 rotates the supporting work W, which has both ends supported by the industrial robot 3 and is conveyed by the industrial robot 3 after the development, with both ends supported by a pair of conical chucks, and emits light from the UV light source. About 2 UV
By irradiating the entire surface for 0 minutes, the flexographic printing plate 1
Is irradiated with light of a required wavelength to expose and harden the entire surface to dry the flexographic printing plate material 1 and to retain corrosion resistance during printing. The entire-surface exposure / drying device 7 is preferably provided adjacent to the entire-surface exposure / latent image forming device 5 because the mechanical configuration is not different from that of the entire-surface exposure / latent image forming device 5. The whole-surface exposure / latent image forming device 5 and the whole-surface exposure drying device 7 can be used for both purposes. Although the production capacity is reduced, one unit can be omitted to reduce equipment costs and save space.

The stock device 8 is provided on the entire surface exposure / latent image forming device 5 and the entire surface exposure drying device 7. In the handling of the industrial robot 1, when one device is in operation, the handling work W that has progressed to the step of being processed by the one device is stored in the roll stock device 8. Since the present invention enables unattended full-automatic plate making at night, the stock apparatus 8 is provided with a number capable of stocking a maximum number of processing works, preferably 20 to 40 handling works W overnight. .

The unloading device 9 is designed so that the handling work W, which has completed plate-making, is heavy. It is configured. The unloading device 9 can lean the plurality of handling works W processed at night at a time at an angle, and thus can quickly empty the stock device 8 at the start of plate making in the morning.

Flexographic printing plate material winding apparatus 10
As shown in FIGS. 2 (a), 2 (b) and 2 (c), a black film is applied to the surface and is concealed by a surface protection film f2 having a light-shielding property and a releasing property. Is applied, and the sheet-like flexographic printing plate 1 made of a photosensitive curable resin concealed by the backside protective film f1 having light-shielding properties and release properties is peeled off by peeling off the surface protective film f2 and the backside protective film f1. The back surface of the plate material is wound around the handling roll 2 and adhered to form a handling work W.
The flexographic printing plate material winding device 10 includes a freely rotatable receiving roll 10a and an upper end of the receiving roll 10a for receiving the winding end of the flexographic printing plate material 1 before peeling off the back surface protection film f1 and the front surface protection film f2. And an apron table 10b which can be placed in a horizontal state substantially in line with the upper end of the roll 10a to receive a winding end portion other than the winding end of the flexographic printing plate material 1, and a spring provided in the middle of the apron table 10b. And a free roll 2c which is urged upward by a distance of 2 to 3 mm from the upper surface of the apron table 10b, and is rotatable in one direction in which the receiving roll 10a is supported by a one-way clutch bearing and the side of the receiving roll 10a is the up rotation side. To receive the flexographic printing plate material 1 placed on the roll 10a so as to be movable in the direction of the roll 10a. And the plate material pressing rubber roll 10d that,
Freely rotatable backside protective film peeling rubber roll 10 adhered onto plate material pressing rubber roll 10d
e, a roll placing table 10 provided above the apron table 10b and capable of placing the handling roll 2 thereon.
g and a roll supporting / rotating / transferring device 10f. Roll support, rotation, and delivery unit 10f is the first arm of 10f ₂ tip is oscillated by the motor 10f ₁ for the first arm, a pair of second arms 10f ₄ which is swung by the second arm motor 10f ₃ the a, said second arm 10f ₄ of tip facing surface comprises a pair of rolls chucks 10f ₃ by handling roll 2 placed on the roll mount table 10g in both ends supported free rotatable receiving rolls 10a at least one rotation by a motor 10f ₆ rolls chuck against the top of the direction in which flexographic printing plate 1 is wound on the handling roll 2, preferably rotated 630 degrees and then subjected roll 1
0a, can be temporarily stopped, and then, the end of the surface protection film f2 wound around the handling roll 2 is turned up, the receiving roll 10a is slowly rotated once, and the surface protection film f2 is peeled off, as described above. Next, the flexographic printing plate material 1 is peeled off the front surface protection film f2 and the back surface protection film f1, and the back surface of the plate material is wound around a handling roll 2 and adhered to form a handling work W. Then, the handling work W is rolled again. It can be placed on the placing table 10g. The handling work W placed on the roll placement table 10g is carried by hand and placed on the work placement table 11. In FIG. 1, a flexographic printing plate material winding device 10 is shown.
Is provided adjacent to the plate making room H1, but it may be provided in a space in the plate making room where manual work is possible. In that case,
As described above, the roll supporting / rotating / transferring device 10f sets the handling work W, and then does not place the handling work W on the roll placement table 10g again, and places the handling roll 2 on the apron table 10b. Move to the opposite side, and at that position can be delivered directly to the industrial robot 3 without interference
Alternatively, it is preferable to adopt a configuration that can be mounted on the work mounting table 11 provided at that position. It is sufficient that the handling roll 2 is prepared in such a manner that it has an outer diameter and a length capable of winding the largest size of the flexographic printing plate material 1 within one turn. When winding, always
The distance from one end of the handling roll 2 to one end of the flexographic printing plate 1 on the same side is kept constant, and this dimension is registered in the controller 12. Since the handling roll W has conical holes to be chucked on both end surfaces, the chucked holes on both end surfaces are held in a state in which both end surfaces are clamped by a robot hand configured to approach and separate a pair of U-shaped plates. Since the chuck is performed by the pair of conical chucks, the transfer is performed between the industrial robot and an appropriate processing apparatus having the pair of chuck cones.

The work placing table 11 is provided in an opening provided in the chamber wall of the plate making chamber H1. When the handling work W assembled by the flexographic printing plate material winding device 10 is placed thereon, the work placing table 11 can be used for industrial use. Robot 3 comes to receive. Flexographic printing plate material winding device 10 is mounted in plate-making room H
1, but in this case, the work placing table 11 is arranged between the industrial robot 3 and the flexographic printing plate winding device 10. The handling work W may be directly transferred between the industrial robot 3 and the flexographic printing plate winding device 10.

The controller 12 controls the entire system. The controller 12 has a laser ablation
A program for one type of plate making process (A) including black film negative image formation, whole surface exposure / latent image formation, development, and whole surface exposure drying is stored. The dimensions related to the sheet-like flexographic printing plate 1 and the handling roll 2 constituting the handling work W are registered in the controller 12 in advance. Only when the handling work W is different from the standard size, the relevant dimensions are input to the controller 12 as handling data and data for specifying the ablation position.

[0020]

The flexographic plate making factory according to the first and second aspects of the present invention is configured such that a rectangular sheet-shaped flexographic printing plate material is wound around a handling roll within one turn into a handling work, and the flexographic printing plate material is applied to the flexographic printing plate material. To perform fully automatic flexo plate making. The flexo plate making factory of the third invention of the present application is provided with an assembling device that is extremely simple to handle for winding a rectangular sheet-shaped flexographic printing plate material into a handling roll within one turn to form a handling work. It is possible to provide a fully automatic flexographic plate making operation that is easy from the stage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a flexographic plate making apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a schematic operation process of the flexographic printing plate material winding apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

H1: plate making room, H2: plate making room, 1 ... flexographic printing plate material, f1: surface protection film, f2.
..Backside protective film, 2 ... Roll for handling, W ... Handling work, 3 ... Industrial robot, 3a ... Track, 3b ... Robot arm, 3c
... Robot hand, 4 ... Laser ablation device, 5 ... Overall exposure / latent image forming device, 6 ... Developing device, 7 ... Overall exposure drying device, 8 ... Stock device, 9 ... Unloading device, 10 ... Flexographic printing plate material winding device, 10a ... Receiving roll, 10b ...
・ Apron table, 10c ・ ・ ・ Free roll, 10
d: rubber roll for pressing plate material, 10e: rubber roll for peeling, 10g: roll mounting table, 1
0f: Roll support / rotation / transfer device, 10f ₁
... first arm motor, _10f 2 ··· first arm, _10f 3 ··· first arm motor, _10f 4 ··
・ Second arm, 10f ₅ ... Roll chuck, 10f
₆ ... roll chuck motor, 11 ... work table, 12 ... controller,

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A flexographic printing plate material comprising a resin having photosensitivity and flexibility, which is not eroded by a developing solution when exposed to light, is wound around a handling roll within one turn to form a handling work. This is a flexo plate making factory that performs flexo plate making for plate materials.The black film applied to the plate material for flexographic printing is laser ablated so as to correspond to the image part, and the black color corresponding to the non-image part A laser ablation apparatus for forming a film negative image, and a portion corresponding to an image portion not covered with the black film negative image by irradiating the entire surface of the flexographic printing plate on which the black film negative image is formed with ultraviolet light. A full-surface exposure / latent image forming apparatus for exposing and curing the resin, and a handling work after the formation of the latent image is supported at both ends and rotated to unexpose the non-image area of the flexographic printing plate material A developing device that erodes the resin portion with a developing solution, and a full-surface exposure drying device that irradiates light of a required wavelength on the entire peripheral surface of the flexographic printing plate material after the development and entirely exposes and cures the plate-making chamber. An industrial robot provided with a robot hand having a configuration in which both ends are arranged so as to approach and separate a pair of U-shaped plates, and a pair of chuck cones that fit and support chucked holes on both ends. It is configured to perform flexo plate making for the flexographic printing plate material by transferring it to and from an appropriate device, and a black film is applied to the surface and further concealed by a surface protection film having light shielding properties and mold release properties. A flexo made of a resin coated with an adhesive on the back surface and concealed by a back surface protective film having a light-shielding property and a releasability, having photosensitivity and flexibility and not being eroded by a developer when exposed to light. A flexographic printing plate material winding device configured to peel off the printing plate material, peel the surface protection film and the back surface protection film, and wind and adhere the back surface of the plate material to a handling roll. A flexo plate making factory, which is provided in a space where it can be made or adjacent to a plate making room. 2. A black film is coated on the front surface and is concealed by a surface protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties, and an adhesive is applied on the back side and is concealed by a back protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties. A flexographic printing plate made of a resin that has photosensitivity and flexibility and is not eroded by a developer when exposed to light. The surface protection film and the backside protection film are peeled off, and the backside of the plate is transferred to a handling roll. A winding device for a flexographic printing plate material that is wound around and adheres to the upper end of the receiving roll, which is freely rotatable, and a winding end of the flexographic printing plate material before peeling off the surface protection film and the back surface protection film. And an apron table that can be placed in a horizontal state that substantially matches the upper end of the roll and receives the winding end side portion excluding the winding end of the flexographic printing plate material. When a roll mount table capable of placing the handling roll is provided on the upper side of the apron table,
The handling roll mounted on the roll mounting table is supported at both ends by a pair of roll support means provided on the front end facing surfaces of the integral and paired arms, and is pressed at least once over a freely rotatable receiving roll to rotate at least once, Then it can be temporarily stopped by separating from the receiving roll, and then again,
A winding device for flexographic printing plate material, which is equipped with a roll supporting / rotating / transferring device capable of mounting a handling roll on a roll mounting table, is provided in a space in the plate making room where manual work is possible or adjacent to the plate making room. The flexographic plate-making factory according to claim 1, wherein the plate-making factory comprises: 3. A black film is applied on the surface and is concealed by a surface protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties, and an adhesive is applied on the back side and concealed by a back-face protection film having light-shielding properties and release properties. A flexographic printing plate made of a resin that has photosensitivity and flexibility and is not eroded by a developer when exposed to light. The surface protection film and the backside protection film are peeled off, and the backside of the plate is transferred to a handling roll. A winding device for a flexographic printing plate material that is wound around and adheres to the upper end of the receiving roll, which is freely rotatable, and a winding end of the flexographic printing plate material before peeling off the surface protection film and the back surface protection film. And an apron table that can be placed in a horizontal state that substantially matches the upper end of the roll and receives the winding end side portion excluding the winding end of the flexographic printing plate material. When a roll mount table capable of placing the handling roll is provided on the upper side of the apron table,
The handling roll mounted on the roll mounting table is supported at both ends by a pair of roll support means provided on the front end facing surfaces of the integral and paired arms, and is pressed at least once over a freely rotatable receiving roll to rotate at least once, Next, is it possible to make a temporary stop by separating from the receiving roll, where the surface protective film can be peeled off, and furthermore, the handling roll can be moved to the side opposite to the apron table, and can be directly delivered at that position without interfering with the industrial robot Or, comprising a roll support / rotation / transfer device capable of being placed on a work placement table at that position, a winding device for a flexographic printing plate material,
The flexographic plate making factory according to claim 1, wherein the flexographic plate making factory is provided in a space where manual work can be performed in the plate making room or adjacent to the plate making room.