Press Types

The three types of flexographic presses are stack, central impression and in-line.

In the stack press the different color units of the press are stacked over one another on one or both sides of a press frame.

There may be one to eight stations with six being the most common.

There are three advantages of the stack press:

1. The web may be reversed to allow perfecting.

2. The stations are very accessible.

Stack presses can print on a wide variety of substrates.

The central impression press, sometimes called drum, common impression or CI, supports all of its color stations around a single steel impression cylinder.

The impression cylinder supports the web and helps to maintain color registration between print stations.

The Mark Andy three color label press in the small press lab is a CI press. The greatest advantage of a CI press is in holding registration.

The In-Line press has separate color stations in separate complete units driven by a common lineshaft.

They can handle wide webs since a single frame need not support all colors. They are used in folding box, corrugated and multi-wall bag presses.

They are common for printing on pressure sensitive and standard labels. They can be made to perfect by turning the web over a turn bar.