I have been a Plate maker in offset printing for 5 years and ran a digital press for a year is this Flexo press hard to learn and understand? What does the assistant press man do on a Flexo graphic press? Any info would help. Thanks.
I am a former 4/color stripper, cameraman, platemaker. This is how it was done before computers. I have some knowledge of computerized stripping. I have been in the business for over 30 years. An offset press is an offset press. They all operate pretty much the same way. With water and ink. Flexo printing is done for labels that are put on bottles. Believe it or not the image is distorted in prep. This is because the label wraps around a cylindrical or somewhat cylindrical container. Believe it or not the distorted image comes out looking right because of the shape of the container. An assistant pressman's responsibilities will vary from shop to shop but you pretty much are helping fill ink fountains, putting up paper, hanging plates, setting color, and you get to wash up the press among other things. It has been awhile but I do miss it. If you are good you can write your own ticket to a certain extent. I am older now and it was kinda fun thinking about this. I hope at least some of this helps. Good Luck.
Working on a Flexo is much like any other presses with the BIG difference that the material stretches and has to be compensate with a certain tolerance. Flexography uses fast-drying inks. I used to prepress for a labelling company and before outputting the films/plate, I needed to know how many teeth on the gear to compensate for the stretching. Otherwise, the finished product would be squished or over-stretched. By adjusting the gear ratio to the cylinder, the films are outputted giving the impressiion that they are stretched slightly. This is to allow the plastic on the press to fall back to normal once printed.
