Description Causes Remedies Description Slur is characterised by the smearing of the printed image: the dots are distorted in printing direction, typically elongated, and exhibit an oval shape. This condition is caused by slippage at the point of contact and impression between the plate and the substrate and/or even the plate and the anilox roll. […]
Slur: the sneaky enemy of print quality Read More »
It is important to know in depth the technical characteristics of the printing press, and especially the configuration of the cylinders. Their diameters, combined with the gauge and the resilience of the plate, of the mounting tape and of the substrate, will determine whether the print will happen in the right position, without slurring, having
Where does print happen? Read More »
Description Causes Remedies Description With the term “ghosting” we describe the presence of a faint image of a design that shows in areas where it was not intended to appear. Usually it is a repeated pattern on print along machine direction. Causes The main cause is attributable to the failure of replenishing, with fresh ink, the
I recently came across an interesting video that was published by one anilox rolls manufacturer that, in the attempt of promoting their technology, depicts dot dipping as an industry myth and illustrates flexo users, who believe that this problem exists, as troglodytes… “The industry myth that dot dipping is occurring within the anilox cells is impossible. Physics
Do you really think that dot dipping doesn’t exist? Read More »
Can you recognise the cause of dirty printing in highlights?It is important to understand wether the issue is related to dot dipping, thus plate-to-anilox ratio, wrong metering of the anilox surface or other causes.What is visible on the printed product is a generally a dirty aspect that forces to repeated stops for plate cleaning and
Dirty highlights: dot dipping or ink spitting? Read More »
Ink transfer efficiency, ink coverage, color density, color matching and overall print quality strongly depend on properly maintained and clean anilox rolls.Check your anilox rolls thoroughly with proper high magnification viewing tools to ensure that your cleaning operations were effective.
Can you see how dirty is your anilox roll? Read More »
Description Causes Remedies Description Dots in midtones screened areas, that normally should appear separated on printing, bridge together causing a dirty aspect on printed product. Causes Main addressable cause is anilox volume too high for the selected plate linescreen, or, viceversa, plate linescreen too high for the available anilox volume. The ink, collected by the printing
Plate is damaged with little cracks when using water based inks. Such fissures are evident both on plate surface and on printed product.This particular issue happened in a plant printing corrugated post-print with water based inks. The water based inks are characterised by the presence of amines in the formulation and have a rather high pH
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Do you know how to quickly convert your anilox rolls screen-count (cell count) and volume values between metric and imperial unit measurements? You can use these formulas: For volume: Volume in cm³/m² = Volume in BCM/in² x 1,55 (*)Volume in BCM/in² = Volume in cm³/m² ÷ 1,55 (*) 1,54899999999999 rounded to 1,55 For screen-count: Screen-count in c/cm = Screen-count in cpi ÷ 2,54Screen-count in cpi = Screen-count in c/cm x 2,54
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Dot dipping describes the condition whereby the smallest dots on a flexo plate dip into the cells of the anilox roll when forced by the impression between anilox and plate. Some dots of the plate, dipping in the cells, will carry more ink than what was expected, resulting in dirty printing in highlights, typically seen
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