If you’re in the printing industry, you’ll more than likely need an anilox roll to help you transfer ideas and information onto paper for distribution to the masses.
If you’re not familiar with what an anilox roll is, then continue reading below!
What Is An Anilox Roll?
An anilox roll is mainly utilized in the printing industry. It measures out a specific amount of ink and applies it to a printing plate.
The roll is typically a steel or aluminum cylinder. The exterior of the roll is then engraved with millions and millions of very small and fine dimples. These dimples are known as anilox cells, and they hold the ink.
To print on paper, the anilox roll is covered in a very exact amount of ink, raised, and transferred over the printing plate. The anilox cells always vary in size, number, and shape, and they determine how the anilox roll delivers the ink to the printing plate.
Types Of Anilox Rolls
There are two main kinds of anilox rolls, and they vary mainly in the amount of detail that each roll can deliver. The term “line screen” refers to the number of cells that are engraved into the anilox.
Continue reading to see if your business would be better suited for one over the other!
Low Line Screen
This kind of screen cannot provide as much precision with the product that you’re printing onto. Instead, this type of screen is only used when a very heavy letter of ink is needed. It typically gives the page a bold appearance and tends to be used with heavy block lettering.
Due to the lack of precision, this kind of anilox roll usually uses only one color.
High Line Screen
Unlike the low line screen, the high line screen can provide a very intricate amount of detail. This is because it has a lot more anilox cells present on the screen itself. With this screen, more specific details can be provided and more colors can be used (up to four usually).
If a photograph is going to be reproduced, this screen tends to be used because of its vivid detail.
In most circumstances, the two screens will need to be used in conjunction for a final piece to look complete. Additionally, each color that needs to be applied to the page usually requires a completely new screen and the colors will have to be applied individually.
It is important that you have a skilled press operator running the screens at your printing press because they will save you time and money in the kinds of screens that are produced for your specific printing jobs.
