JP2005132100A - Constituent for flexographic plate size-increasing printing, and flexographic plate size-increasing printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems such as misalignment of printed images and drop of size-increasing materials in high-speed printing, which are caused by operationality problems due to the magnetic force of a flexographic size-increasing printing constituent including a magnet having a function of temporary attaching to a plate cylinder, weight of the magnet, and insufficient attraction force to the plate cylinder. <P>SOLUTION: The flexographic plate size-increasing printing constituent including suction-disk-type attachment member using a size-increasing member composed of a sheet-like flexible material solves problems of operationality and high-speed printing property of the flexographic size-increasing printing constituent including a magnet having a temporary attachment function to the plate cylinder. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&amp;NCIPI

Description

  The present invention is a flexographic plate raising printing component for adjusting a flexographic printing plate on a plate cylinder of a printing press to a thickness tailoring suitable for the printing press. In particular, the flexographic printing plate can be easily attached to and detached from the printing drum. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a flexographic plate raising printing structure that can cope with high-speed printing and a flexographic plate raising printing method using the same.

Flexographic printing is classified as letterpress printing, and can be used on a wide variety of printing media because it uses a flexible elastic material and can be used on a wide range of fields because of its low cost compared to other printing styles. ing.
Among flexographic printing plates, when printing on the surface of a corrugated cardboard sheet, the corrugated cardboard sheet has a corrugated deformed core (hereinafter abbreviated as flute) with a paperboard pasted on one or both sides, or a structure in which they are laminated. Due to the presence of irregularities on the surface of the sheet and the fact that the raw material uses many recycled raw materials such as newspaper and waste paper, the paper quality is rough and rough, so a printing plate characterized by low hardness and high resilience is obtained. In order to further improve the physical characteristics, a printing plate of about 7 mm, which is the thickest region in flexographic printing (hereinafter abbreviated as 7 mm plate), is used.

On the other hand, since the machine specifications of flexographic printing machines are determined on the premise of the thickness of a printing medium or the printing plate used mainly in the printing machine, for example, a 7 mm plate printing machine is used for a cardboard printing machine. It is generally manufactured, and a printing plate having a thickness of about 3 to 5 mm cannot be printed directly on a plate cylinder.
In order to solve such a problem, a method of dealing with a thickness that is insufficient to solve such a problem by sandwiching a flexible sheet between the printing plate and the plate cylinder, that is, by raising the printing plate has been used for a long time. If you want to use a 4mm printing plate on a 7mm printing machine, attach a flexible sheet with a thickness of about 3mm to the plate cylinder or the back of the printing plate carrier sheet with double-sided tape in advance. This is a method of winding a printing plate around a plate cylinder. The surface on which the raising material is fixed is the plate cylinder side or the back side of the carrier sheet of the printing plate, but the printing quality does not change greatly. However, in order to reduce industrial waste or to easily replace the printing plate For this, it is desirable to apply a raising material to the plate cylinder.

In recent years, corrugated cardboard sheets mainly used for packaging containers are changing in form according to their use, the thickness of corrugated cardboard sheets is thin, and the proportion of finer flute waves is increasing. A thin corrugated sheet with such fine flutes is less susceptible to crushing of the corrugated sheet at the time of printing, and does not necessarily have the stress relaxation effect (cushion effect) of the conventional low hardness, high resilience and about 7 mm thick printing plate material. Flexographic printing plates that are incinerated as waste plastic may not be necessary, and from the standpoint of reducing industrial waste in the printing industry, the plate thickness tends to use a plate thickness that is thinner than the current 7mm. ing.
With such an increasing trend, on the corrugated board printing site, switching to a printing plate with a different thickness on the same printing machine, that is, the work of wrapping a raised material around the plate cylinder, has had a great impact on printing productivity. Therefore, there is a demand for a method of winding a raising material that can be easily attached and detached without using a printing machine or using complicated parts.

In order to simplify the attachment / detachment of the raising material from the plate cylinder, it is not preferable to attach the raising material with an adhesive or an adhesive tape. In Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, a magnet is attached to a part of the raising material. By disposing, a method of attaching a raising material to the surface of a plate cylinder in which a paramagnetic metal is generally used as a material is disclosed.
However, with the raising material provided with magnets, there are still minor operability problems such as it is difficult to accurately adjust the mounting position due to the weight of the magnet and its magnetic force, and the larger problem is that the printing plate material Since a heavier magnet than the plate cylinder is attached to a part of the plate cylinder, the peripheral speed of the plate cylinder rotation becomes non-uniform, and the print image shifts when the printing speed is increased. There is also a problem of dropping out.

In order to make the peripheral speed of plate cylinder rotation uniform, the area of the attachment / detachment member by the magnet is reduced, the entire surface of the raising material in contact with the plate cylinder is covered with a sheet magnet, and the plate cylinder is wound around In this case, it is effective to attach a magnet to the surface facing the rotation axis, but reducing the magnet installation area lowers the reliability of fixing the raised material during high-speed printing, and in the center of the printing plate Disposing a magnet is not a preferable method because there is a risk that air is trapped between the raising member and the plate cylinder because the magnet adheres to and is fixed to the natural plate cylinder when it is wound around the plate cylinder.
JP 2002-347364 A Utility Model Registration No. 3094944

  An object of the present invention is to provide a flexographic plate raising printing structure that is used by placing it between a plate cylinder and a carrier sheet when a carrier sheet on which a printing plate is arranged is wound on a plate cylinder of a printing press. To provide a flexographic plate raising printing structure that improves the problems of operability due to the magnetic force and problems such as misalignment of printed images and falling off of the raising material in high-speed printing, and realizes high-speed flexographic plate printing With the goal.

  In order to solve such problems, the present inventor has realized a strength for fixing the raising material to the plate cylinder with a specific gravity equivalent to that of the raising material as a member for fixing the raising material to the plate cylinder. As a result of diligent research on a method for easily and accurately attaching to a place, the present inventors have found that it is effective to use a suction cup style as an attachment / detachment member for the raising material, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention is as follows.
1. A flexographic raised printing structure comprising a raised member made of a sheet-like flexible material and an attachment / detachment member using a suction cup style.
2. 1. The specific gravity of the attachment / detachment member region including the attachment / detachment member using the suction cup mode is in the range of 0.05 to 2.5. The structure for flexographic plate raising printing described in 1.
3. 1. The suction cup style of the attaching / detaching member includes a sheet type suction cup. Or 2. The structure for flexographic plate raising printing described in 1.
4). 1. The sheet type suction cup includes a micro suction cup. ~ 3. A flexographic plate raising printing structure according to any one of the above.
5). (1) 1. ~ 4. (2) a flexographic printing plate is disposed on the flexographic plate raising printing component; and (2) a flexographic printing plate is mounted on the plate cylinder of the printing press. A method for printing a flexographic plate, comprising a step of placing a carrier sheet and winding it on a plate cylinder, and (3) a step of performing printing.
5). 4. The plate cylinder is rotated at a speed of 200 rpm or more. The printing method of the flexographic plate as described in 2.

  The flexographic plate raising printing assembly of the present invention can be easily and accurately attached, and has the effect of exhibiting stable printing quality and highly reliable raising member retention even in high-speed printing.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with a focus on preferred embodiments.
The flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention is characterized by comprising at least a raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material and an attachment / detachment member using a suction cup, and the thickness thereof is 0.2 to 8 mm. It is preferable that the range is constant, and a more preferable range is 0.5 to 4 mm. If it is 0.2 mm or more, it can give the flexibility which can endure the mounting | wearing removal | desorption operation | work to a plate cylinder to the structure which combined the raising material and the mounting | wearing removal member, and if it is 8 mm or less, the weight of the said structure itself The work load due to can be ignored.
The raising member which consists of a sheet-like flexible material which is one of the components of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention will be described.

The thickness of the raising member made of the sheet-like flexible material of the present invention is preferably in the range of 0.2 to 8 mm for the same reason as the thickness of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention, and more preferably is in the range of 0.2 mm. It is constant in the range of 5 to 4 mm, and the thickness accuracy is preferably ± 0.10 mm, more preferably ± 0.05 mm, and still more preferably ± 0.02 mm. If the thickness accuracy is less than ± 0.10 mm, the influence on the thickness accuracy of the printed surface can be ignored.
Further, the raising member made of the sheet-like flexible material of the present invention easily deforms by pressing against a curved surface having a diameter of 100 mm or more, and when the stress is released, the shape of the raising member is flat. It is preferable that the form has flexibility that can be easily recovered. In the raising material having the hardness that does not easily follow and deform with respect to the curved surface, air is entangled between the plate cylinder and the raising material when wound around the plate cylinder, which affects the smoothness of the printing plate surface. If it is removed from the plate, it will be difficult to remove it from the plate cylinder.

The material of the raising member made of the sheet-like flexible material of the present invention is natural rubber, synthetic rubber, polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin, polyester resin, polycarbonate resin, nylon resin, acrylic resin, polystyrene resin, polyurethane resin, phenol resin, In addition to a plastic resin such as a polyvinyl chloride resin, there can be mentioned metals made of iron, copper, stainless steel, etc., but it is preferable to use a plastic resin as a material for the purpose of reducing the work load.
Furthermore, if the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention is expected to have the same stress relaxation effect (cushion effect) as the printing plate, the raising member has a Shore A hardness of 80 degrees or less, and further 3 to 60 degrees. It is preferable to select a material within the above range, and suitable materials include urethane resins, particularly open cell type or closed cell type urethane foams. The closed cell type is preferable because the ink permeability on the surface of the cushion material is low, but the effect can be obtained if the sheet surface of the open cell type urethane resin foam is used after being subjected to a smoothing treatment such as melting.

  Further, the raising member made of the sheet-like flexible material of the present invention may be a single sheet made of the above-mentioned materials, or may adhere a urethane foam sheet and an adhesive or a urethane foam sheet and a polyester sheet. A composite material bonded with an agent may be used, and commercially available printing cushion materials include R / bak (trademark: manufactured by Rogers), CyCOMP (trademark; manufactured by Meiwa Rubber Industrial Co., Ltd.), Nippray (trademark) -Nihon Hojo Co., Ltd.) etc. can be used suitably.

Next, about the mounting / demounting member using the suction cup style of the present invention, the suction cup style will be described.
For example, an article A made of a flexible material and having a concave surface is provided with a concave opening on a smooth surface to be adsorbed (at this time, the area surrounded by the contact point between the two is area B, and is formed as a concave surface. If the article A is pressed against the smooth surface and the concave surface portion is made of a material that flattens following the smooth surface, the article A The air of a volume produced when it is installed on the surface is pushed out. At this time, the space between the article A and the surface to be adsorbed is almost in a vacuum state, and the article A is pressed against the plane by the atmospheric pressure and fixed. Such an adsorption mode is called a suction cup mode. The adsorption force (N) increases as the volume C increases, and the degree of vacuum or pressure reduction when the article A is pressed increases and becomes stronger. When the vacuum is completely achieved, the adsorption force is atmospheric pressure (1013.25 hPa). ) And the area B (m ² ).

It is important that the attachment / detachment member using the suction cup mode used in the present invention has the possibility of deformation from the concave structure to the planar structure as described above, and the material is not particularly limited, but natural rubber, synthetic rubber Vinyl chloride resin, polyester resin, polyolefin resin, polyurethane resin, acrylic resin and the like can be used as suitable materials, and among them, vinyl chloride resin, polyethylene resin and acrylic resin are particularly preferable.
The shape of the mounting / removal member using the suction cup style of the present invention is not particularly limited, and a known commercialized suction cup shape can be used. As the independent suction cup member, a spherical type, a pyramid type, a casing type, a sheet are used. There are a mold, a porous body type using a foaming agent, etc., any of which may be used alone, or a plurality of them may be used simultaneously. In any shape, it is desirable to have a structure that efficiently extrudes a volume of air that is covered with a suction cup, and the suction member that can be suitably used is the most commonly used spherical type or sheet type. It is preferable to use a sheet-type suction cup that can be attached to a flexible material in a wide area and can be attached to the surface of the plate cylinder without a gap.

The sheet-type suction cup is formed by forming a plurality of concave structures that express a suction function on a sheet, and is manufactured by the techniques described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-238845, 2942945, and 3177820. That is, a mesh pattern or the like formed by connecting donuts by screen printing can be used.
Furthermore, as the sheet-type suction cup, a resin formed by pouring a resin into a mold having an arbitrary fine uneven shape on the sheet surface, a resin in which countless bubbles are blown mechanically, or a resin in which a foaming agent / foam stabilizer is mixed What formed the film | membrane etc. can be used.
In particular, for adhesion to the plate cylinder surface that is not completely smooth due to slight dirt adhesion or scratches, countless recessed holes with a diameter of 5 to 100 μm are formed on the surface of the sheet due to fine bubbles during sheet molding It is most preferable to use a sheet-type suction cup that includes elements of a porous-type suction cup each serving as a suction cup.

  Sheet type suction cups including such porous suction cup elements, that is, micro suction cup sheets, are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 63-153109, 7-324462, 2000-213146, and 2002-2002. It is possible to use what was manufactured by the technique described in 348548 gazette, Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2003-76308, and Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2003-73525, and the area of the suction cup part in the sheet | seat surface is 3%-60 % Is preferable, and a range of 5% to 50% is more preferable. If the suction cup area is less than 3%, the suction force for holding the raising material on the plate cylinder as a mounting / removal member may not be sufficient. If the suction cup area exceeds 60%, the independence of the concave depression hole is impaired. The degree to which the adsorptive power is reduced is easily increased by unevenness on the surface of the plate cylinder and dirt adhering to the surface of the sheet type suction cup.

The present invention is a structure in which a lifting member made of a sheet-like flexible material is combined with a mounting / removal member using a suction cup style, and the suction force of the suction cup required depending on the thickness, weight, and area of the lifting member. The size of the suction cup, the number of attachments, and the attachment position are calculated, but the concave surface of the suction cup is located on the plate cylinder side at the upper end in the direction of winding up the raising material because of the ease of winding around the plate cylinder as a flexographic plate raising printing component. It is preferable to arrange a plurality of suction cups having appropriate ability in the plate cylinder axis direction or to attach a sheet type suction cup having a plurality of minute suction cups.
In an actual printing field, a printing plate suitable for the size of the flexographic plate raising printing component is not always used in combination. Therefore, in order to temporarily fix the front surface of the raising plate on the plate cylinder, It is also a preferable configuration to arrange suction cups at the lower ends of the two, particularly at the four corners.

Arranging the suction cup sheet over the entire surface of the raising member in close contact with the plate cylinder of the raising member is a preferable arrangement method for seeking to use the flexographic plate raising printing component permanently wrapped around the plate cylinder, Since it is necessary to fully consider the influence on the print quality when the suction cup is arranged in the print image area and the use of the raising material is taken into consideration, the burden of the winding work tends to increase in the complicated folding of the attachment / detachment.
There is no limitation on the method of combining a mounting member made of a sheet-like flexible material with a mounting / removal member using a suction cup, and any known adhesive or method can be used, and polyester is a particularly suitable combination. In the case of using a urethane foam material raising member provided with a sheet support, such as R / bak (trademark, manufactured by Rogers), a urethane foam material of R / bak (trademark, manufactured by Rogers) is cut out and embedded therein. Examples include a method of adhering a spherical type suction cup, a method of attaching a sheet type suction cup to the polyester sheet side with an adhesive, and the like.

A preferred method of winding the flexographic plate raising printing structure of the present invention around a plate cylinder is a mounting / demounting method comprising a suction cup at the upper end, which is one of the preferred configurations of the flexographic plate raising printing structure of the present invention. First, a carrier in which the mounting / dismounting member is fixed to the smooth surface of the plate cylinder closest to the stopper plate insertion portion at the upper end of the printing plate carrier sheet of the printing cylinder, and the printing plate is attached thereon In this method, the plate cylinder is rotated while the sheet is rolled up with the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention.
In order to perform such an attachment method, the attachment / detachment member of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention needs to have sufficient adsorption force to suspend the weight of the raising member on the plate cylinder.

R / bak-SF (Trademark, Rogers, Inc.), which is a corrugated cardboard printing belonging to a large printing size in flexographic printing, and has a larger printing cylinder width direction: 3000 mm, plate cylinder circumferential length direction: 1600 mm, thickness 4.06 mm If the suction force required for the suction cup is calculated by temporarily fixing the specific gravity of about 0.38), the required suction force is about 72.5 N because the weight of the cushion material is about 7.4 kg. Become.
The suction force of the suction cup can be calculated from the atmospheric pressure and the suction surface as described above. The suction area is about 725 mm ² , and if the suction face of the suction cup is completely evacuated, the suction force is equivalent to one suction cup with a diameter of about 30 mm. Equivalent to. However, practically, in this case, assuming that the vacuum degree of the suction cup is about 1/4, and five spherical suction cups are arranged with respect to a width of 3000 mm, the diameter of the suction cup is still less than about 30 mm.

On the other hand, the sucker member with sufficient suction strength has a problem that it is difficult to remove from the plate cylinder. To solve this problem, a protrusion that locally pulls up the sucked member on the concave surface of the sucker is provided. A structure that can be easily removed by putting air into the decompressed region is preferable. The sheet-type suction cup is easy to remove because the base material of the suction cup sheet plays a role of putting air into the suction cup portion by peeling the sheet end and pulling it up sequentially.
Since the plate cylinder surface of the printing plate is usually a smooth surface with chrome plating, it is possible to realize the suction cup-type mounting / dismounting member of the present invention, and the mounting / dismounting member of the present invention has its adsorptive property. It is possible to use the material without considering the material and magnetism of the plate cylinder surface, except that the plate cylinder surface is smooth.

Next, since the effect of the present invention is excellent in applicability to high-speed printing, that is, maintaining a stable peripheral speed of the plate cylinder during high-speed printing, and mounting and dismounting members do not fall, rotation of the printing press The characteristics required for the centrifugal force and the mounting / dismounting member will be described.
The flexographic plate raising printing component mounted on the plate cylinder surface is subjected to centrifugal force, that is, a force to move away from the plate cylinder surface during printing, and the magnitude of the force is the plate cylinder diameter, rotation speed (printing speed). ) Squared and increases in proportion to the weight of the material.
The flexographic plate raising printing composition of the present invention can perform printing of a large size at a higher speed than a flexographic plate raising printing component that is attached and detached using a conventional magnet. Therefore, the specific gravity of the attachment / detachment member region using the suction cup mode is preferably 0.05 to 2.5.

In a cardboard printing machine in which the effects of the present invention are particularly effectively exhibited, a flexographic printing plate (specific gravity 0.9 to 1.1) having a thickness of about 7 mm is applied to a polyester film (specific gravity: about 1. 4) It is possible to print the printing plate affixed to the carrier sheet directly wound around the plate cylinder, and in the carrier sheet form, there are portions where the printing plate relief is present and portions where it is not present depending on the printing design, The specific gravity in the unit volume 7.2 mm above the surface of the plate cylinder is about 0.039 in the portion without relief, and about 1.054 in the portion with relief, and the centrifugal force varies in proportion to the difference in specific gravity. .
Corrugated cardboard printing is a printing method that is particularly dotted with printing reliefs, and the printing machine is balanced, including the part where the carrier sheet is not wrapped, and the plate cylinder axis is not shaken or rotated due to the difference in centrifugal force. Measures are taken to prevent speed fluctuations, but the allowable range is of course limited, and it depends on the accuracy of the printing press. However, in the device design, the safety factor should be about 2.0 to 2.5 times. Therefore, when the spatial specific gravity of about 7.2 mm in the thickness direction on the plate cylinder exceeds 2.5, there is a possibility that the rotation of the plate cylinder may exhibit an undesirable behavior in printing.

Therefore, as a preferred embodiment of the raising member for obtaining the stability of the plate cylinder rotation at the time of high-speed printing, the configuration is made of a conventionally used flexographic printing plate material or a material having a specific gravity equal to or less than that of the raising member. The specific gravity of the attachment / detachment member using the suction cup style, which is a feature of the configuration of the present invention, is required.
For the above reasons, the specific gravity of the mounting / removal member region using the suction cup style of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention is preferably 0.05 to 2.5, more preferably 0.05 to 2.0, most preferably A preferred range is 0.05 to 1.5. When the specific gravity of the attachment / detachment member region is in a range smaller than 0.05, it may be difficult to form a structure that exhibits an adsorption force that sufficiently holds the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material.

The mounting / removal member region refers to the length of the sucker member relative to the rotation direction of the plate cylinder, the length of the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material in the plate cylinder axis direction, and the flexographic plate raising printing composition of the present invention. It is a region surrounded by the length of the thickest part of the. The attachment / detachment member region when a plurality of suction cup members are used in the rotation direction of the plate cylinder is obtained by the above-described method for the plurality of suction cup members. If the areas overlap or touch each other, they are connected to each other. In other cases, such as when there is a raised member area made of a sheet-like flexible material, each area is treated as an independent mounting / dismounting area. .
The specific gravity of the plastic resin suitable for both the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material and the attachment / detachment member using the sucker mode is low, among which about 0.85 of ethylene / propylene rubber is high There are about 1.8 of fluoro rubber, etc., and in those foam materials, the specific gravity can be lowered to about 0.2 depending on the foaming rate, so if all members are made with these plastic resins, flexographic plates A specific gravity of 2.5 or less can be achieved in the entire region of the raised printing structure. However, other attachment / detachment members such as magnets may be used in combination as long as the effects of the present invention are not impaired.

When the mounting / removal member is adsorbed by the plate cylinder alone, a simple estimation is made as to what printing speed is possible by the balance between the adsorption force of the mounting / removal member and the centrifugal force.
For example, when the raising member is wound around one end of the plate cylinder winding direction of the above-described plate cylinder width direction: 3000 mm, plate cylinder circumferential length direction: 1600 mm, and thickness 4.06 mm, R / bak-SF (trademark, manufactured by Rogers). When a mounting / dismounting member is prepared by arranging five spherical suction cups with a diameter of 30 mm in the cylinder direction of the plate cylinder in order to temporarily fix the plate, the weight of the mounting / dismounting region which is preferred by the present invention is the plate cylinder width. The volume obtained from the thickness and the suction cup diameter is multiplied by 1.0, which is the specific gravity of the mounting / removal member preferred by the present invention, to be 365 g.

Since the circumferential length of the plate cylinder itself using the raising material of 1600 mm in the plate cylinder circumferential length direction is about 1800 mm, the radius is about 285 mm.
Therefore, the angular velocity is determined to be 26.8 rad / s from the weight of the mounting member region and the plate cylinder radius. If the mounting / dismounting member has an adsorption force of about 72.5 N as described above, the adsorption force It is determined that a plate cylinder rotation speed of 255 rotations / minute that expresses a centrifugal force equivalent to the above, and it can be determined that the attachment / detachment member may drop off in a region exceeding this rotation speed.
However, this estimate is only an example of a balance between the suction force and the centrifugal force of the suction cup, and the suction force is 358 N even if the safety factor that makes the suction cup vacuum 1/4 is added to the mounting / dismounting member of the same specification. Yes, the plate cylinder rotation speed balanced with the centrifugal force is about 565 rotations / minute.

Since high-speed printing required by corrugated board printing is generally an operation condition of 250 revolutions / minute or more, the configuration for flexographic plate raising printing according to the present invention can be configured with specifications suitable for such high-speed printing conditions. .
On the other hand, the specific gravity of the metal used as the raw material for the magnets for reference is iron: 7.9, aluminum: 2.7, nickel: 8.9, cobalt: 8.9, copper: 8.9. The specific gravity of the magnet obtained as follows is generally difficult to fall below 5.0 even if a rubber-like material is kneaded for imparting flexibility, and the plate cylinder rotation speed due to centrifugal force during high-speed printing Inhomogeneity is unavoidable, and it is necessary to mount a powerful magnet in a small area for the attractive force to withstand centrifugal force, but even if possible, the problem of handling when removing it can be imagined Not difficult.

  When the mounting / dismounting member using the suction cup style is brought into close contact with the plate cylinder, the thickness of the mounting / detaching member using the suction cup style becomes thicker than that of the raised member. Therefore, when the mounting / dismounting member and the raising member are combined in parallel on the plate cylinder, the thickness is preferably equal to or less than the raising member within a range of ± 1 mm, and the raising member has a thickness of Considering that the thickness is usually 0.5 to 8.0 mm, specifically, 0.1 to 9.0 mm is preferable. When the mounting / dismounting member and the raising member are combined in the vertical direction, the thickness is lower than that of the raising member, and the region combined with the raising member is preferably within a range of ± 1 mm from the thickness of the other raising member region.

Independent sucker members have a large sucker area per piece, but pressure resistance is required for the material. Therefore, a suction cup that satisfies the durability cannot be obtained with a material thickness of 1 mm or less. When suction cup members are used singly or in parallel, the thickness of the mounting / demounting member is preferably in the range of 1.0 to 8.0 mm.
When the thickness of the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material is thin and an independent sucker member that satisfies the suction force cannot be used, it is preferable to use a sheet-type sucker as the mounting / removal member, and use a sheet-type sucker If it does so, all the area | regions of 0.5-8.0 mm which are the thickness equivalent to a raising member can be satisfied.

The flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention includes a sheet-like flexible material raising member, an attachment / detachment member using a suction cup, and other members depending on the purpose, such as a connecting support and a strainer. It is possible to include a prevention material or the like as a configuration.
The connecting support means a sheet-like flexible material such as a raised member made of a sheet-like flexible material and a polyester sheet for playing an auxiliary role for adhering and fixing a mounting / demounting member using a suction cup mode. It is a material, and has a role of preventing the adhesion between the members from being peeled off during the plate cylinder winding operation by bonding and fixing each member to the connecting support. Further, the connecting support is preferably used as a support that covers the entire components in order to obtain the flatness of the flexographic plate raising printing component itself, and the surface may be a surface that contacts the plate cylinder. In addition, although the printing plate is bonded, the surface may be in contact with the back surface of the carrier sheet.

  Anti-strain material is a member for eliminating local compressive strain that occurs at the upper and lower ends of the plate cylinder wrapping direction when using a foaming material made of foamed resin in anticipation of a cushioning effect during printing. It is important to have a hardness sufficient to resist the winding stress. It is desirable that the anti-strain material is disposed at the upper end portion of the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material, or at the upper end portion and the rear end portion, and further, the function is included as an attachment / detachment member using a suction cup style. Is a more preferred embodiment.

Next, a printing method (hereinafter abbreviated as flexographic plate raising printing method) performed by sandwiching a raising member between the plate cylinder of the present invention and the carrier sheet on which the flexographic printing plate is arranged will be described.
A preferred embodiment of the flexographic plate raising printing method of the present invention is a printing method characterized by including the following steps.
1) Place the sucker part of the mounting / removal member of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention on the flat part directly below the printing plate mounting bracket of the plate cylinder while partially pressing it, excluding the air inside the sucker and adsorbing it And fixing the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention on the plate cylinder in a state of blowing.

2) The stopper plate attached to the upper end of the printing plate carrier sheet is sandwiched and fixed in the groove of the printing plate mounting bracket of the plate cylinder, and the lower end portion of the printing plate carrier sheet is tensioned. Rotate the plate cylinder so that it winds up, wind the printing plate carrier sheet and the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention around the plate cylinder at the same time, and insert the stopper plate at the lower end of the carrier sheet into the groove of the mounting bracket of the plate cylinder The process of winding a printing plate carrier sheet to be fastened and fixed. When the attachment / detachment member is arranged at the lower end of the flexographic plate raising printing structure of the present invention, the suction cup is naturally adsorbed by the pressure of the printing plate carrier sheet.

3) A step of printing.
In the flexographic plate raising printing method of the present invention, it is possible to realize a printing speed equivalent to printing performed by winding a printing plate carrier sheet around a conventional plate cylinder not using a raising material, and the effect varies depending on the printing press. Is a printing speed of 200 revolutions / minute or more, and an effective printing speed is 250 revolutions / minute or more. In the flexo raising printing method of the present invention, the weight on the plate cylinder is made uniform throughout the entire circumference of the plate cylinder, so that the portion lower than the design image touches the anilox roll and the corrugated cardboard sheet due to the flapping of the printing plate that has occurred so far. The phenomenon has been improved, and some speedups are possible even in models where high-speed printing has been impossible so far.

4) A step of removing the printing plate carrier sheet by removing the stop plate from the lower end mounting bracket of the printing plate carrier sheet of the plate cylinder and reversing the plate cylinder with the upper body subjected to hearing. When the frequency of continuous use of the raising material is high, use the one in which the mounting / dismounting member is arranged at the lower end of the flexographic plate raising printing component, and the raising material is removed at the same time when the printing plate carrier sheet is removed. Avoiding this leads to improved workability. The suction force of the suction cup used for the mounting / removal member of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention can be easily reduced by putting air into the suction cup, so the operator can remove it without applying a force according to the suction force. Is possible and the workload is low.

  The flexographic plate raising printing method of the present invention has high mounting position accuracy of the raising member due to the improved raising member, as described in the description of the flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention, and consequently mounting. The time is shortened, high-speed printing is possible, and the image quality of the printed matter obtained by high-speed printing is small and the print quality is good.

The present invention will be described based on examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.
[Example 1]
A side view (FIG. 1), a front view (FIG. 2), and a rear view (FIG. 1) of a flexographic plate raising printing composition produced in the present example, as well as explaining a method for producing a flexographic plate raising printing composition according to the present invention. 3) A front view (FIG. 4) and a rear view (FIG. 5) are shown in FIGS.
<Selection of raising member made of sheet-like flexible material>
As the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material, the thickness obtained by laminating an approximately 3.8 mm urethane foam resin layer and a 0.26 mm polyester support layer, which can be easily obtained as a commercial product, is 4. R / bak-SF (trademark, manufactured by Rogers), which is a 06 mm composite sheet, was used by cutting it to 2500 mm × 1000 mm. 1 to 5, R / bak-SF is denoted by reference numeral 1, a urethane foam resin layer is denoted by reference numeral 1a, and a support layer made of polyester is denoted by 1b.

<Creation of attachment / detachment member>
In Example 1, in order to show simultaneously the aspect of the attachment / detachment member in the suction cup mode, two types of attachment / detachment members were created and arranged at the upper end portion and the lower end portion of the flexographic plate raising printing structure.
As the suction cup member of the mounting / removal member A, five Rexpair suction cups No. 5 (trademark, manufactured by Lek Co., Ltd.), which is a spherical suction cup with a diameter of 42 mm, are available as commercially available products. The article attachment location on the ceiling was adjusted by cutting so that the thickness was 3 mm in the adsorbed state.
In addition, a 2500 mm × 35 mm × 4 mm commercially available rubber plate (Shore A hardness 35 degrees, specific gravity 1.54) is prepared as a member for connecting the suction cup members, and a space of 10 mm is provided at both ends as a space for attaching the suction cup members. Of the 2300 mm taken, 25 cavities of 55 mm × 30 mm × 3 mm were evenly opened.

Of the hollow parts of the processed rubber plate, the 5 suction cups processed at both ends, the center, and the midpoint between the center and both ends are preferably removed from each other with a strong adhesive. The handle used for was fixed to the rubber plate so as not to be hidden underneath, and the attachment / detachment member A using the suction cup mode was completed.
1 to 5, the attaching / detaching member A is indicated by reference numeral 2-1, the spherical suction cup member of the attaching / detaching member A is indicated by reference numeral 2-1 a, and the connecting member of the attaching / detaching member A (the anti-straining material at the upper end of the raising prevention member The handle portion used for removing the spherical suction cup member of the mounting / removing member A is denoted by reference numeral 2-1c.
The weight of the created attachment / detachment member A was 281 g, and the specific gravity of the attachment / detachment member region was 0.67.

As a suction cup member for the mounting / dismounting member B, a commercially available Q-VAN (trademark, manufactured by Resin Printing Co., Ltd., the area corresponding to the suction cup portion on the sheet surface is about 25%) is prepared and mounted. A rubber plate of the same type as that used in the creation of the connecting member for the removal member B is prepared in a size of 2500 mm × 20 mm × 3.6 mm, and a thickness of 50 μm is applied to a 0.3 mm vinyl chloride sheet on one side having a width of 20 mm. A sheet-type suction cup on which a mesh-patterned suction cup was printed was fixed with double-sided tape to prepare a mounting / removal member B.
1 to 5, the mounting / removal member B is denoted by reference numeral 2-2, the sheet-type suction cup member of the mounting / removing member B is denoted by reference numeral 2-2a, and the support body of the suction member of the mounting / removing member B (Also serving as a preventive material) is indicated as 2-2b.
The weight of the prepared mounting / dismounting material 2 was 302 g, and the specific gravity of the mounting / dismounting member region was 1.51.

<Preparation of Flexographic Plate Raising Printing Constituent Example 1>
Finally, the support side of R / bak-SF (trademark, manufactured by Rogers) and the suction member of the mounting / dismounting member A and the mounting / dismounting member B are arranged so that they are front and back, and each member is bonded with an adhesive and an adhesive tape. Connected and joined.
The weight of the flexographic plate raising printing structure obtained was about 4435 g.
In FIG. 7, the concept of the attachment / detachment member area defined by the present application is added.
The range indicated by the dotted line in the figure is the length of the suction cup member with respect to the rotation direction of the plate cylinder, which is one side of the attachment / detachment member region, and 42 mm for the attachment / detachment member A.
Since the length in the plate cylinder axis direction of the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1 is 2500 mm and the thickness is generally uniform and about 4 mm as a whole, the volume of the mounting / dismounting region of the mounting / dismounting member A is 42 mm. * 2500 mm * about 4 mm = about 420 cm < ³ > Similarly, the attachment / detachment region of the attachment / detachment member B of Example 1 was calculated to be about 200 cm ³ .

[Example 2]
FIGS. 6 to 8 show how the flexographic plate raising printing component produced in Example 1 is mounted on the plate cylinder.
As the printing machine, a Minerva 2500 printing machine (trademark, manufactured by Hamada Printing Co., Ltd.) was used, and as shown in FIG. 6, first, the spherical suction cup member 2-1a of the loading / unloading member A was placed at a predetermined position on the surface of the plate cylinder 3. Then, the top of the spherical suction cup was pressed with a finger, and the air in the suction cup was removed and absorbed. (Figs. 7 and 8)
This work involves first fixing the suction cups in the center to fix the flexographic plate raising printing structure in the correct position, then fixing the two suction cups adjacent to the suction cups in the center, and finally It can be carried out by a single operator in the order of fixing the suction cups, and even if the operator releases his hand, the flexographic plate raising printing component is hung on the plate cylinder without falling.

Subsequently, a corrugated cardboard printing test was conducted with a Minerva 2500 printing machine (trademark, manufactured by Hamada Printing Co., Ltd.) in order to test the high-speed printing suitability of the flexographic plate raising printing structure of Example 1.
Since the standard plate thickness of the Minerva 2500 printing machine (trademark, manufactured by Hamada Printing Co., Ltd.) is 7.2 mm, the thickness of the 4.06 mm flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1 is reduced to 3.14 mm. A printed version was created.
Although details of the preparation of the printing plate are omitted, an image relief piece of a flexographic printing plate having a thickness of 2.84 mm is prepared using an APR (trademark, Asahi Kasei Chemicals) plate making system provided by Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation. Further, they were attached to predetermined positions of a carrier sheet (0.188 mm) of 2700 mm × 1220 mm with double-sided tape (0.1 mm) to obtain a printing plate.

In order to wrap the prepared printing plate around the plate cylinder, the printing plate is arranged so as to cover the flexographic plate raising printing structure of Example 1 in which only the upper end portion is fixed and hung on the plate cylinder. Insert and fix the stopper plate at the upper end of the printing plate carrier sheet in place on the plate cylinder, pull the lower end of the printing plate carrier sheet and apply tension to turn the printing cylinder to wind the printing plate. A stopper plate at the lower end of the carrier sheet was fixed to the plate cylinder (FIG. 9). During this operation, the flexographic plate raising printing configuration of Example 1 was not touched, but it was wrapped around the plate cylinder at the same time as the printing plate and its position was also accurate.
Corrugated cardboard printing is performed using B-sheets of 2300 mm x 900 mm, printing from a printing speed of 100 sheets / min to 300 sheets / min, which is the maximum printing speed of the Minerva 2500 printer (trademark, manufactured by Hamada Printing Co., Ltd.). Regarding the speed, the printing speed was changed continuously at 200 sheets / lot.

As a result, even when the speed reached 300 sheets / minute, the behavior of the printing machine was not changed from the state of 100 sheets / minute, and the printed matter was of good quality with no image shift.
Subsequently, printing using the A-sheet was performed, but printing could be performed without any problem up to a printing speed of 300 sheets / min.
After printing, when the printing plate was removed from the plate cylinder, the mounting / removal member B was firmly fixed to the plate cylinder.
When the corner of the mounting / dismounting member B was lifted in order to remove the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1 from the plate cylinder, it could be removed without applying a large force. Further, when the attachment / detachment member A was removed, it was possible to remove the attachment member A without holding any force by holding the connecting member with the palm of the hand and lightly playing the air intake hook with the index finger.

Example 3
In Example 1, two types of attachment / detachment members were prepared and disposed at the upper end and the lower end of the flexographic plate raising printing component in order to simultaneously show a preferable aspect of the attachment / detachment member in the suction cup mode. Even if two members B were prepared and arranged at the upper end and the lower end, it was confirmed that the same effect as that of the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1 was obtained.
Further, in the embodiment in which the arrangement of the mounting / dismounting member on the lower end of the implemented flexographic plate raising printing body is eliminated, the entire flexographic plate raising printing structure cannot be fixed to the plate cylinder surface, The effect similar to Example 1 was confirmed about the temporary fix | stop function at the time of plate cylinder attachment of a printing plate, and a high-speed printing characteristic.

Example 4
On the polyethylene terephthalate film, instead of Q-VAN (trademark, manufactured by Resin Printing Co., Ltd., the area corresponding to the sucker portion on the sheet surface is about 25%), which is the sheet type suction cup used in the mounting / removal member B of Example 1. Other than using MQ-004 (Y) (trademark, manufactured by Act Co., Ltd., the area corresponding to the sucker portion on the sheet surface is about 20%), which is a sheet type sucker in which a micro sucker layer is laminated. A flexographic plate raising printing configuration was prepared by the method.
As a result of using the prepared flexographic plate raising printing structure for corrugated cardboard printing as in Example 2, high-speed printing at 300 sheets / min was possible without any problems, and no problems in loading and unloading were observed.
FIG. 11 shows the sucker surfaces of Q-VAN (trademark, manufactured by Resin Printing Co., Ltd.) and MQ-004 (Y) (trademark, manufactured by Act Corporation), which are two types of sheet-type suction cups used in the examples. (A) and (b) show respective surface observation photographs.

[Comparative Example 1]
The raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material was prepared by cutting 4.06 mm R / bak-SF (trademark, manufactured by Rogers) similar to Example 1 to 2500 mm × 1025 mm.
In addition, the mounting / removal member was prepared by kneading synthetic rubber to create a somewhat flexible magnet plate and molding it into a shape of 2500 mm × 40 mm × 4 mm. Since the specific gravity of the magnet plate was 6.3, the specific gravity of the attachment / detachment member region defined by the present application was 6.3, and the weight as the attachment / detachment member was 2520 g.
A raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material, a sheet-like member, and a mounting / removing member are arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction and fixed with an adhesive and an adhesive tape to obtain a flexographic plate raising printing component. FIG. 10 is a side view thereof.
The total weight of the resulting flexographic plate raising printing configuration was about 6468 g.

[Comparative Example 2]
The mounting operation to the printing press plate cylinder and the printing speed are the same as in Example 2 except that the flexographic plate raising printing structure of Comparative Example 1 is used instead of the flexographic plate raising printing structure of Example 1. Corrugated cardboard printing was performed using B-sheets with different configurations.
As a result, when attaching to the printing press plate cylinder, the material is heavy, and when an attachment / detachment member made of magnets is brought close to the plate cylinder, the magnetic force naturally adheres to the plate cylinder. While determining the close contact position of one end of the member, it was necessary for another worker to hold the other end so as not to contact the plate cylinder. The adhering flexographic plate raised printing composition was hung on the plate cylinder without falling.
In addition, as a result of performing the cardboard printing, there was no particular problem at a printing speed of 100 to 150 sheets / minute, but as the number of sheets approached 200 sheets / minute, an abnormal noise indicating variation in the plate cylinder peripheral speed began to occur. Further, in the latter half of the printing speed of 250 sheets / min, a deviation was observed in the printed image. Attempts were made to experiment with a further increase in printing speed. However, the increase in printing speed beyond this could cause a failure of the apparatus, and the experiment was stopped because the attachment / detachment member by the magnet might fall off.
When the printed material of A-stage sheet and B-stage sheet printed at each printing speed was confirmed, the printed material of A-stage sheet printed at a speed of 200 to 250 sheets / min. Was.

[Reference example]
The magnet used in Comparative Example 1 was adhered to the surface of the iron plate, and the adhesion was measured with a spring balance. As a result, the adhesion was 10.1 N (489 hPa) with an installation area of 206.3 mm ² .
As shown in the specification of the present invention, the adhesion force by the suction cup is equivalent to the atmospheric pressure of 101.25 hPa in principle. Therefore, the adhesion strength per unit volume as the adhesive member used in the mounting / removal member is determined by the suction cup. When ideally adsorbed, a stronger force than that of the magnet used in Comparative Example 1 can be expressed.
As for the other commercially available magnets, the adhesion to the iron plate in the same area as the specific gravity was measured. As a result, the specific gravity was 7.01 and the adhesion was 3.6 N.
Magnets that differ greatly in magnetic force are available, and as is well known, the adhesion force of a magnet varies greatly depending on the magnetizing ability of the material of the target contact surface, and the surface oxidation state of the material. Therefore, it is difficult to say that it is preferable to use a magnet for the flexographic plate raising printing structure for the purpose of maintaining stable adhesion to the plate cylinder.

  The flexographic plate raising printing component of the present invention is thinner than the predetermined plate thickness for the purpose of reducing industrial waste and reducing the weight of the printing plate in a flexographic printing machine designed for a printing plate having a predetermined plate thickness. It can be suitably used in the field of flexographic plate raising printing using a plate, particularly in the field of flexographic plate raising printing in which a conventional printing plate has a thickness of about 7 mm and is used for corrugated cardboard printing.

The side view of the structure for flexographic plate raising printing of Example 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a surface view of the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1. The rear view of the structure for flexographic plate raising printing of Example 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a front view of the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1. FIG. 3 is a rear view of the flexographic plate raising printing structure of Example 1. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1 is temporarily fixed to a plate cylinder. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the flexographic plate raising printing component of Example 1 is temporarily fixed to a plate cylinder. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a flexo using the flexo bulk printing apparatus of Example 1 is temporarily fixed to a plate cylinder. FIG. 9 is a situation diagram when the flexo bulk-up printing constituent and the printing plate carrier sheet are wound around the plate cylinder in the corrugated board printing of Example 2; The side view of the structure for flexographic plate raising printing of the comparative example 1. FIG. Photograph of adsorption surface of sheet type suction cup used in Examples ((a): Q-VAN (trademark, manufactured by Resin Printing Co., Ltd.), (b): MQ-004 (Y) (trademark, Act Corporation) Made))

Explanation of symbols

1: Lifting member 1a made of a sheet-like flexible material: Support 1b made of a polyester film of about 0.2 mm, which is a part of the raising member made of a sheet-like flexible material: Sheet-like possibility material 3.8 mm urethane foam 2-1 which is a part of the raising member made of 2-1: Flexo raising printing component A mounting / dismounting member A arranged at the upper end of Example 1
2-1a: Spherical type suction cup member 2-1b of the mounting / removing member A: Connection material of the mounting / removing member A (also serves as a strain-preventing material at the upper end of the raising prevention material)
2-1c: Handle portion used for removing the spherical suction cup member of the mounting / removing member A 2-2: Flexo raising printing component Mounting / dismounting member B arranged at the lower end of the first embodiment
2-2a: Sheet type suction cup member 2-2b of the attachment / detachment member B: Support body of the suction cup member of the attachment / detachment member B (also serves as a distortion prevention material at the upper end portion of the anti-lifting material)
3-1: Plate cylinder surface 3-2: Plate cylinder axis 4: Carrier sheet with flexographic printing plate attached 4-1: Carrier sheet 4-2: Image relief piece 5 of flexographic printing plate 5: Magnet plate

Claims (6)

  A flexographic raised printing structure comprising a raised member made of a sheet-like flexible material and an attachment / detachment member using a suction cup style.   2. The flexographic plate raising printing structure according to claim 1, wherein a specific gravity of a mounting / removal member region including a mounting / removal member using a suction cup mode is in a range of 0.05 to 2.5.   The flexographic plate raising printing component according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the suction / detaching member mounting mode includes a sheet-type suction cup.   The flexographic plate raising printing component according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sheet type suction cup includes a micro suction cup.   (1) A step of mounting the mounting / dismounting member of the flexographic plate raising printing structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4 on a plate cylinder of a printing press, (2) above the flexographic plate lifting printing structure A method of printing a flexographic plate, comprising: a step of placing a carrier sheet on which a flexographic printing plate is placed and winding the carrier sheet on a plate cylinder; and (3) a step of performing printing.   6. The method for printing a flexographic plate according to claim 5, wherein the rotational speed of the plate cylinder is 200 rpm / min or more.