Talk:Anilox

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While this article has some useful information about anilox rollers, it also has important errors. For example, the first sentence says an anilox roller is a "soft cylinder". On the contrary, anilox rollers are hard and almost always made with a base of solid steel or steel tubing that is usually 13 to 15 mm thick (1/2 - 9/16").

Also, they are almost always coated with chrome or ceramic. Chrome-plated anilox rollers are engraved with a knurling tool under high pressure then plated with chrome. Plasma ceramic anilox rollers are coated with ceramic then engraved with a laser.

The article mentions that anilox rollers are scraped with a blade to remove excess ink. While this is the most common system on newer flexographic printing presses, excessive ink can also be removed by a rubber roller which "wipes" the cells. There are many flexographic presses with the latter system and "two roll" systems are preferred for some flexographic functions such as printing a solid white base over which is printed other colors.

The cost of anilox rollers is said to range from US$5,000. This is absolutely untrue. A typical anilox roller with a coating length of 1 meter would cost less than US$1,000 to refurbish with new ceramic and laser engraving. A new roller with a new steel base plus ceramic coating and engraving would cost about US$2,000 in today's dollars (October 2007).Philbee 15:41, 18 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]