In the Groove

Marino points out nickel sleeves' shipping expediency: they travel easily via FedEx. The one sleeve caveat he highlights is finding the correct mandrel fit within gravure's "infinite" size range.

W. R. Chesnut will soon release a nickel sleeve with a thin plastic coating for electronic engraving without chemicals or plating. Sleeves require minor adjustments on-press, such as new doctor blade materials, and need a base specially prepared for sleeves, both of which represent one-time costs, says President Dick Chesnut. Sleeves' biggest advantage is the elimination of repeated base purchases, he emphasizes.