Reliable marking for pipes, profiles and wire ropes

Mühltal, March 8, 2024 - Permanent and captive marking makes tubes and profiles unique, identifiable and traceable and wire ropes safe. At Tube 2024, REA Elektronik will be showcasing its low-consumption, low-maintenance solutions and systems for contact-free industrial coding, coding and marking - which should also be of interest to visitors to Wire 2024.

Whether made of red-hot metal, freshly extruded plastic or cast concrete - tubes and profiles as well as products made of wire need a wide variety of markings: Machine-readable codes, which can also be serialized, guide products safely through internal logistics and make them traceable for a lifetime - seals of approval, quality marks and manufacturer logos create reliability and trust. REA JET, the product line from full-range supplier REA Elektronik, offers all of this with its systems for contact-free, industrial coding, coding and marking and the special inks that are highly regarded in the industry.

At Tube 2024, the experts from REA JET will provide an insight into the versatile range of their products for marking and labeling tubes and profiles as well as steel springs and wire ropes - which means that the applications will also be of interest to visitors to the Wire 2024 trade show running in parallel. The REA trade show highlights at a glance.

Etching inks for permanent and high resolution marking

The REA JET High Resolution Inkjet Printer applies high-resolution alphanumeric texts and logos as well as variable information such as date, time, counters, shift codes and database content to absorbent and non-absorbent surfaces. Depending on the size of the motif, up to four print heads can be combined to produce markings up to 50.8 millimetres high. And they are also maintenance-free thanks to cartridge technology.

The use of etching ink on metallic surfaces is recommended as a risk-free alternative to laser marking. The REA JET HR 2.0 applies high-resolution motifs and serialized information to the metal using a chemical process triggered by the ink so that they remain permanently attached to it. Visitors to the trade fair can see the effect of the application live on site and see how metal workpieces are permanently marked using this innovative technology.

Spray mark technolgie for high resolution marking of the inside of tubes

With a versatile range of colors and paints, the spray mark technolgie REA JET ST applies precise markings to metallic surfaces - whether dots to mark defects, lines to indicate weld seams or colored ring markings to differentiate between pipe types. Safety is provided by colored lines that make it visible when wire ropes are twisted. Dots of different colors on steel springs indicate their damping strength.

With a block of several heads, the spray mark technolgie can print texts up to 700 mm high - dot by dot. And nothing is too hot for it: its special inks adhere securely to hot surfaces of up to 1,000 degrees.

REA JET offers a special application of spray mark technology in combination with the REA LASER CL CO2 Laser for the high-resolution internal marking of pipes. In the first step, the marking gun creates a white mirror from laser-sensitive paint. In the second step, the REA JET CL lasers high-resolution information into the white colored field. Texts and graphics of all kinds, including dynamic text fields, can be created.

Large character pipe marking inside and outside with the REA JET DOD 2.0

The REA JET DOD 2.0 large character inkjet printer marks smooth, absorbent, oily and even scaled pipe surfaces with alphanumeric characters, logos and 2D matrix codes. Its fast-drying and pigmented special inks produce clearly readable and durable markings at speeds of up to 600 meters per minute. In real time, it turns the data received from the production control computer into serialized plain text and 2D Codes, making every marking unique and every pipe unique. Even in the harshest environments, the fastest and most durable Inkjet Printer in its class reliably prints large character markings on the outside of the pipe. It prints data and logos in sizes from 5 to 140 mm with a single print head - several print heads can be combined for print layouts of larger dimensions.

From an inner diameter of 200 mm, the REA JET DOD 2.0 also prints on the inside of the tube. This is possible both with a moving print head, mounted on a robot arm, and in a rotating tube.

One operating software for all: the REA JET TITAN Platform

REA Coding and Marking Systems from REA JET adapt to the individual needs of customers and can be flexibly integrated into production using state-of-the-art interfaces. As diverse as their applications are: All REA JET Systems can be operated with the REA JET TITAN Platform software. This makes them even easier to integrate into existing systems, saves time and money thanks to reduced training requirements, simplified personnel deployment and fewer errors. When it comes to control, users have a choice: on the one hand, there is the REA JET Universal Controller with knobs and buttons to turn and press, and on the other, the Universal Touch Controller with a modern, tile-based interface on a display that is operated by touch like a smartphone - even when wearing gloves.

For the first time on the tube: Solutions for printing lubricants

The REA JET Systems are not only used for digital marking in metal forming, but also for the application of liquids. To this end, the cooperation partners REA Elektronik and LBI oil free(www.lbi-oilfree.de) have successfully implemented the printing of oil-free lubricants with the REA JET HR Lube and REA JET DOD Lube systems.

For the REA JET HR Lube version, the oil-free lubricants from LBI oil free are filled into cartridges - for their digital dosing in the preparation of metals for stamping and forming applications. With thermal inkjet technolgie, high-precision lubricant images can be applied individually and with great contour sharpness - mist-free and aerosol-free. This increases production and operational reliability, as the lubricant is only applied where it is needed. The REA JET Large Character Inkjet Printer is also available for lubricant applications. With different application widths and at printing speeds of up to 600 meters/minute, it also applies oil-free LBI lubricants without mist or aerosol.

Visit REA JET at Tube 2024, the world's leading trade fair for the tube and tube processing industry, from April 15 to 19, 2024 in Duesseldorf: Hall 6, Stand 6C19