Package printing often requires a great deal of solid color imagery, even in the most intricate of design patterns.
That black backdrop behind a picture of a product? Solid image. That large, single-color logo affixed to the side of a cardboard...
We don’t like to speak in certainties when it comes to flexo printing defects. Any number of variables can cause any number of defects within your printed image.
Our list of the 12 most common flexo printing defects is compiled with that in...
Clean up your act! OK, so we know dirty print is not all your fault.
Among other common flexo printing defects, dirty print is particularly confounding. It can stem from contamination, ink consistency, plate/sleeve issues, press room atmosphere,...
They’re so easy to spot. Gear marks in flexographic printing appear as alternating linear areas of light and dark running perpendicular to the web direction on your press. These nearly always occur in regular intervals across the substrate.
We can’t stress enough that flexographic printing is a pressure-sensitive process. If pressure is not applied correctly and uniformly from your print cylinder to the substrate, you’re bound to experience flexo printing defects.
Dot gain is a tricky flexo printing defect with a variety of causes. As its name implies, the dots on your printed substrate increase in size. The reproduced image then comes out darker and sometimes fuzzier than intended.
And now for the printing problem we’d all love to eat. Okay, so doughnuts in this case are an aggravating and potentially costly flexo printing defect, as opposed to a delicious confectionery treat.
The practice of direct laser engraving (DLE) sleeves, cylinders, and plates is emerging at the forefront of the flexographic printing industry.
You may notice areas of your substrate don’t print fully, sometimes leaving tiny unprinted areas about the size of a pinhole. Quite appropriately, this common flexographic printing defect is called pinholing.
You likely recall the flexo printing evolution through the years in response to pressures from economy and demand. As industries produced more, they required more packaging (of different varieties). And as they’ve required more packaging, they’ve...
