What Are Your Most Frequent Ink/Anilox/Doctor Blade Problems?
Challenges Outlined
Based on data collected, ink spitting leads the list of common problems encountered that printers attribute to the ink/anilox roll/doctor blade interface. Seventy percent of those sampled deal with it regularly. Sixty-eight percent cited anilox scoring as a frequent nuisance, 46 percent listed excessive blade wear, 46 percent pointed to chamber starvation, 32 percent specified ink foaming and 18 percent dealt with ink misting.
Leading the list of less frequent, yet occasional struggles, was ink strength/color density, with 65 percent of the audience admitting to sometimes having difficulties in that area. Similarly, 48 percent found effectiveness of ink drying and curing speeds sometimes troubling. On occasion, incorrect color plagued 39 percent of those surveyed, color shift during the run impacted 33 percent and ink adhesion jammed up 24 percent.
Spitting, Foaming, Misting
Presented with ink spitting, 32 percent of printers indicated their first move was to change to a different blade, while 31 percent elected to doctor the ink. Nineteen percent opted to run the job on a different press and 18 percent preferred to keep going and hope the issue resolved itself.
Similar approaches were shared for dealing with ink foaming. Specifically, 29 percent selected the obvious choice, “add defoamer,” but a very close 28 percent went for adjusting the ink pump setting. A nearly identical 27 percent reached for a communications device and contacted their ink supplier. The remaining 16 percent slowed down the press as the initial response.
What Type of Plate Material Do You Use?
When it came to ink misting, printers cited contacting the ink vendor as top preference, with 32 percent of respondents listing it first. Then came slowing down the press at 27 percent or changing to a different ink at 23 percent. The remaining 18 percent indicated they were most likely to keep going and monitor the situation as it developed. Again, the preference here was that time would rectify things.