Sibress upgrades range of measurement systems

Italy-based Sibress, a manufacturer of measuring systems and analyzers for quality assurance in flexo and packaging printing, has upgraded its latest range of instruments. 

The newest product in the range, Flexo Control Universal, is a portable instrument that the company says ‘can be used virtually anywhere’, in the same way as Flexo Control, the flexo analyzer launched by Sibress at the beginning of the year. 

The new analyzer is not much bigger than a computer mouse. It is designed for quality control of screen areas, individual printing dots, lines, and barcodes on finished flexo plates, imaged LAMS flexo plates, steel-backed letterpress plates, offset plates and elastomer flexo plates.  

Flexo Control Universal measures AM screens from 23 to 85cm on flexo and offset plates as well as FM screens with at least 20 µm dots.  

The new Sibress product additionally measures the dots and coverage values of color prints with AM, FM, or hybrid screens on paper, carton and film. A newly developed algorithm carries out a precise analysis of the screen coverage values for overprint colors (blends) or critical colors like yellow. 

Flexo Control Universal is connected to the PC or notebook with a two-meter USB cable, which allows areas in the middle of large plates or prints to be measured and analyzed. 

Flexo Control Universal captures the surfaces using an RGB color camera equipped with a 1.3 megapixel sensor. The instrument has energy-saving LED lighting that can be activated on demand via the Versatile@flex software for capturing prints and non-translucent plates. This software, which runs under Windows 7, Vista, or XP, has been enhanced by Sibress with a redesigned user interface. Versatile@flex has also been optimized, so that all dots in the active image area (>3 mm squared) are now detected and analyzed automatically. The values recorded for parameters such as dot percentage, linescreen, dot diameter, dot perimeter and angle are displayed in a matter of seconds. 

An auto-calibration feature, typical of the whole range, is said to be an important advantage of Flexo Control Universal. Together with the laser-etched calibration target, included with the instrument and comprised of nine ultra-precise screen patches, this automated function guarantees accurate and reproducible analyses over a long period of time. Flexo Control Universal is supplied with its own light box with an integrated power supply, making it easier to measure translucent polymer plates.  

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