With a 4-cylinder design (anilox,
form roller, plate and blanket), the Aniflo eliminates the need for operator adjustments and provides a consistent and stable printing process.
A third ink
form roller improves the print quality.
* Maintain dampener
form roller hardness within roller manufacturer's Durometer specifications (usually 23-27)
But, in general, he was satisfied with "a very predictable result" from his KBA Anilox Colora's three-roller system with full-diameter
form roller. Waste is down, maintenance varies, and anilox roll wear is under study.
Ink is applied directly to a large
form roller by a scoop roller that turns through the ink trough.
To avoid dampening unit ghosting, dampening
form roller circumference is half that of the plate cylinder (page deep).
The study included consideration of the effects of a plate cylinder-sized
form roller and ink refreshing on the anilox.)
MetroColor comes with two
form roller single-piston injector inking (optional digital inking), individual couple silencing, tool-less plate lock-ups, spiral-brush direct-to-plate dampening (spray bar available), automatic webbing through the topmost module, automatic margin systems for four-high stacks (optional automatic register system), automatic forward-reverse inching and a range of cutoffs.
The press contains inking units with three
form rollers for high-quality printing and minimal start-up waste.
"Now with offset, you have an ink pan, ink keys, a ductor roller, several ink transfer rollers, water balance and application rollers,
form rollers (those that finally ink the plate), a plate roller, and a blanket roller, it is obvious that the operator has to control many more parameters compared with flexo.