Ink Doctor Blades

Modern flexographic printing presses usually use anilox rollers and ink doctor blades as their ink transfer system. The printing width of flexographic presses ranges from 200mm to 4000mm. Typically, a single doctor blade system is used for smaller presses, while medium or large presses usually have a closed doctor blade system for ink transfer. Printing speeds range from 50 to 450 meters per minute. The doctor blades are usually reversed at an angle of 30°-40°. Due to the good surface finish of the ceramic anilox rollers, the pressure on the doctor blade should be as low as possible. The factors affecting the life of the doctor blade are the anilox roll mesh (shape and number of threads) and the thickness of the doctor blade. mdc coated doctor blades are ideally suited for flexographic printing and can last up to two to three times longer than normal doctor blades. For UV inks with high viscosity or coarse metallic inks, the use of MDC long-life doctor blades extends the life of the doctor blade by up to 10 times. In flexographic printing, squeegees with a thickness of 0.20 mm are commonly used, while squeegees with a thickness of 0.15 mm can also be used. Closed squeegee systems do not require liner knives. Therefore, standard squeegees, beveled knives, and garden knives can be used for flexographic printing. For high-precision layered printing, such as label printing, the blade thickness is typically 65 microns. The general rule is that the thinner the blade, the better the squeegee.