Litho Printing Press Pumps

Peristaltic pumps perfect for printers: Watson Marlow pumps used in Herbert Walker and Son litho printing presses

An award winning commercial printer, Herbert Walker and Son is employing no less than six 700 Series peristaltic pumps from Watson-Marlow Bredel to deliver finishing coatings such as varnish and ‘flitter’ to various Heidelberg litho printing presses. As a result, the state-of-the-art West Yorkshire facility has witnessed a reduction in changeover time from 45 minutes to less than 60 seconds.

Litho Printing Presses

Shipley-based Herbert Walker and Son (Printers) Ltd rank among the top 10 privately owned printing companies in the north of England. Renowned for its service and high quality, the company continues to invest heavily in new technology (£4 million in the past two years alone), a fact that has been recognised in recent years by both Print Week and Printing World through the presentation of ‘Printer of the Year’ and ‘Best Printer of a Greeting Card’ awards respectively.

“Although we have three Heidelberg Speedmaster litho printing presses, we opted to replace the original Heidelberg supplied diaphragm pumps with 700 Series models from Watson-Marlow Bredel,” explains the company’s operations director Mark Vanston. “This is because the time taken to change from one type of coating to another and flush out all of the tanks would be around 45 minutes. Considering that we typically require a changeover every 8 hours, the decision to use peristaltic technology was easily justified.”

Downtime between print runs costs time and money. Watson-Marlow Bredel pumps maximise uptime for printers as changeovers can be conducted in less than one minute, without the need for tools or specialist labour.

The low shear peristaltic action of Watson-Marlow Bredel pumps is created by compressing a flexible tube between rotating rollers. In between each roller pass, the tube recovers to create a vacuum and draw in fluid. This means that the pump is self-priming and dry running and requires no seals or valves. The pumped fluid is totally contained within a tube, avoiding all cross-contamination issues.

Typical products produced by Herbert Walker include calendars, brochures, packaging, stationery, greeting cards, postcards and posters, to name but a few. Many of these require coatings, ranging from thick UV varnish through to much thinner water-based varnish.

Peristaltic Pumps

“Flitter is actually quite abrasive, but as we’re using peristaltic pumps from Watson-Marlow Bredel, the potential effects aren’t an issue,” says Mr Vanston. “The coating only comes into contact with the tube, which means there is no cross-contamination or wear to the pumps or the finished products.”

Herbert Walker is using five 700 series pumps on its Heidelberg printing presses at Shipley. The newest pump is fitted to a recently acquired Heidelberg 102 SPC litho model with twin coating unit. This configuration brings with it increased flexibility for customers requiring additional coating options, while still offering up to six colours or 5/1 printing in a single pass.

“As a company we’ve used Watson-Marlow Bredel technology for many years,” says Mr Vanston. “To be honest I’m not aware of any other suppliers of peristaltic pumps, and furthermore I wouldn’t even look because the reliability of our 700 Series models has been excellent, particularly considering our Heidelberg presses run 24 hours a day. We never get blockages and there is no maintenance to worry about.”

Established for over 90 years, Herbert Walker employs in excess of 100 people working triple and double day shifts throughout the company, enabling it to respond to today's demanding marketplace. Aside from the Heidelberg litho printing presses, the ISO9000-accredited company also offers UV, digital, Stochastic and hexachrome-based printing processes.