Flexo Sleeves Gain Traction

Because photopolymer sleeves imaged in-the-round do not use plates to carry the image, a host of problems ­associated with conventional flexo plate mounting is eliminated. These problems include plate lift and bounce, misregistration, distortion, and waste.

“Flexographers used to image on a flat photopolymer plate and attach the plate to a round cylinder with stickyback tape,” says Mike Smoot, business manager for Xymid Print Sleeves, Xymid, LLC. “The thicker the plate and the smaller the diameter of the cylinder, the greater the potential for misregistration and distortion. In contrast, the alignment of sleeves is spot-on.”