Anilox Recovery

The Importance of Maintaining Clean Anilox Rollers

Anilox rollers are precision engineered components. Manufactured from premium quality steel or an aluminium core, this base has a ceramic coating applied that is diamond engraved with millions of cells. The cells on an anilox roller are designed to deliver specific volumes and density of inks, to produce high quality of print consistently and efficiently.

The cells can be different in shape, depth and size. Depending upon your print requirements, will influence the anilox roller chosen, to ensure the specific amount of ink is transferred to the printing plate to provide the print quality you need.

Choosing the correct anilox rollers is fundamental to your print process.

Correctly maintained anilox rollers is crucial in flexographic print. Incorrectly maintained anilox rollers, will result in cells becoming dirty and clogged. Once clogged you will experience a deterioration in print quality. We can help you recover dirty anilox rollers to top condition, but prevention is better than cure.

Dirty and damaged rollers will affect the print quality you will achieve along with your productivity, which will cost your business time and money.

What happens when anilox rollers are NOT maintained:

Anilox cell contamination can build up gradually, resulting in a reduction of cell volume
Reduced anilox cell volume will lead to reduced ink laydown
Reduced ink laydown results in variation in colour management
Operators can waste time trying to resolve colour management issues
Deterioration in colour and quality, leads to print rejects
Rejects cost time, resource and money to your business

During print runs, the cells on an anilox roller will become clogged with ink, affecting the print. To counteract this, operators often start to add more ink pigment. This only leads to ink being wasted, and inconsistent colours and print.

Print Tech Solutions work with your team to support them in:

Enhancing their knowledge of the print process and the function of anilox rollers
Undertaking regular anilox roller inspection
Illustrating the correct cleaning process of anilox rollers
Being pro-active in identifying print issues
Providing the correct cleaning solution to perfectly maintain anilox rollers

With regular site assessments, anilox audits and maintenance schedules adopted, clogged anilox rollers can be averted. In turn this will ensure consistent quality print is maintained and high productivity.

We’re here to help

We know there are times when maintenance schedules are pushed back, or incorrect care is being carried out, resulting in anilox rollers that need urgent attention to remove hardened and dried ink in the cells.

Print Tech Solutions have developed specific high intensity cleaning solutions to tackle plugged contaminated anilox cells. We can provide the technical support to undertake the recovery of dirty anilox rollers, to their top condition again.

Restoring Contaminated Anilox Rollers – read our case study

Keep reading

For direct cleaning of anilox cells, CELLGEL is our best-selling solution. Developed specifically to remove ink deposits from anilox cells, it should be applied directly to the surface of a dry roller. It is perfect for a quick intense clean or it can be left on the roller for up to 48 hours for a deeper clean.