At the recent 2008 Gravure Association of America convention, Daetwyler’s GRAVOSTAR 857 engraver was presented with the Golden Cylinder award for Supplier Innovation. This highly respected industry award is given to products that show technical innovation, help penetrate new markets, meet customer needs, and/or help grow the gravure market and process
The GRAVOSTAR 857 is an electro-mechanical engraver that offers customers a low-cost solution to upgrade existing equipment and add new capabilities. It combines the mechanical components of the 700 series engraver with the advanced electronics of the current GRAVOSTAR D machine. This unique concept, designed and built by the MDC sister company Daetwyler R&D Corporation, produces an excellent upgrade path for customers using older 700 units who see service issues due to machine age and part obsolescence.The touch-screen operated GS857 offers powerful engraving that includes cell depths of up to 90 µm and optional ultra-fine TranScribe cell engraving. Also available is a High Output engraving head capable of cell depths of up to130 µm.A special feature of the GS857 also is that it is a ‘green’ machine, as it is re-using the mechanics of the 700 series engraver. The entire 700 unit is disassembled and all parts are cleaned and inspected. Parts within tolerance are then re-used in the GS857 engraver. Because of the robust nature of the 700 engraver, a majority of mechanical parts are able to be re-used. Those parts out of spec are recycled, as are many of the obsolete electronic components of the 700.
Daetwyler introduces high-speed copper plating additive
MDC Max Daetwyler AG introduces the new high-speed copper additive Cupro Hard HS, which sharply improves copper plating performance while increasing the copper quality at the same time.The new product extends the working range of existing and new copper baths up to 40 to 50 A/dm2 depending on the performance of the existing rectifier and current transfer elements. This results in a considerably higher productivity in copper plating. When run at the highest current density copper deposition is more than 5 µm/min. However, even when operated at current densities lower than the maximum, benefits include a finer crystalline structure and less build up on the cylinder radii. The new revolutionary copper additive MDC Cupro Hard HS offers a better cost/performance ratio than any other product in the market. After extensive tests over the passed months, more than a dozen copper bath conversion have been made, all running in successful commercial production.
