Designing varnish blanket

The design of varnish blanket — the rubber that carries the varnishing substances and applies them onto the surface of packaging — takes place in a special layer that carries the data about which areas will be varnished. This layer also contains the information about the areas on which glue is applied.

This topic walks you through the steps for creating a varnish blanket. It starts from a layout, and then proceeds through the three stages of blanket creation: (1) creating the varnish and glue areas, (2) combining these two areas and (3) generating the blanket.

To create varnish blanket

1. Create a layout.

I. Creating the varnish and glue areas

2. In the 1up drawing, create a varnish and glue areas — use the Varnish color style and the Gluing style, respectively.

TIP: For consistent results, it is best to use the offset functionality.

3. In the tabular area, open the Layers tab.
4. Select all the objects that define the varnish and glue areas.
5. Right-click, point to Layers, and then click New Layer.

The New Layer dialog box appears.

6. In the dialog box, create a new varnish layer. EngView then moves the selected objects to this layer.

The new layer — it is called VSH — appears in the list of layers in the Layers section.

7. Go to the layout drawing. It now has varnish and glue areas for each 1up.

II. Combining the areas

Next will combine the individual varnish and glue areas — that is, it will merge the varnish areas by taking into account the glue areas.

8. Click Generate Varnish Area .

The Varnish Layout dialog box appears.

9. In the 1up column, select the name of the 1up. In the Varnish Layer column, ensure that the VSH layer is selected. (This is the layer that contains the data about the varnish area.)
10. When done, click OK.

A message box appears, informing you that the layout varnish area has been generated and that a layer has been created that contains the varnish area objects.

11. To accept the message, click OK.

The new layer (MVSH) appears in the table of the layout drawing. The layer contains the merged data about the varnish area. Notice that the glue areas are outside the varnish area.

III. Generating the varnish blanket

12. Click the generate Varnish Blanket .

The Blanket dialog box appears.

Preset	Displays the predefined set of settings for a blanket varnish job. To add a new preset, use the Add button and then type a preset name. To remove a preset, select it, and then click the Remove button .
Overall Size	Settings for the size of the varnish blanket
Width	The width of the varnish blanket.
Height	The height of the varnish blanket.
Grip	The distance between the blanket's grip bar and the bottom layout rule.
Bars	Settings for the distances relative to the overall size of the bars
Grip Bar	In the drawing, the lower edge of the blanket.
Back Edge Bar	In the drawing, the upper edge of the blanket.
Shorten Bars	The distance to be left between the ends of the bars and the blanket.
Center line	The height of the center line.
Scale	Settings for how the varnish blanket should be scaled to take into account the curvature of the cylinder and the thickness of the rubber.
Calculate By	Calculates the blanket according to the cylinder's diameter (Cylinder D) and the rubber (Rubber).
Scale factor	Sets the coefficient by which scaling is done along the y-axis.

See an example of how the dialog box's controls refer to the varnish blanket's actual dimensions.

14. Under Overall Size enter values for Width, Height and Grip.
15. Under Bars enter values for Grip Bar, Back Edge Bar, Shorten Bar and Center Line.
16. Under Scale, enter the scaling factor that you need.

NOTE: By using scaling factors you compensate for the physical changes that take place to the blanket's size when it has been applied onto the drum. Most often the scaling is done along the Y-dimension, because it is where the blanket is extended; the X-dimension does not change.

16. Click OK.

A new drawing appears that displays the created varnish area.

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