When printing on the web, large rolls of material are fed through a press at a high volume. The web presses usually operate much more quickly than the sheet-fed presses. In addition, flexographic printing presses, which are often used for packaging, are usually web presses.
Generally, web presses fall into two categories. A narrow web is one type of web, while a wide web is another type. A business application can use either of these types of printing. Despite their similarities, Narrow and wide web flexo printing has few differences that we will discuss below:
Width:
There is a difference in the width of the material between them. Compared to wide web presses, narrow web presses use shorter material widths. Wider materials allow you to print more content. An example of this is the size of a standard letter paper, which is 8.25 inches by 11 inches. Fold the sheet in half if you want to print two 8.25 inch by 11 inch pages on it.
The primary difference between narrow and wide webs is more than just their printing width.
Speed:
There is another main difference between the two, wide web flexo presses tend to run faster than 300 meters/min, while narrow web presses usually run between 150 and 200 meters/min.
Ink drying:
The difference in press speed impacts the formulation of the inks being used. Web wide usually uses faster drying solvent when compared to narrow web.
When ink viscosities on a wide web is usually around 25 secs, #2Zhan and narrow web typically are around 35 secs. The narrow web tends to transfer a thicker ink volume onto the substrate.
Doctor Blade:
Usually, wide web presses use chambered doctor blade ink metering systems, while narrow web presses use an ink fountain and trailing doctor blades.
Due to evaporation, narrow web presses are more susceptible to solvent loss and pH variations in the ink fountain.
Advantages of Narrow web Flexo Printing?
Narrow web printing is a method of printing that is gaining popularity in the industry.
Compared to wide web printing, narrow web printing allows you to print smaller quantities faster and more accurately.
Narrow web printing is cost-effective. It is much cheaper than traditional methods of printing, which can be an added benefit.
You can have your prints done in a matter of minutes, rather than hours.
Advantages of wide web Flexo printing
Wide web printing is ideal for a wide width of material. Ideal for large order volume.
Wide web printing is ideal because of the product’s low number of variables, high volume, and price sensitivity.
These are things you can keep in mind when choosing Narrow or wide web flexo printing method.
Read next about Drying methods of the printing inks in flexography
