Digitalization is the main direction of innovation and development of sheetfed offset press manufacturing technology. In recent years, imported brand sheet-fed offset presses have been continuously innovating in the application of digital technology, and domestic sheet-fed offset presses are not far behind. This article will discuss with you the digitalization process of domestic sheetfed offset presses.

The digitization of sheetfed offset presses mainly includes two aspects. On the one hand, it is the digital transformation of the mechanical transmission system of the equipment, that is, the application of independent drive technology or numerical control technology. The independent drive technology has matured, the high-precision encoder control synchronization error can be controlled within 0.03mm, the rotation accuracy of the servo motor can reach one ten thousandth of a revolution, and the servo drive can be controlled to one millionth of a revolution. Can meet the requirements of printing quality. On the other hand is the digitization of the adjustment, setting and manipulation of the printing process, and even the digitization of printing fault diagnosis, that is, the above operations can be completed on the console.

Digital progress of domestic sheetfed offset presses

In recent years, the digital progress of domestic sheetfed offset presses is mainly reflected in the following two aspects.

1. Digitization of drive technology

Only the ink system of domestic sheet-fed offset presses adopts independent drive technology. The functions of ink transfer roller, water transfer roller, ink color remote control, and paper preset have been digitized. It is an innovative direction to continue to expand the application of independent drive technology in other systems. . There are already supporting enterprises in China that have begun to manufacture independently driven paper feeders, and a few companies are also manufacturing sheet-fed offset presses that are separated from the paper feeders. The latest development is that several domestic companies have begun to manufacture connected UV varnishing and drying equipment.

    The next digital transformation direction of domestic sheetfed offset presses is to first realize the digitization of equipment settings, such as paper feeding, ink feeding, fountain solution supply and other functions are separated from the main motion, and then solve the problem of paper preset, ink color Servo control of remote control, automatic registration and other functions, so that the information of pre-press plate making can be transmitted to the printing machine through the digital interface, so as to complete the automatic adjustment of information. At present, the independent drive of no side gauge technology, printing cylinder and paper transfer process is a major innovation of foreign sheet-fed offset presses. We still have certain difficulties in entering, but we should believe that this is the direction of development. Conditional enterprises should Boldly carry out independent innovation.

    2. Digitization of Information Transmission

    Most domestic sheetfed offset press manufacturers have not yet set up a digital interface for information transmission, and the pre-press plate-making information needs to be manually adjusted and set on the printing press, which not only takes up a lot of auxiliary time, but also requires repeated adjustments and settings. It will also bring errors in ink color reproduction. At present, the functions that domestic sheet-fed offset presses urgently need to configure are automatic paper adjustment functions, including paper feeder, delivery machine, gripper row, paper preset function of front side gauge and automatic adjustment function of ink color restoration, etc. Only with these capabilities does a digital interface make sense. Of course, while the hardware design is completed, the software design must be completed, that is, using RIP software to make prepress and printing compatible with each other, so that the prepress platemaking information can be quickly input into the printing machine, which can save repeated adjustment time and adjustment errors.

    The digital gap with international brand sheetfed offset presses

    Although domestic sheet-fed offset presses have achieved good results in digitalization, they still lag behind the international advanced level in more aspects.

    1. Gap in digitalization of drive systems

    In the 1980s, independently driven web offset presses began to appear in Japan, and two were sold in China. In the early 2000s, the world revived this technology and began to phase out shaft-driven web offset presses. The independent drive technology of sheet-fed offset presses has not been fully realized. The main reason is that the printing cylinder is not only responsible for the entire process of ink color transfer, but also the work of paper transfer. The same transmission system should make the two functions completely synchronized.

However, to the extent possible, foreign sheetfed offset press manufacturers have begun to try to adopt independent drive technology. Although the independent drive technology has not been fully applied to the whole machine at present, it has achieved the separation of the paper feeder and the main drive chain, the drive of the printing cylinder servo motor, the cancellation of the two side pull gauge mechanisms of the paper feed table, the independent drive of water supply and ink supply. system, etc., but the paper handover process still uses a gear system to transmit the whole process. So far, the domestic sheetfed offset press manufacturers have not been involved in this field.

    2. The gap in the seamless connection of digital information

    At present, foreign sheet-fed offset presses already have automatic paper adjustment (paper presets including paper feeder, delivery machine, gripper row, front stop gauge and other components), automatic ink color restoration Adjustment and other functions, prepress platemaking information can be seamlessly passed to the printing press. With the birth of the JDF standard, they will transfer the printing information to the whole process of printing.

    CIP3/CIP4 and JDF are the file format standards for the printing process, which have become the common guidelines for foreign printing equipment manufacturers. These standards enable the digital transmission of information in the whole process of prepress, printing and postpress, preventing Equipment manufacturing islanding effect. Foreign offset printing press manufacturers have established alliances to promote and follow these standards, while domestic manufacturers have just realized the seriousness of this problem, and some companies have just begun to get involved in this field.

    3. Connecting the gap of digital control

    In recent years, foreign sheet-fed offset press manufacturers have realized industrialized production of on-line flip double-sided multi-color printing, on-line spot color printing, UV coating, cold stamping, LED curing, and printed product inspection, making single Sheetfed offset presses continue to expand in functionality and adaptability. Among the domestic sheetfed offset press manufacturers, only a few enterprises have the production capacity to produce inline spot color printing and UV coating offset presses, and only one enterprise has trial-produced a tandem sheetfed double-sided four-color printing press. , but has not yet been brought to the market.

    4. The Gap of Fully Digital Equipment

    Since 1995, Heidelberg has successively launched DI46-4 and Speedmaster74DI digital printing presses in the mechanical version, successfully realizing the digital transformation of traditional offset printing equipment.

    DI46-4 type digital printing press adopts satellite cylinder arrangement structure, and uses laser diode to accurately position the four-color printing plate for simultaneous laser ablation and imaging. After the printing plate is imaged, the printing plate is automatically cleaned. Silicon chips on the surface. When printing, use waterless offset ink to separate the ink-friendly and ink-repellent parts. The machine-made digital printing machine greatly reduces the auxiliary time and overprinting errors caused by changing the printing plate. However, after more than ten years of scenery in the mechanical version of the digital printing press, it has lost its former style, and now, the new plateless digital printing press has replaced its market. Although market changes are difficult to predict, with the development of digital technology, especially the emergence of chemical-free plates, this equipment will continue to develop. After Heidelberg, many foreign companies have successively launched this kind of equipment and created a sensation in the field of fast and short-run printing, but so far no domestic enterprises have entered this field.

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