Vision Engrave Heads

Robust, Reliable and Consistent

OHIO builds engrave heads with the most advanced technology for flexibility, capability and productivity. The Vision 3 head includes Electronic Feedback Control for improved reliability and performance; spherical shoe diamond and cartridge stylus, shoe, and burr cutter for easy replacement; motorized shoe and burr cutter; and hysteresis correction to ensure optimum engraving results.

Note that the standard Prism engraver uses a Vision 3 head with manual shoe and burr cutter; the Prism Prime engraver uses the same motorized shoe and burr cutter as the Spectrum.

The Vision 3 high-speed, multi-frequency engrave head handles any screen size. It is standard equipment on the Spectrum and the Prism engravers, and was used on earlier engravers such as the HS engraver.

• Screen Range: 31.5 l/cm to 200 l/cm
• Screen angles from 30° to 60°
• Range of stylus angles: 90°, 100° to 145° in 5° increments

Changing and measuring the stylus is simple on OHIO engravers. No need to remove the engrave head, or have extra equipment. All diamonds are cartridge style for fast changes. With Spectrum and Prism Prime, electronic profiling stylus angle and condition is integrated with the engraver at no added cost.

Cells engraved by Vision 3 standard tunes are well formed in all screens and angles.

  

The Vision 3 engrave head comes with three standard tunes but may be upgraded with premium tunes. A premium tune replaces a standard tune. For example, a popular tune set is 8.1/1.7/Hybrid.

Standard Tunes	Premium tunes
8,600 Hz for cell depths up to 35 µm	Hybrid Engraving System
8,100 Hz for cell depths up to 60 µm	Impact Engraving – 1,700 Hz for cell depths up to 90 µm
3,200 Hz for cell depths up to 70 µm	tranScribe — 4,500 Hz for cell depths up to 60 µm

 

With the Hell Match or DTG Match option, the Vision 3 engrave head can engrave cylinders to match Hell-engraved cylinders without moiré.

OHIO offers two cell setup options on our engravers:

• Vista is optimized for automation
• QuickCell is optimized for speed with operator verification

90 micron Impact Engraving

A benefit of gravure printing is increased ink volume. In applications where paper board, corrugated, or other absorbent substrates are used, the available Impact Engraving tune provides the volume for excellent ink coverage and color, and is perfect for coating applications and adhesives printing. This tune replaces one of the standard three tune on the Vision 3 engrave head.

Hybrid Impact Engraving

If you purchase both the Impact and Hybrid Engraving System premium tunes, Hybrid Impact is automatically included. This means you have superior Hybrid edging on cells to a depth of 90µm. (Effective 1 November 2019)

High Output 130 micron Engrave Head

OHIO offers the High Output head for deep cell volumes. This head is used when increase cell volume is required. It can engrave depths up to 130 µm, allowing screens up to 24 l/cm (with 120° stylus).

The unique High Output head is a mutli-frequency head for increased productivity:

• 130 µm of depth at 2.0 kHz in a single pass
• 4.5 kHz to 65 µm of depth
• Hybrid function at 2.0 kHz

Separate optics may be required.

The High Output head can be exchanged with the Vision 3 head, providing more versatility. The Rapid Change System to switch from the Vision 3 to the HO head only requires the Head and the Kaman components to be swapped during the exchange.

130 Hybrid Engrave Head

If you need deeper cells with Hybrid, we offer 130 Hybrid with our High Output 130 micron head.

Hybrid for packaging brings sharp edges and clean type. But Hybrid is not limited to packaging screens and cells depths. Deep Hybrid offers the same clean/sharp edges for applications requiring greater volumes and coarse screens. Deep Hybrid engraves cells up to 130µm in depth with the same abilities as standary Hybrid. Cells are shaped and moved to create superior edge sharpness while producing smooth tones throughout the density range. Imagine cutting a 35 l/cm screen with a 120° stylus and achieving both high cell volume and sharp edges!

The working range for the Deep Hybrid is 20 to 40 l/cm, depending on the stylus angle. We encourage using 120° to 140° stylus. Stylus lower than 120° are better suited to fine engraving screens and depths of 70µm or less.

Deep Hybrid is offered as an optional stand-alone engrave head for Spectrum engravers. It is not a tune that can be added to a VISION 3 engrave head.

300 Micron Engrave Head

We offer the 300 Micron engrave head. This unique head was developed for very specialized gravure applications, providing extreme cell depths for very large ink volume. This head requires a special diamond tool to cut cells 300 µm deep at a speed of 800 cells per second (0.72 m²/hr at 20 l/cm). The stylus includes reinforcement of the stylus and a greater tip-to-shank distance (more diamond). These improvements protect the stylus and allow the extreme depths this head can achieve.

The 300 Micron head includes the following:

• Head mounting system for quick exchange between the Vision 3 and the 300 Micron Head
• 130 µm of depth at 800 Hz in a single pass
• Hybrid function

Higher force styli and a higher force vacuum system are used. Separate optics are required.

Magnified photograph of cells engraved by a Mega 1 head:

An illustration of the difference between standard engraved cells and Mega cells:

Head Refurbishment and Repair

OHIO's engrave heads provide many years of trouble-free work, but over the course of time and use the performance of this hard-working head can degrade. If the working environment contains dirty air, this can significantly impact the head's performance.

The OHIO engrave head can give long years of service before needing any work done. Recently, a head that had been in production for 19 years was sent to OHIO for its first refurbishment.

Our years of experience in building and repairing engrave heads allow us to provide standard price quotes, based on the type and age of the head. The head is rebuilt with new parts as needed, then is tested, tuned and painted. Our experts in the Head Department can refurbish or repair an engrave to a "like-new" condition, with a warranty identical to that of a brand-new engrave head.

Engrave Head Refurbishment Program

Please contact your local sales/service agent to request an RMA (Return Material Authorization) and shipping instructions. If you do not have a spare engrave head, please ask your local agent about the possibility of a loaner engrave head.

Notice to Diamond Manufacturers

If you would like to manufacture diamonds for use with OHIO engrave heads, please contact us directly so we can provide you with accurate drawings.

How Big is a Micron?

OHIO engrave heads are accurate to less than a micron. How big is a micron?