Gravure Doctor Blades
Gravure Printing is economical and widely used in mass production. Large quantity and good quality prints can be achieved due to their low unit price. The more you need, the more you print, the more cost effective is the process. Gravure Doctor Blades has an important function of removing excess ink from the gravure cylinder.
Purpose of doctor blades for gravure printing
A gravure operator uses a doctor blade in a wiping application. A very small amount of ink is allowed to pass beneath the blade to lower friction and wear of both the chrome cylinder and the blade. To achieve this, the operator manipulates blade’s contact area with the cylinder, so provides an appropriate wipe of the area that is not engraved.
Materials we use to manufacture gravure doctor blades
Our doctor blades are made of carefully selected European steels that we use in our machine knives manufacturing processes. We have long-term partners supplying us various steel grades of the best quality steel throughout several decades. This gives us the opportunity to always deliver doctor blades of the highest quality and ensure that each blade is the best choice for each application.
We manufacture doctor blades from
- carbon steels
- micro-alloyed tool steels
- stainless
Chromium and tungsten can be added to maximise corrosion resistance, hardness and improve blade lifespan. Please read about our Doctor Blades Types.
All our Doctor Blades are available in standard widths and thicknesses and can be supplied in easy to use coils, or pre-cut to your specific requirements.
We supply all our Gravure Doctor Blades in standard edge profiles:
- Lamella edge
- Bevel edge
- Round edge
Please contact Nick
to discuss your Doctor Blades
Office: +44 (0) 114 244 0527 Ext: 129
Email: nick.wright@fernite.co.uk
Mobile: 07480 254837
WhatsApp: 07480 254837
Mon – Thu: 8.30am-5.00pm
Fri: 8.30am – 3.45pm
Sat-Sun: Closed
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What tip is the most popular for a rotogravure doctor blade?
Lamella seems to be the most popular tip for rotogravure printing. However, when it is pressed too hard, it might produce large hairlike strands of steel and even damage the anilox rolls.
So, the choice of the best doctor blade tip cannot be universal. Using the appropriate doctor blade edges for each application can be critical to the success of a printing job.
Please contact us to get assistance determining which one is best for your application. We can optimise your doctor blade lifetime; so, you get more consistent ink flow and achieve more efficient results in your printing presses.
What contact angle is recommended for doctor blade for gravure printing?
By working on the tip of the blade, good flushing of particles behind the blade and a small “footprint” against the cylinder is achieved. The small footprint allows the blade tip to cut through the lubricating layer of ink on the cylinder and wipe without “haze” in most situations.
For most gravure printing doctor blade contact angles of 55 to 75 degrees are recommended.
Contact angles less then 45 degrees inevitably increase the gravure doctor blade “footprint” on the cylinder, which in turn results in significant surface ink films passing under the doctor blade tip causing a ‘haze’ to print in non-printing area of the cylinder.
Contact angles over 75 degrees can cause some problems too, because blades, blade holders and cylinders are not perfectly straight. Consequently, they “sag” under the weight and may result in high blade loading required to get vibration problems and/ or cylinder damage.
If you require an urgent quote please contact us on +44 (0) 114 244 0527.