SIMEC GROUP, an Italian company that designs and manufactures anilox rollers and sleeves for the packaging printing industry and numerous other industrial sectors, recently launched the Caboll product line, which is characterised by an innovative coating.

For the production of Caboll Print anilox rollers, Simec Group has developed a configuration consisting of six laser engraving lines and an innovative fully robotised unit for the coating application. ‘This coating is particularly suitable as an alternative to galvanic chrome plating, anodising on aluminium rollers, as an anti-stick coating or, in some applications, even with surface processing,’ states president, Emilio Della Torre. The technology used for the Caboll variants involves the application of different types of metal coatings from the carbide family with different compositions depending on the final application and various deposition technologies.

Caboll Print has already been extensively tested in narrow web printing as well as in other printing sectors, whether flexo, gravure or for coating and laminating. There are currently no size limitations as the production facility can process rolls for all different applications up to 6 000mm wide.

According to Emilio, numerous advantages have been identified with the use of Caboll Print in printing on flexible materials, noted in collaboration with a leading printing press manufacturer:

Increased density on the printed surface and high dot definition, some 15% higher than a ceramic anilox.
Greater stability compared to open-cell engravings.
A substantial reduction in the number of aniloxes needed to cover all printing requirements and therefore optimisation of investments.
The same set of anilox can be used with UV, water- and solvent-based inks.
The same anilox kit can be used on different substrates such as coated paper, adhesive and non-adhesive plastic substrates.
Used with cold foil, Caboll’s technology enables better emptying of the anilox cells and uses smaller volumes than the ceramic roller. This results in an increase in resolution, easier system set-up and a substantial cost reduction on the print job.
With white ink, the emptying capabilities of the Caboll anilox enable significantly higher opacity and coverage when compared to the use of ceramic anilox.