All posts by Tim Reece

New UV Lamps but Low Output? By Tim Reece We all understand that conventional ultraviolet lamps diminish energy over time. Therefore, we use UV light meters to continually monitor the performance of these lamps so that we may adjust main and back exposure times. Certainly, some could argue that they don't need a UV light … Read More...
Why should I expect plate quality to improve by bringing in platemaking in-house versus what I experience with professionals that focus solely on platemaking and prepress? An incentive to bring platemaking in-house is often cost savings and fear of a press going down if a plate is damaged, missing, or worn out. In short, what … Read More...
Easy to Check - Often Missed Print repeats play an important roll in the performance of the finished product. You may have a beautifully executed award-winning package, however if your repeats are out of specification tolerances you may have to throw the product away. Worse yet, the product could make its way to the packaging … Read More...
Hardness, Density, or Compression? If you see someone measuring a foam mounting tape with a durometer gauge or have done so yourself in order to measure hardness, density, compressibility…hit PAUSE. With all due respect to tape supplier(s), the durometer (measurement of hardness) is not a correct method of measurement or term that should be used when … Read More...
The Resins Remain Behind We have hand cleaned anilox rolls using stainless steel brushes and primarily caustic chemicals, ultrasonic, and media blasting [which can limits some line counts on anilox rolls based on the particulate size of the media]. Most recently we have seen high-­pressure solution wash systems that use detergents, chemicals, and water. The … Read More...
More than just dot %... or is it dot area? So often when we are speaking of dot quality and measurement we default to dot %. But is there more we can measure to understand what aspects of the printed dot are affecting dot size, quality, and even longevity? Even if we focus only on … Read More...
A Bent Journal Translates to Poor Registration The above statement is what many of us simplify that TIR has an adverse effect on print registration. However, many of today's flexographic printing presses don't even use print cylinders with journals. TIR can be the root cause of different print defects based on where that compromised surface … Read More...