Virtual demo of 450 meters a minute gravure press gets over 750 viewers

Pelican, one of India’s leading packaging equipment manufacturers, showcased its 9-color Solomark 6450 rotogravure printing press via a virtual event on the afternoon of 12 August 2021. The livestream was attended by a reported more than 750 guests from India and overseas. The host, Aakarshak Mishra of Pelican, gave a brief introduction about the company and the press. There was a virtual tour of the huge factory premises located in Rajkot in Western India. 

The ELS rotogravure press comes with shaftless cylinder chucking. It has a maximum speed of 450 meters a minute and a maximum web width of 1300 mm. The print cylinder repeat is between 450 mm and 920 mm.

Mishra said that the press sports a new high-performance turret on the rewinder with the latest generation Sinamics simotion technology with AC servo motors and drives. The press also offers an easy handling design for reel loading and splice preparation. 

Gautam Prabhu of Reifenhauser India joined Mishra to give a detailed overview of some of the new features of the press. Prabhu explained in detail the Solomark 6450’s print unit, doctor blade group, pre-register setting, semi floatation dryer, inking system, ventilation module, rewinder, and register control. 

Prabhu said that in the print unit, the impression assembly with precision linear bearings ensures smooth and precise displacement. All the print unit motors are directly coupled to the cylinder without any gearbox. The doctor blade group offers easy and quick settings, uniform contact, and lower contact pressure, Prabhu said. 

The press has automatic cylinder preparation with pre-register centering with a pre-registration system. According to Prabhu, the inking group is well covered by SS guards, ensuring minimum evaporation of the solvent and ink. The press has an ergonomically designed ink splashing system. The Solomark offers multiple design options for ink trolleys. 

There are blower fans along with servo-controlled dampers in a single compact ventilation module. These ensure optimum drying at minimum energy consumption and lower noise levels in the flotation dryer system.

The press boasts of high-performance turret rewinder, which is designed with maximum safety onboard solutions. Also, operators do not have to set true-copy from the main HMI of the automatic register control (ARC). The press offers faster register correction and better accuracy even at speed variations. 

When it comes to automation, the press has new generation Siemens and Sinamics simotion control, job running details can be saved and recalled anytime with all parameters. The entire control systems and automation are designed for remote access and monitoring. 

Pelican ran a live job during the virtual event, which was a 5-color job – CMYK plus white. The press achieved a speed of 450 meters per minute with stability on an 8-micron PET film substrate. 

Q&A – maximum demand for 450 meters a minute gravure presses

After the completion of the demo session and Q&A session was organized. The questions were answered by Prabhu, Yash Shrimanker, and Vasu Shrimanker of Pelican. 

Vasu Shrimanker said that the most important aspect of a Pelican press is that most parts are manufactured in-house, including critical and non-critical components. “This offers the highest amount of control over quality and accuracy. We do not compromise on the quality,” he said. 

Regarding a question about the speed of the press, Yash Shrimanker agreed that other press manufacturers are making faster machines. But he added that the real question to ask is whether the Indian market needs that kind of speed. 

“Does the market need such kinds of machines? Are we ready with the required infrastructure and operator skills? The press that was demonstrated today has a maximum speed of 450 meters per minute. It is designed considering international safety standards. Well, when it comes to Pelican, we can manufacture higher speed presses as and when the market would demand such a solution,” he said. 

Yash Shrimanker added that at present, the majority of market requirement is for presses with speeds between 400 and 450 meters per minute. 

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