A Tacky Subject

Be gentle to your plates

Flexographic plates, although tough, do need some tender loving care when being mounted onto a cylinder or sleeve. Some mounting tapes offer cushioning support, which lends itself to faster startups, higher line speeds, and fewer press adjustments.

One such product line, Rogers R/bak® mounting tapes, offer cushioning support much different from other companies, according to Timothy S. Wilson, senior printing product specialist with Rogers Corporation. He said that many tape products use a closed-cell polyethylene material in their construction, which has the potential of breaking down during press operation. Wilson explained that the closed cells in the polyethylene material can be compared to balloons. After all of the pounding that the plate and material takes during the printing process, the cell walls tend to burst like a balloon, leading to print quality problems in the long run.