Doctoring Blade Selection

According to Anthony Foley, vice president of sales and marketing for Tri-X Inc., steel doctor blades continue to be the blade of choice by flexo printers seeking the cleanest and most consistent wipe throughout the entire print run.

Marty Cansler, national sales manager, pressroom products at Max Daetwyler Corp., states that the company works with gravure printers that struggle with things like hazing, streaking, and dragouts, and flexo printers that struggle with anilox scoring, blade chatter, and limited blade life. “These issues bring us special challenges to develop a new doctor blade,” he says. “In many cases, this is done through special designs of tip configurations. While this has proved to effectively address many issues, conventional doctor blade steel often reaches its limits. By developing high-wear-resistant doctor blade coatings, we have been able to achieve results that have never been achieved before.”