In response to our recent piece on anilox scoring, we received the following question from one of our readers:
@ApexAnilox Is anilox scoring a cause for chatter marks?
— abdul muhsina (@abdulmuhsin110) February 20, 2016
Thank you sir.
A scored Anilox may be caused by chatter, but the Anilox would not typically cause chatter. Chatter is often a general term for gear marking, banding / barring, or bounce. Most often, especially on older geared equipment, chatter refers to gear marking. This would be seen as light and dark areas across the web, that align with the Drive gear on the print cylinder. For example, if the gear is a 1/4" pitch, The light and dark areas will repeat every 1/4". This is typically caused by worn gears, misaligned gears, or poorly lubricated gears.
Other issues could be improper blade selection, or improper blade to seal installation. If there is vibration with the blade, that could be also referred to as blade chatter, and would eventually damage the Anilox.
Thanks for the question! Keep them coming!
