Speedmounter Wide Servo

Colour CCTV system with motorized camera carriages

15 inches colour LED LCD displays with electronically generated crosslines. The colour system is rich in shades and provides excellent image quality regardless of the tape or plate colours to be mounted.
The crosses are suitable for mounting plates with microdots or register crosses configuration. Magnification on LCD displays: x60-x70 (additional digital zoom is also available).

Colour industrial cameras with precision Japanese optics, LED lights, laser pointers, linear rails and stepper motors. The motorised carriages can be moved and focus of the optics can be adjusted by joysticks on remote pad. For easy position determination of cameras a red laser light indicates each of the actual camera positions on the sleeve face.

Positioning of camera carriages ensured by Heidenhain optical linear encoder.

Built-in air mandrel rotation by gearless DDR servo drive

Extreme precision rotation and circumferential positioning of the sleeve is guaranteed with the latest gearless DDR Motor(Direct Drive Rotation). The non rotating stator of the DDR motor is fixed in a robust support block and the rotor (hub with magnetic poles) is fixed on the shaft of the built-in air cylinder which rotates in bearings supported by large bearing housing blocks. There is 1 mm air gap between the magnetic poles of the rotor rotating together with the air mandrel and the magnetic poles of the fixed stator, so there are no friction, wearing parts. That is why accuracy and precision of DDR motors do not change as the time goes on. This fact has been verified by testing DDR motors built into our first SWS machines (operating since 2008).

The plates can be positioned on any desired point on the face as the system can do spiral mounting. Rotation of sleeve is done via 2 foot pedals or fine rotation is through 2 push buttons on the remote pad.

All functions of the mounting machine are PLC controlled. PLC control results in constant and reliable operation.

Sleeve system

Makes it possible to change sleeves in the mounting machine.
The cone head of the sleeve arm unit fits in precisely with the built-in air mandrel left shaft. The arm is folded in and out by hand but the closing and opening of the cone is done by pneumatics.

The bearing sites of the built-in air mandrel are individually fitted to the housing with an accuracy of 0.005 mm allowing integration and rotation of the air mandrel as precisely as it is mechanically possible.

In the case of repeat length greater than 900 mm a shaft lift assists the cantilever sleeve arm operation to ensure extremely long lifetime for the conical support head stabilizing the air mandrel.

Single lead-on table

Motorized movement single lead-on table in mounting machine sets up automatically to the inserted sleeve diameter height. The simple lead-on table is made from a stainless steel covered guiding plate. It supports printing plates along their full width during the initial sticking and squeezing.

The vertical movement of the lead-on table is realized by the totally closed, compact, German made electric lifting legs. The synchronized drive granted by the control system developed by FlexoTech. There are precise and massive horizontal and vertical linear rails for guiding the lead on table motion.

First of all, we recommend this simple table design for spiral mounting (mounting many plates onto the sleeve in shifted positions).

Using double lead-on table at spiral mounting increases the mounting time, because of necessary movement of the double table for each printing plate.

Planar mounting with double lead-on table

The optional double lead-on table creates a completely planar surface above the sleeve, so that the plates can be moved on this surface with ease. With the use of double lead-on plate makes unnecessary for the operator to place protecting foil onto the front side of sleeve face in order for the plates to contact with the double sided adhesive only on the area under the cameras.

That delicate procedure can be avoided what waits for operator after the first sticking, namely removing the earlier placed protecting foil under the plate. Depending on operator’s dexterity and the materials of plate and adhesive tape, the procedure may result in the shift of the already successfully stuck plate and may need to repeat the first sticking. In critical cases this problem discovered only after the complete mounting, further increase the duration of mounting.

Automatic height setting to applied sleeve diameter,
No need for additional protecting foils during first sticking,
Accuracy of mounting duration depends less on operator’s ability,
Drastically reduces the duration for plate positioning.

Pneumatic lay-down roll

The lay-down roll integrated into the lead-on table allows pneumatic smoothing in full width of the sleeve. The lay-down roll is a dia. 70 mm soft plastic foam covered cylinder with a cork layer. While selecting suitable cover material for lay down roll the material of the printing plate and its thickness had to be considered. The flexible plastic foam – in contrast to other solutions – ensures the best condition for plate application without air bubbles and distortions.

The optimal pressure in the power cylinder for squeezing is only 3 bars. Using higher force induced by higher air pressure can cause damage to the printing plate that is why not recommanded. In case of neccessity, applying of double side adhesive tape with micro channels helps equal stronger sticking without air bubbles. Squeezing by manual roller is recommanded only in exceptional cases to eliminate air bubbles, because of uneven squeezing force distort the plate and does not allow standard mounting conditions. Since 2024 the SWS has a slow rotation mode for foot pedals to be used especially for sideways manual hand rolling after mounting.

Standardization

By use of lay-down roll the application of double side adhesive tape and printing plate proceeds standard way means under equal pressure and speed for all sleeves. The machine operator will not have a chance to make any mistake in sticking procedures while the accuracy and precision remains same at every case.

Adhesive tape support

Double sided tape is supported on aluminium shaft by cone shaped adapters on each side. Ensures precise and user-friendly application of tape.
Tapes with core diameters between: 35-95 mm can be used in the support. The unit moves on a linear rail and can be removed all together to gain comfortable access to the whole cylinder face. The tape support can be folded down easily providing maximal space for further mounting cycles.

We propose its use for sleeves with working width up to 900 mm, where the adhesive tape applied in one piece unwinded directly from its roll. In case of wider sleeves it is better to apply adhesive tape also in one piece turned crosswise, instead of fitting several adhesive strips near each other. That way gaps between the strips can be avoided and also the lead time of the tape application will be much shorter.

However, the whole tape application operation could be outsourced to a MASTER DMT tape mounting and plate&tape removing machine in order to multiply plate mounting capacity of the plate mounter machine.

Remote pad for objectives with motorized focus

The optical magnification excludes the “falling apart” and pixelfull effect, what comes out at other systems with software generated picture at higher zoom value. Operator adjust the focus to the given sleeve diameter with a joystick in one phase. No need for separate sharpness adjustment.

The remote control pad locating on the cabinet side of the mounting machine can be taken by one motion for positioning the camera carriers and focusing of the lenses directly in front of the LCD displays using the two joysticks and also two fine step pushbuttons on the remote pad.

The fine adjustment pushbuttons are rotating the built-in air mandrel driven by the direct drive servo motor in steps of 0.005 mm CW and CCW.

Colour touch screen HMI terminal

Operation of SWS machine and also the HMI terminal is very easy and fast. The startup time less then 5 seconds. The operator can concentrate fully to his job and should not think about the way of machine handling. Graphical Touch Screen panel can display 10 plate positions at one time (can be increased for request). Most functions are operated through the colour touch screen panel.

User-friendly programming results in quick workflow.
Clear and easy menus show both camera positions as well as the sleeves actual circumferential position to an accuracy of 0.01 mm. Allowing operators to choose between plates with just one touch (cameras then move automatically to positions), these positions can be saved under job names and recalled at any later stage. With the circumferential measurement facility you can make longitudinal measurements, controlling plate lengths.

The following functions are available on the terminal:
Viewing of actual camera positions;
Viewing of built-in air mandrel or sleeve circumferential position;
Camera movement;
Rotation of built-in mandrel or sleeve;
Other camera movement functions;
Job storage and reload; 50:50 and 25:75 AutoMount program for different plates; APPC function;
Service setup, troubleshooting and speed settings

Automatic Plate Position Calculation (APPC)

The 4th generation of the APPC function serves the further time reduction of work process duration. The most conspicuous novelty is the large touch screen where the mounting tasks can be performed in a nicer graphic environment.

The APPC function enables the operator of symmetrical plate position calculation. In case of one or more plate mounting, only three data entry is sufficient for the program to automatically calculate the plate positions.
Hence there is no need for plate position calculations and thereafter data input on the touch screen by the operator. After entering the basic data (number of plates, distance of markers on plate, distance between plates) the motorized cameras move with a single touch to the operator’s chosen plate position within a few seconds.

The calculated plate positions can be saved with a given job name and it can be loaded back from the memory.

AutoMount function

When "AutoMount" function is selected the mounter automatically and precisely applies the plate onto the sleeve without torsion and free of air bubbles.
The operator only has to do the initial positioning of the plate onto the sleeve surface. By pressing the AutoMount function the pneumatic lay-down roll is activated together with the two way rotation of the built-in air mandrel. The “AutoMount” function is a pre-programmed row of steps that reduce downtime in the mounting process.

Two type of mounting is available: 50:50 for plates where the markers are in the middle, and 25:75 where the markers are closer to the operator, when facing the machine.

Standardization

The “AutoMount” function standardizes the entire plate mounting cycle. It ensures equal plate mounting conditions for all sleeves of a job. The sticking of the printing plate always proceeds at the same speed and pressure conditions. The machine operator is not able individually affect the sticking procedure and the sticking accuracy is always precise and the same.

Job storage

The already positioned or mounted plates can be saved under proper job names or job numbers in the PLC memory and can be recalled later at any desired time. Positions of up to 10 plates are stored under one job number. It represents a multiple of demand for printing houses. The job data are saved on USB memory sticks That is why job data will not be lost in case of hardware damage. Taking monthly backups is always recommended to a personal computer or internal server.

Optional Ethernet connection is also available. Saving job data to usual PC from the USB is possible where post-edition of the data also possible if necessary. A 2 Gbyte memory stick is able to store data of approx. 2 million jobs.

Easy register

The printing plates will be positioned to these register stripes. The sensors in the printing press will check only the position of the register stripes. If the stripes are in position then the printing plates must be in their exact positions.

Of course, our SWS machine meets and can serve Easy Register System, because it is basic requirement for W&H presses.

Separated air inlet unit

For larger repeat lenghts an adapter (bridge sleeve, carrier) should be inserted between the air mandrel and the sleeve. There are two types of compressed air supply applied for the precisely machined adapters. The flow-through type or bridge adapters do not have internal air channel circuit for making air cushion for inserting sleeve onto the adapter. There are only passing through holes in the adapter positioned exactly to the air outlet holes of the air mandrel. These bridge adapters are fixed by bayonet-shaped groove on positioning pin of the air mandrel. In case of other type adapters with independent air supply the compressed air received on right sidewall of the adapter and distributed via its own internal air channel circuit. These channels are not connected to the air supply holes on the air mandrel.

This last solution ensures loss-free, perfect compressed air supply to form air cushion between the adapter and the sleeve.

The optional Separated Air Supply Unit supplies high pressure compressed air directly to the adapter ensuring perfect and ease change of sleeves on the adapter. The Unit moves on linear rail and can be fixed in positions adjusted for different sleeve widhts.

Omron PLC control and Heidenhain measuring system

The purpose of plate mounting machine is the very precise lateral and longitudinal positioning of printing plate on the sleeve. The requirements can be fulfilled only by using the latest technology.

We use only the most reliable components of industrial standards. We grant stable operation using PLC-HMI. Further advance of the HMI terminal is that all information which is necessary for the plate mounting is found very easily on the operator interface.

For lateral positioning we use products of Heidenhain which is the world market leader in measuring systems. In the camera positioning system of SWS we use optical measuring scale. In this system there is a thin gap between the scan heads and the scale so it does not include wearing parts. That is why the reliability of this system is extremely high: it will be as accurate after 15 years of operation as at the start-up.

On-line diagnostics

The on-line diagnostics allows remote accessibility to the SWS machines installed in printing houses for our engineers. The remote investigation helps us investigate machine eliminate any problems as shortly as possible.

The remote connection is performed through a suitably prepared mini laptop connected to the SWS machine. The laptop is supplied with the machine allows full access to the PLC, the servo drive and the HMI terminal. Only requirement is the available local WLAN connection.