The Problem Even when it seems you are doing everything you normally do during the platemaking process, sometimes defects surface in the UPC area. In order to avoid rejection by the customer or even fines that may be incurred at the retail location, it is critical that UPC's are reproduced at the highest level of … Read More...
Techtips
The Ghosting Problem Ghosting is usually considered the presence of a faint image of a design in solid printing areas that is not intended to receive that portion of the image. This print defect is always in the machine direction and usually is a repeated pattern. Ghosting was inherited mostly from the advent of the … Read More...
Submitted by Bill Poulson, Harper Graphic Solutions' Northeast Technical Graphics Advisor. Managing your anilox rolls is a preventive way of getting control of your graphic quality as well as press efficiency. Downtime is the enemy, and every attempt made to minimize downtime is a worthwhile effort. Whether you are a wide web or a narrow … Read More...
Overview Many of today's award winning photopolymer platemakers and printers continue to embrace solvent washout technology for both conventional and digital photopolymer plates. Primary reasons include superior print results and print consistency resulting from gauge uniformity, equalized plate surface energy, more repeatable dot generation, and the ability to select from more photopolymer plate materials. Several … Read More...
How to Make Precise Flexo Plate End Butt-Joints for Continuous Images Submitted By Frank Burgos, Flexoexchange.com Once in a while a customer requests a print job consisting of at least one continuous image or background color that cannot be printed via simple flood-coating with a tint roller. Gift wrapping paper, as one example, often has … Read More...
Scoring or "shiny-lines" are a sometimes-controversial subject on what causes them. What is not controversial is that they can ruin expensive anilox rolls and cause waste in print jobs. As in most problematic situations, it is never one thing that causes or can eliminate the problem. When diagnosing the problem, it is also important to … Read More...
Basic Procedures for Ensuring Photopolymer Plate Quality Verifying quality of a new photopolymer plate is obviously an essential step of any successful printed conversion process. Advancements in plate reading devices now allow a QC check of a photopolymer plate to include mapping software of topology, plate shoulder width and angle to determine proper exposure and … Read More...
The Problem of Ink Micro-Foaming Although improvements in inks have reduced many ink foaming issues, continued increases in press speeds have worked against the elimination of this as a consideration press-side, especially with many process and metallic inks. Analysis as to the cause of this microfoam formation suggests that the air bubbles become entrapped as … Read More...
One of the main causes of plate defects in the exposure process is pinholes. These pinholes appear in conventional platemaking when dust particles are trapped between the film negative and plate. The static charge apparent in the film negative attracts dust particles to both the film negative and the photopolymer material. Read More...
We are often asked for the formulas to determine plate distortions. Below are these formulas. The plate cylinder repeat must be known for both distortion formulas. If the K-Factor is known than you can determine both the distorted repeat and the distortion percentage. The distorted repeat is simply the plate cylinder repeat minus the K-Factor. … Read More...