For 30 years Flexo Wash has provided leading cleaning solutions to the gravure industry. Our large equipment range reflects the flexibility needed in the industry. We provide two categories of units for cylinder cleaning, which are single/double cylinder cleaning machines and multiple cylinder cleaning machines.
How to clean?
There are three different methods for cleaning - manual cleaning with solvents, automated cleaning with solvents, and automated cleaning with non-solvents.
Manual cleaning with solvents
It comes with certain risk to clean manually with solvents that often overshadows the benefits. The handling of the heavy cylinders and tools used for manual cleaning can provide an inconsistent result. Especially built-up ink at the end face of the cylinder is difficult to clean manually and often requires mechanic tools to remove. Furthermore, manual cleaning stations quickly becomes a bottle neck in production due to lack of capacity and you should also be aware of the health and safety concerns derived from manual cleaning. - Read more here.
Automated cleaning with solvents
There are a lot of good systems available for automated cleaning of cylinders and the systems using solvents are effective in providing quality cleaning results. However, the handling and working with solvents still means health and safety risks. Furthermore, the system requires an ATEX-room. While there is a larger start-up investment in this system it will overtime lower your quality cost and give you a higher output. - Read more here.
Automated cleaning with non-solvents
The non-solvent systems are a great alternative to the solvent-based solutions. The benefits of prioritizing your employee’s health and safety conditions will improve your working environment without increasing the operation costs. This environmentally friendly alternative gives you the same high-quality cleaning output and can be placed right next to the printing press (ATEX-room not required). This gives other opportunities for cylinder logistics and less handling of the heavy cylinders. - Read more here.
What should you consider?
Before you make a choice about what methods is best for your production there are a few things you should consider. There are pros and cons to both manual and automated cleaning, and whether you prefer solvents or non-solvents is dependent on many things for example the ink type you use.
At Flexo Wash we can guide you towards the best solution for you no matter what your preferences are. Start your journey towards better cylinder cleaning now.
Download our guide, where you can find a quick overview of the methods for cleaning cylinders, pros and cons, and a very helpful scoring board to figure out what method is best for your gravure cylinder cleaning– click here.
