FFTA Annual Forum Speakers Score High Marks

Published: August 06, 2008

CHARLOTTE, NC | Technical experts from global anilox supplier Harper Corp. of America was reported to receive outstanding ratings from session attendees at the 2008 Foundation of Flexographic Technical Assn. (FFTA) Forum in Dallas, TX.

Tony Donato, product development engineer at Harper, presented at the Flexo 101 session, addressing the relationship of doctor blade contact angle to vibration, as well as the importance of loading pressure and blade material. Donato employed a cupcake tin to demonstrate the interaction between anilox roll, doctor blade, and cylinder. He explained that the relationship between a doctor blade ink metering system and an anilox roll is geometrical as well as mechanical, emphasizing that careful control of the variables will produce optimal print results.

Attendees later commented that it was a “very good presentation” with “easy-to-understand illustrations.” Donato’s ratings were nearly all “outstanding” or “very good.”

Bill Poulson, Northeast technical graphics advisor at Harper GraphicSolutions, teamed up with Kurt Hudson of Water Ink Technologies to present a session about correlating an ink proofer to the press. Poulson advised printers to reduce their anilox inventories to two or three volumes. Any more than that, he warned, and "you're setting yourself up for failure." He also recommended performing a banded anilox test to determine the best volumes, and he compared the results of a doctor-bladed hand proofer to a press. Hudson brought the presentation full circle with illustrations of spectrodensitometer readings on the proofer’s correlation to the press.

The comments the presentation garnered included “Solid practices presented for color matching,” and “Good, relevant content.” The pair earned nearly unanimous ratings of “outstanding” and “very good.”