Beyond Darth Vader

"To summarize," Jones concluded, "YAG cells tend to hang onto more ink than CO2 cells, and this difference is only exacerbated by the kind of ink being used."

Laser-engraving of anilox rolls has developed over time to offer package printers several options for producing anilox rolls. And new technologies are just around the corner. Burrow commented, "The next generation of YAG lasers promises improved engraving parameters throughout the entire spectrum of engravings, i.e. from low line counts up to very high line counts on one system." Multi-hit functions, where the cells are pulsed many times resulting in deeper engravings, higher line counts and higher volumes are also available in CO2 and YAG laser control systems. With improvements and the general benefits of the tried-and-true CO2 and YAG lasers, package printers are able to achieve the line counts, smooth surface, and recast they desire on their anilox rolls.