Analysis on Selection of Die-cutting Indentation Substrates in Tobacco Label Production

With the development of social economy and increasingly fierce market competition, product packaging has received more and more attention. In this era, the printing industry is booming, and various new technologies and equipment for printing are emerging in an ever-changing manner. At the same time, various related auxiliary industries are constantly pushing new ones, providing strong support for the development and progress of the printing industry.

In the history of development of flat die-cut die-cut indentation substrates, there have been five stages, namely, "hand-made in-line," "hand-lined," "fast-set indentation," and "resin bottom mold." "Steel bottom mold." Among them, the "inline" and "fight" methods use paperboards that match the thickness of printed materials, and manually excavate or splice the required thicknesses and widths of the wireways. Because the quality of the indentation line in this way is extremely unstable, it is currently only retained in some of the relatively harsh social product die-cutting, but it is no longer used in the high-demand and high-standard tobacco mark die-cutting; The steel bottom mold is generally used with a steel knife mold or a resin knife mold. Due to the high cost and high risk, the current penetration rate is still low.

Therefore, combined with my many years of practical work experience, the most used resin bottom molds and quick-set indentation cords (which are commonly referred to in the industry as “indentation lines” and “glue "Line", "West Way", etc., the latter will be referred to as the "indentation glue line" for a simple comparative analysis, I would like to refer to my colleagues in the industry.

First, the intersection of quick-set indentation glue line and resin bottom mold

I believe that everyone in the cigarette label printing industry is already familiar with the quick-set indentation line and the resin bottom mold. Here only talk about the similarities between the two. As a matter of fact, we can understand this way: The whole quick-set creasing line contained in a single product is assembled on a resin plate to form a bottom mold; in other words, a bottom mold is divided into zeros, By dividing each indentation line into several parts and eliminating the non-functional connection between each indentation line, it also becomes a number of ordinary indentation glue lines. Therefore, in the main part of the slot, the effect and accuracy of the indentation glue line and the bottom mold are not much different.

Second, the interface and thread processing

Since the bottom mold is based on the actual process size of the product, a professional machine is used to engrave and process the entire resin plate, so the on-line processing is more rounded and the interface between different indentation lines is also connected. More complete and stable. The indentation glue line is formed by a single “straight line” stitching. The interface between different indentation lines is not as compact as the bottom mold, and it often leads to certain gaps and direct influences due to the skill level of the technicians and the difference in processing techniques. The appearance of the line to the indentation line is not as good as the resin bottom mold. In addition, when using an indentation line, it is necessary to trim the line of the indentation line and the indentation line inside the position of the adhesive before the die-cutting production. Therefore, the bottom mold is better than the indentation line in terms of the appearance effect and the operation difficulty. However, according to my many years of experience, as long as the operator's skills and proficiency are in place, the difference between the interface and the thread is not very great, and the customer's requirements for the product indentation line are mainly uniform straight, full and easy to fold, no explosive burst color. There is no excessive requirement for these details of thread-to-thread connection, and the use of indentation lines can fully meet customer requirements in all aspects.

Third, the main raw material

The raw materials used for the resin bottom molds produced by different manufacturers are synthetic resins. The material used in the indentation line is relatively diversified. For example, the common indentation line of the German West Way in the market and the indentation line (commonly known as the Japanese line) produced by Japan Daisaku Corporation are all environmentally-friendly “paper” material indentation line molds that are specially processed; In fact, the “Japanese Line” material is slightly closer than the “West Line”; while the “Victory” line of Beijing Victory Alberto is a white hard plastic material with a reticular fiber structure.

Fourth, the paper indentation line, plastic indentation line, the durability of the resin bottom mold and deformation resistance

In this respect, everyone's general awareness is that the resin bottom mold is far superior to the indentation glue line. However, after years of practical experience, I have actually verified that the durability and the degree of deformation of some indentation lines are much higher than those of resin bottom molds generally used. The details of the three are as follows:

1. Relatively speaking, the same specification of paper indentation adhesive line has the best softness and is easy to trim and process. After indentation, the product is not easy to burst and burst, but its durability and deformation resistance are poor; After accidentally double-stretched trunking will be significantly thicker, depending on the paper material, the general 20-30 million will appear around the India wear and tear, indentation is not full, or even "lost thread" and other issues;

2. The plastic indentation line represented by the Shengli line is the most full of lines and has the longest service life. Under normal circumstances, 500,000 printings will not show obvious wear. Even if there are too many double sheets in the production process, the indentation line groove will not be significantly widened. However, when used in the indentation of paper products with poor quality, the phenomenon of popping or popping is prone to occur, and due to the material being hard, the trimming process is relatively difficult;

3. The resin bottom mold is quite satisfactory, and the performance is relatively middle in both aspects.

4. Specific examples of durability rate: a cigarette box, 15 fight, tobacco factory designated a certain brand of paper, gravure printing line transfer water supply / dampening, flat automatic die cutting production of special injury line (this paper is more special, At that time, many die-cutting chiefs jokingly called the paper "eating."

a. The first time the official production was performed using Japanese indentation adhesive tape, after each 100,000 sheets of die-cutting, the imprint of the indentation was almost invisible about 1mm per thread indentation line. The stiffness of the stiffness tester rose from an initial value of 70 to 95; the same problem occurred after replacing the full set of indentation glue lines.

b. The problem is repeated immediately after the customization and replacement of a full set of resin bottom mold, after the production of 150,000 large sheets to achieve the previously mentioned severe wear;

c. In the end, the invigorating adhesive indentation line was used, and 250,000 sheets could be die-cut before reaching the above state. However, due to the fact that the product is a transfer paper jam and the fiber of the paper is very short, when the victory indentation glue line is installed, the product will appear cracked at the bottom line and indentation at the front edge of the product, requiring additional trimming treatment for about 3 hours;

d. In response to this problem, the company subsequently considered communicating with a well-known laser platemaking company in China and collaborated on the development of a new material resin bottom mold to increase the durability rate. After various reasons, it made an attempt to give up without significant changes. Since then, the product has been die-cut using Victor Indentation adhesive until the product is discontinued.

Fifth, loading efficiency

1. The use of the bottom mold can reduce the preparation work before production, all save the cutting time of the indentation glue line and partially save the trimming processing working time, thereby improving the loading efficiency when the die cutting indentation.

2. As an example, a 15-piece cigarette case is used for the cutting of a full set of indentation glue lines. It takes about 30 minutes, and the paper indentation line trimming process generally takes about 30 minutes more than the installation of the bottom mold. Victory indentation glue line takes about 60 minutes more than installing the bottom mold.

3. If using indentation glue line, you can ask the helper to cut the indentation glue line with spare time before the single product is finished. If the order is relatively stable, you can consider keeping a set of indentation glue line for backup. This avoids the time delay caused by the sheared indentation glue line.

Sixth, the use of cost

From the cost point of view, the advantages of indentation lines are obvious. The cost of using indented glue lines is about 15% of the cost of using resin bottom molds. For example, a single-spell box cigarette tag, if you use indentation glue line, the cost is about 8-18 yuan; if you use the bottom mold, the cost is about 100 yuan. In addition, the single-piece small box cigarette label usually has 18 indentation lines. If one of the indentation lines has quality problems, if the indentation line is used, we only need to replace the indentation line that has quality problems. You can; but if you use a bottom mold, we need to replace the entire bottom mold. You are better off, and you are better off!

Seventh, flexibility

The use of resin bottom molds is costly and inflexible. When the single indentation line has quality problems, the entire bottom mold must be replaced. For cost considerations, as long as the problem is not too large, it is often possible top. The use of indentation adhesives is simple and flexible. If individual indentation lines are misaligned (ie, line offsets), we can think of the indentation line as the base of the embossed plate, and make appropriate corrections and corrections; it can also press any existing problems at any time. Traces are replaced without the need for other indentation lines. From this point of view, the efficiency and quality of the indented glue line are higher than the bottom mold.

What must be taken into account is: With the cost of a series of printed raw materials, such as paper, skyrocketing, the profitability of printing companies has repeatedly decreased. In addition, the international economy is sluggish, and the market competition in the printing industry has become increasingly fierce and cruel... In all cases, when faced with resin bottom molds and various indentation glue lines, what choice should we make in the end?

Personally, one of the most insinuated opinions is that it is mainly based on indentation glue lines, and it can be flexibly applied depending on the circumstances. details as follows:

First, in special circumstances, such as "rounded" cigarette label, shaped tobacco mark cutting, because the distance between the indentation line is too small, with indentation glue line is difficult to handle, you can use "tailored" resin Counter.

Second, in the case of many types of products, small profit margins, frequent change of versions due to various reasons, and mixed use of die-cutting frames between machines, etc., use quick-set indentation lines as much as possible to avoid unnecessary waste of costs. .

1. “Paper” indentation line can be used when the order quantity is less than 300,000 sheets, the delivery time is tight, and the paper is explosively explosive. Although the service life is not long, the operation is simple and convenient;

2. In other cases, it is best to use a durable, low cost plastic indentation adhesive line (but be cautious when paper bursts are explosive).