HarperScientific

Anilox rolls are at the heart of the flexographic printing process, so it only makes good business sense to try to extend the life of these critical components to protect your investments. Proper care is essential. While the flexographic process essentially is the same on every press, unique characteristics of each print job, each print shop, and each press make anilox roll care methods different for every print shop. Each anilox roll supplier has its own recommendations for ­caring for and ultimately extending the lives of its anilox rolls, and you should always start with your supplier. But as package printers run their jobs,

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—HarperScientific, the printing and coating supplies division of global anilox supplier Harper Corporation of America, developed UV Re-Leez, a product formulated especially for removing UV ink from narrow web presses, anilox rolls and all equipment, with on-press use in mind. “But we were thrilled to get reports from customers that they found great success using UV Re-Leez as a solvent ink cleaner for anilox and gravure cylinders in ultrasonic tanks,” said Jim Doedderlein, technical sales specialist for HarperScientific. “We’ve had reports that customers are cleaning press sleeves in ultrasonic tanks and cleaning the between-station dryer assemblies the same way. In a case where

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—HarperScientific, the printing and coating supplies division of global anilox supplier Harper Corporation of America, announced the results of a qualification test conducted on the new PEC (Performance Enhancing Coating) for plate cylinders, available through HarperScientific. PEC is an innovative patent-pending plate cylinder coating for narrow-web presses that absorbs and displaces energy. The unique PEC material can be applied to existing plate cylinders or supplied on new cylinders and is guaranteed to improve print quality by reducing or removing gear marks or banding, and improving tonal range. “The print trial demonstrated dramatic results,” according to Tony Donato, technical sales solutions manager at HarperScientific. “We confirmed

Converters will be singing once they've mastered keeping their anilox rolls clean with these supplier cleaning tips! By Joy English Assistant Editor IT'S BATH TIME! And a mother's famous words, "Don't forget to scrub behind your ears," are ringing loud and clear. Bath time, to a child anyway, is never much fun. But, it is necessary—and for anilox rolls, it is essential. For anilox rolls, scrubbing the hard-to-reach areas is key to removing dried ink. And just using water will not get the job done. A cleaning system must be used. Several suppliers have given packagePRINTING their top anilox roll cleaning tips, while several

AAA PRESS INT'L Praxair™ laser-engraved ceramic anilox rolls; tint sleeve kits. Write 604, Visit www.aaapress.com, ABSOLUTELY MICRO*CLEAN Micro*Clean use a unique plastic media to deep-clean anilox rolls. The well-proven method is used off-press in an enclosed blast cabinet. The media is cleaned and recycled for reduced costs/elimination of hazardous waste. Write 605, Visit www.microcleanintl.com ADVANCED CYLINDER REPAIR Recognized leader in "In Press" cylinder repair services. We serve the offset, web, and flexo industries with the most up-to-date repair technology available. Write 606 American Die Technology Anvil rolls and printing cylinders for narrow-web flexo equipment with web widths to 30˝. Write 607, Visit

A review of the top issues concerning doctor blades. THE ARTISTRY OF doctoring the doctor blade is giving way to science. Tom Allison, president of Allison Systems (Riverside, N.J.), remembers when he used to ask his dad what the press operators were doing as he watched them prepare the doctor blade for printing. After hushing his son, Allison's father would say, "Pressmen are frustrated artists; each one has his own 'pallet' of special things he feels that he alone can do to make 'great art' come off the press." Where once true—when the performance of the doctor blade depended solely upon the operator's set-up—now

WITH WINTER WEATHER firmly in place, warmth is something that is on everyone's mind. Here's something that is sure to add some heat to 2004. packagePrinting has put together a collection of the hot products of 2004. In categories including prepress, presses, press accessories, substrates, and inks/adhesives, converters can get a glimpse of the latest package-printing products. Prepress Creo Creo's HyperFlex™ screening is new technology aiding in the formation of smaller dots on a photopolymer flexo plate. It provides a thicker foundation of photopolymer material that allows a smaller minimum dot size to be formed and held throughout the print process. DuPont