for accurate volumetric measurement

Volume, Depth, Width, Wall, Screen Count, Angles and Consistency of Anilox rolls

Why Anilox Quality Control?

Knowing the condition of the anilox rolls for a printer converter has been proven to save considerable press setup time and reduce waste which inevitably increases profitability.  Historically, to achieve the required densities, the printers are obliged to adjust the ink, when in reality the difference in volume of the anilox’s largely influences the imbalanced densities. Until the advent of this easy to use quality control tool, the actual volume of rolls in the anilox inventory was in reality unknown to printers – making it impossible to know if the roll volumes are matched and optimised for press setup.

When discovering that a set of anilox’s do not have in reality similar or matched volume capacity – due to either infrequent anilox volume measurement or none at all – many printers realise how much valuable time and cost has been wasted over a period of years and how quickly they could now make considerable savings for their company by implementing anilox quality control. Fortunately, due to modern technology the ability to simply and easily measure the volume of aniloxs and archive the inventory information is now viable and practical for flexo printers.

Measuring the inventory with the Anilox QC application and AniCAM 3D scanning microscope allows users to eliminate or replace rolls that would require unnecessary ink adjustments to be made by ensuring the rolls are of a similar volume capacity – not only between a set of rolls but also along the width of a roll.

Variation across the width of a roll has been identified as a time consuming and waste generating factor in press set up. The variation can be caused for two reasons, either due to poor cleaning or wear – which is caused by too much pressure on one side with the doctor blade often due to poor cleaning.

Once the inventory is ‘optimised’ for matched volume and the cleaning system is proven to be giving a satisfactory result, ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the rolls is required to ensure the inventory is maintained in a satisfactory condition and the refurbishment of rolls can be planned appropriately.

State-of-the-art 3D scanning technology

Very high repeatability and accuracy

Light and portable in a strong carry case

Electronic knife for enhanced cell profile analysis

3D-view to identify plugged or damaged cells

Export data to AMS or spreadsheet applications

Anilox QC Options

Complex Cells

An optional software module for volume and geometric measurement of non-hexagonal cells allows you to measure any type of engraving (for instance tri-helical, wave-form, asymmetric and combinations of different engravings).

X-axis micro adjustment

This option has been developed to allow users to move the analysis head of the camera laterally up to 10 mm (±5 mm) to assist in finding certain measuring positions.

Specifications

Product Specifications

Ceramic, Titanium and Conventional Chromed Anilox rolls. Minimum diameter: 2.5”/ 63mm (81mm with mounted X- or Y-axis adjuster)

Analysis range:
Std: x20 lens: 236 – 600 lpcm / 601 – 1500 lpi;
Std: x10 lens: 88 – 235 lpcm / 225 – 600 lpi;
Std: x4 lens: 40 – 87 lpcm / 100 – 224 lpi;
Anilox volume calculation in cm3/m2 or BCM
Measurements:
• Cell Volume • Cell depth • Cell screen count • Cell opening • Cell wall width • Cell angle • Engraving angle

Images are taken by the camera and transferred via USB to the PC. The image analysis and calculations are done by the dedicated Anilox QC Application Troika PC software. Software based Vibration detection and suppression (4 levels) Digital Zoom range 1:1 up to 6:1

± 0.1 cm3/m2 @ 3.2 cm3/m2<br>
± 0.06 BCM @ 2 BCM

.acp format (incl. 2D/3D info); JPEG and BMP (bitmap export) + 16 Bit linear grayscale TIF Export of readings (AMS, Spreadsheets, Database applications etc)

1 co-axial and 2 x 9 radial white light LEDs (SW-controlled)

Technical Specifications

Mono CMOS camera with 640 x 480 pixel resolution.
USB2.0 Control via PC
External ac power supply

Three lenses (x04, x10 and x20)

AniCAM: 21 x 12.5 x 21 cm (W x D x H)
AniCAM Case: 40 x 30 x 16 cm (W x D x H)
AniCAM: 2.9 kg / 6.5 lbs
AniCAM with Case: 5.4 kg / 12.0 lbs
Temperature: 16° – 32° C / 60° – 90° F
Humidity: 40% – 60%, non-condensing

Dual Core (or better), 2.5+ GHz CPU, 4+ GB RAM, 1024 x 768, 24-bit Display, USB2.0, 150+ GB hard disk space

Options

AMS Anilox Management System for controlling the total Anilox Inventory regarding Volume, Wear, Variance, Suitability and much more

ACP AniCAM Certification Package for X/Y/Z and Volume calibration
Annual Service Contract | GTM Online Training and Support
X- axis micro adjuster for improved lateral positioning (increases the minimum roll diameter to 81mm | 3.2“)
Y- axis micro adjuster for improved rotational positioning (increases the minimum roll diameter to 81mm | 3.2“)