Tag: Innovation

  • UV Ink Spitting is a Dirty Habit

    As competition for shelf space heats up, brand owners are looking to create more compelling-looking products. That means prettier graphics, more vivid colors and unique packaging. Today’s narrow web printers, also facing intense competition, are turning to UV inks and specialty coating formulas to produce higher print quality, speed up turnaround times, increase throughput and reduce downtime. Unfortunately, using a steel doctor blade to meter these chemistries often result in the UV ink spitting onto your print job, causing a speckled appearance. Where steel falls short, the TruPoint Orange® next generation doctor blade may be the solution in these applications.

    Eliminate UV Ink Spitting with TruPoint Orange

    The surface energy and flexibility of a steel blade can impede a smooth transfer of ink to the plate. The dyne level of a steel blade is higher than that of TruPoint Orange, causing the ink to have a greater tendency to adhere to the blade. With Orange, the characteristics of the material give the blade a significantly lower dyne level than steel, decreasing the attraction between the doctor blade and ink and facilitating a more fluid movement of ink to the plate.

    ink spitting steel doctor blades vs plastic doctor bladesAlso, UV ink has a normal viscosity of 5-7 times that of water and solvent-based inks, and its thixotropic properties (ability to thin out when agitated) make it transfer differently on press. This thicker consistency applies excessive pressure to a steel metering blade, often causing the ink to sling off, or “spit,” especially at high press speeds. The TruPoint Orange doctor blade prevents UV ink spitting. The blade’s tip provides enough stiffness to maintain a strong contact area with the anilox roll and prevent ink from sliding under the blade.

    Specialty Inks and Coatings Are Abrasive

    Specialty coatings and tactile finishes such as glitter, pearlescent, textures and soft touch, are being used to enhance the look of product packages, but the same challenging properties of UV inks also exist in these formulations. They have high viscosities and contain large particles, making it difficult to accurately control the volume being applied. These chemistries, and coarse anilox surfaces used to apply them, are extremely abrasive to steel doctor blades – printers consume blades faster which increases downtime and costs. TruPoint Orange next generation polymer blades are highly abrasion-resistant and chemically compatible with all ink and specialty coating formulas; they last longer and minimize press downtime for blade changes. Click Here to Read “5 Ways to Conquer UV Ink Spitting”

    As the industry evolves to keep up with the demands of the market, printers are faced with new challenges. The ink and coating formulas being used to make products stand out on the retail shelf and improve pressroom efficiency are difficult to meter with steel doctor blades. Due to its material properties and tip design, TruPoint Orange can help by reducing downtime and costs associated with UV ink spitting and accelerated blade wear.

    Request a Free TruPoint Doctor Blade Sample
  • Plastic Doctor Blades – Advanced Polymers Compete with Steel

    Plastic Doctor Blades – Advanced Polymers Compete with Steel

    While steel doctor blades used to be the only option to produce high-end graphics, a printer had to deal with the shorter blade life and pressroom injuries that came along with using the material. No more! Recent innovations in materials technology and tip engineering have at last resulted in polymer doctor blades that can compete with steel and also resolve a number of common problems in the pressroom.

    Steel doctor blades are thin and rigid which allows them to achieve a fine contact area with the anilox roll. A fine contact area is required for the blade to achieve an effective wipe on high line screen rolls used in more demanding graphics applications. Traditional plastic doctor blades, on the other hand, have long been preferred for their longer life in less demanding graphics applications. Plastic blades had to be engineered thicker in order to provide enough rigidity to maintain good contact with the anilox roll and achieve a sufficient wipe. The thickness and larger contact area prevented these blades from being effective when used to meter mid to high line screen rolls. While they lasted significantly longer and were safer to handle than steel blades, they tended to leave more ink on the surface of the roll; this produced dot gain and poor image quality in the printed piece.

    Steel Blade Disadvantages

    Despite its reputation for being the superior metering material, steel has many disadvantages. The blades wear quickly and need to be replaced frequently. Operators are also exposed to cut hazards when removing the worn blades from the press, and the metal fragments can come loose and score anilox rolls.  The environmental impact of using steel can also be significant. There are huge energy costs associated with the manufacture of steel blades as well as anilox resurfacing, and additional station clean-ups generate a lot of contaminated waste. Despite these drawbacks, steel was believed to be the only doctor blade option to execute a clean wipe on a high line screen anilox roll, leaving printers no choice.

    New polymer doctor blade contact area is smaller than steel

    New Polymer Doctor Blades

    Today, specially formulated polymer doctor blades offer the best of both steel and plastic. Unlike traditional plastic doctor blades, the next generation material allows for a precisely engineered micro-tip which wears slowly and evenly throughout the life of the blade. The micro-tip edge allows the blade to achieve a fine contact area with the anilox roll and deliver effective metering on line screens up to 2000 lpi or 785 L/cm. The long and steady wear period of the next generation polymer doctor blade maximizes press uptime and allows for consistent ink film thickness for the duration of the print job.

    Compared to steel, the polymer material does not develop a dangerous cutting edge after use, and the worn blades are safe to handle. Also, the material will not separate, splinter or crack and produces no metal fragments that can lodge between the doctor blade and the anilox roll. A reduction in anilox scoring means better image quality, less downtime, less waste and lower roll replacement costs.

    Polymer doctor blades have come a long way in recent years. A combination of advanced materials and a micro-tip edge has produced revolutionary new doctor blade option for printers: a blade that can compete with steel in the most demanding graphics applications while retaining the safety and blade life benefits of traditional plastic.

    Request a Free TruPoint Doctor Blade Sample