Esko Crystal technology
Esko is bringing flexo platemaking to new levels of consistency and dramatically simplifies the platemaking operation.
The industry must produce smaller flexo job lengths effectively, with less lead time and improved on-time delivery of plates. This required the rethinking of flexo platemaking, a complex and manual process involving up to seven different hardware devices. Operators risk damaging plates when moving from one processing step to the next, and by entering platemaking parameters manually. Integration of process steps and automation improves consistency and ease of use.
The Esko CDI Crystal 5080 XPS is a new flexo plate system, combining the new XPS Crystal 5080 UV LED main and back exposure device in a single operation:, and the CDI Crystal 5080, a new digital flexo plate imager based on industry leading technology,. When both devices are connected, they combine plate imaging and exposure in a single operation.
And, it can be connected to a Vianord processing system to create the first modular, fully automatic flexo plate processing system in the world
To enable full integration and automation of plate imaging and UV exposure, the Esko CDI Crystal 5080 uses the proven CDI LAMS ablation laser and high-resolution optics imaging technology. It also contains a glass plate table, used to transfer flexo plates onto the imaging drum and transport the plate seamlessly, after imaging, to the Crystal XPS digital UV exposure device.
The XPS Crystal 5080, an FTA Technical Innovation award recipient, combines UV main and back exposures—almost simultaneously. Unlike UV frames using light bulbs fluctuating in output, the XPS Crystal uses UV LEDs, which don’t need warm-up time and always emit consistent radiation.
The CDI Crystal 5080 XPS connects to a workflow via Device Manager, giving prepress departments information to organize platemaking queues to produce the right plate at the right time. Work in progress, status and queues of all connected devices are clearly visualized on screen.