It happens—pressure builds, rolls clog, blades break, plates swell, substrates shed or absorb ink. These perils place the outcome and quality of a pressrun in jeopardy. Steps can be taken to minimize—if not outright avoid—such mishaps. Knowledge and skill are required to assess the situation and act accordingly. It takes a mere matter of seconds to save or ruin a job.
Basic knowledge of how inks, anilox rolls, doctor blades and other materials interact proves essential to keeping the press running. Here, with the assist of Siegwerk, we present a simple opportunity to test your knowledge of fundamentals. Answers, as well as observations on why that choice or choices is/are the correct one(s), appear on the next page.
1. What reduces excessive dot gain on the substrate when printing?
- a. Replacing the printing blade
- b. Changing the printing plate
- c. Reducing the pressure setting
- d. All of the above
2. What type of ink is most popular in the U.S. for surface printing on polyolefin substrates?
- a. Nitrocellulose with polyurethane
- b. Nitrocellulose with polyamide
- c. Polyurethane
- d. Vinyl
3. Why are flexo inks limited to less than 20 percent acetate solvent?
- a. Drying speed
- b. Photopolymer plates are damaged at higher levels
- c. Solubility of the resins used
- d. Odor
4. Ink adhesion is attributed to which ink component?
- a. Solvent
- b. Pigment
- c. Resin
- d. Wax additives
5. The chambered inking system has what two blades?
- a. Doctor blade and wiping blade
- b. Doctor blade and back-up blade
- c. Doctor blade and containment blade
6. The chambered inking system was designed for what use?
- a. Reducing ink usage
- b. Improving productivity
- c. Improving print quality
- d. All of the above
7. Ink performance can be attributed to which of the following criteria?
- a. Volume of the anilox
- b. Blade selection for necessary print reproduction
- c. Using a plastic containment blade as opposed to a steel containment blade
- d. All of the above
