2015年2月6日星期五

Co2 laser in the carton packaging industry


We all know that the co2 laser has been widely used for cutting/ engraving acrylic, cloth, leather, wood and other non-metal materials. Due to high efficiency and high precision of process, co2 laser is very popular in today's advertising industry as well as clothing, footwear and other industries. In fact, co2 laser also contributes a lot to the packaging industry, and the packaging industry is one of the earliest industries adopt co2 laser into production.
1. Corrugated case printing plate
The most common packaging is corrugated case in the printing and packaging industry. Corrugated boxes can be divided into two categories, one is the sales package, and the other is the transport package. Sales package is generally for inner-packing, used in the sales process to meet with consumers, such as color box, white box, gift boxes. Transport packages are outer-packing, and its main role is to facilitate the storage and transportation, such as cardboard boxes, corrugated boxes and so on.
Laser engraving machine achieves carving by doting on material surface, has a born advantage in grayscale performance. So in the carving design, gray level appearance form is very popular to reduce the coloring process to cut costs; on the one hand, it enriches the carving performance, increases graphical levels. Meanwhile, the cost of printing plate for engraving on paper packaging materials made by co2 laser is very low, only a quarter of resin version, so co2 laser engraving plate is commonly used as corrugated packaging printing mode in packing industry nowadays.


2. Die-cutting board making
Die-cutting is cutting process crates, boxes before molding, with the cutting knife combined to die - according to product design requirements, under pressure, and will print or other plate-blank roll and cut into desired shapes or cuts in the molding process. With the rapid development of world economy, the increased demand packing boxes, plate-making process improvement, higher quality requirements, the product of small batches of multi-volume, problems about shorten delivery time and cost increases and other issues show up, the traditional manually cutter template box making process can’t meet these market needs and solve coming problems. Because of high efficiency, high accuracy, low cost, flexible production and operability, laser processing rapidly rises up and being widely used in the packaging industry. Co2 laser die-cutting machine ablates die-board in high depth with its high heat to get cutter point. This makes die-cutting board has slotted collimation, consistent slit width. Co2 laser die-cutting process is fully automated operation, has fast delivery, high efficiency, low cost, it is the best alternative to manual work production of precision cutting board.


In addition, co2 laser processing also affects and enriches the diversity and practicality on other aspects in packing industry. Co2 laser used to mark products, logos, bar codes, or other markings printed on the product packaging, which enhances the richness of information on package, to better highlight the brand. Other important applications include the plastic packaging punch to extend the shelf life of food perishable; or in the paper packaging, cardboard, or plastic wrap advance left tear, these applications are extremely convenient for consumers as well as bring more invisible benefits for suppliers. We believe that with the rapid changes in technology, co2 laser will surprise us more with its applications in packing business.


How to tell good co2 laser tube?



There are so many co2 laser tubes available in the market and everybody is saying that our co2 laser tube is the best quality. I am sure you are tired of this and sometimes don’t know what to do. Should I buy the cheapest one? Anyway, it is not expensive, it’s not a big deal even the quality is bad. How about the most expensive one? I don’t want to waste my money and time, just need the right thing. Or maybe I should choose the middle-price rated one? It seems more price-competitive. I am sure you went through one of those situations, maybe more than this? SPT laser is here to guide you how to tell good laser tube by some simple means. And also this is how SPT laser picks good laser tubes when sending your laser tube orders.

First you have to install your laser tube well, connect it to the water chiller (chiller pump), and get it wire connected. Then do the following steps.
1.       Get laser spot. Set the current at 10mA, do the test as following steps at 0.5~2m away from the laser tube negative end:
Fire a spot on the card board, and check the shape of the spot.
A: The spot is a very good solid round, the laser tube is good.
B: The spot is an oval, please check if the laser tube is put on the tube support at the best laser tube support point.
C: The spot is a circle, please check if the tube supports is at the best laser tube support point, and the testing distance is between 0.5 and 2.0m. If the support point and test distance both are right, the laser tube is bad.



Good laser spot                                                         Bad laser spot

Fire a spot on thermal paper,
A: The inner and outline of the spot is parallel regular circle, the laser tube is good.
B: The inner and outline of the spot is irregular, the laser tube is bad.


                  



Good laser spot

 
     Bad laser spot A                                                           Bad laser spot B
   
Laser spot mode test: Put a 40mm thick acrylic at the point where is 1.2m~1.5m away from  the laser tube negative end.
Adjust the current to 20mA~25mA, push the laser button, let the laser fire on the acrylic for seconds. You will get a conic hole on the acrylic. If the conic is very round and regular, the laser tube is good.
Fire a spot on acrylic:
A, The laser spot is a solid circle, the laser tube is good.
B, The laser spot is an irregular round, and the tube supports are at right support point, test distance is also correct, the laser tube is bad.
                

           Good laser spot                                                      Bad laser spot
 
2.       Laser power test: Under rated current, if the laser tube peak power is more than its rated power by 10W, the laser tube is good. Those are the laser tube model and basic parameters of SPT laser tube for your reference:

Item
Product
Series
Model
Current
( mA)
Rated Power
(Watt)
Peak Power
( Watt)
Length
(mm)
Pipe diameter
(mm)
Catalytic
  (Y/N)
A001
Co2 laser tube
G series
G40
15
40
50
700
50
N
A002
Co2 laser tube
G50
15
50
60
1000
50
N
A003
Co2 laser tube
G60
20
60
70
1200
50
N
A004
Co2 laser tube
G70
20
60
70
1250
55
N
A005
Co2 laser tube
G80
20
80
100
1600
60
N
A006
Co2 laser tube
C series
C40
15
40
50
800
80
Y
A007
Co2 laser tube
C50
15
50
70
1000
50
Y
A008
Co2 laser tube
C60
20
60
80
1200
50
Y
A009
Co2 laser tube
C70
20
60
80
1250
55
Y
A010
Co2 laser tube
C80
25
100
120
1600
60
Y
A011
Co2 laser tube
C90
25
90
100
1250
80
Y
A012
Co2 laser tube
C100
25
100
130
1450
80
Y
A013
Co2 laser tube
C130
25
130
150
1650
80
Y
A014
Co2 laser tube
C150
30
150
180
1850
80
Y
A015
Co2 laser tube
S series
S90
25
90
100
1250
80
Y
A016
Co2 laser tube
S100
25
100
130
1450
80
Y
A017
Co2 laser tube
S130
25
130
150
1650
80
Y
A018
Co2 laser tube
S150
30
150
180
1850
80
Y