The newest generation of STOP cylinder screen printing machines is the SPS ASTRON QX range

Contrary to the conventional range of cylinder machines, the automatic 4-post SPS ASTRON QX series is fully servo driven. One main servo motor is directly connected to the cylinder drive shaft in combination with two electro-magnetic linear motors for the screen movement.

Unlocking the mechanical connection between cylinder and screen carrier opens new advantages. Now it is possible to manipulate the print length of the image “non-linear”. It can be stretched or shortened random over the image size. Also, in order to increase productivity, the flooding speed can be faster than the print speed. The SPS ASTRON QX comes with the shortest change over time in the industry. After entering a numeric sheet size, all size related machine settings will automatically move into the correct position, this even includes the sheet edge rollers. Thus, the screen set-up is fully automized / motorized. After sliding in a new screen from the machine operator side, it takes less than 1 minute to be set in registration!

Removing dust particles from the screen underside or using solvents to clean the screen can be done outside of the machine chassis! The retractable screen holder slides the screen out and back in without losing registration. This way the operator can do the job standing comfortably next to the machine while working on the screen. It is unique with the SPS ASTRON QX that the operator can remain in an ergonomically/physically comfortable position while working on the screen!

The SPS ASTRON QX series comes with a unique CCD camera image registration system. 2 cameras are connected to the sheet side-lay registration marks. For each individual sheet the screen will be registered to achieve a perfect fit with the former printed image. The achieved accuracy is ≤ 30 µm. This industrial machine is especially suitable for high-end screen applications like printed flexible electronics, bank-credit cards, textile transfers, bio medic strips, FIM, other functional printing, etc..

For these technical applications the SPS ASTRON QX is combined with the single sheet front-pick-up feeder SPS FP. This feeder is perfect to handle high static loaded materials and transport scratch free from pile to print position. The sheet separation is smooth and very reliable with additional anti-static air blow between sheets.