05. Main anilox roll cleaning methods

Zecher was founded by Kurt Zecher in 1948, and in 1950 the company produced the world’s first regularly engraved anilox roll. Methods for cleaning anilox rolls emerged at the same time.

Manual chemical cleaning

Manual chemical cleaning remains the most common way to clean anilox cells. If the instructions for use and disposal are not followed, the process can harm personnel, the anilox roll and the environment. When chemicals are used exactly as instructed and the rolls are cleaned consistently, the result may be satisfactory. The drawbacks are the recurring cost of chemicals and the fact that busy production staff often cannot clean the rolls regularly; consequently, the cleaning result is often unpredictable.

Ultrasonic anilox cleaning

Ultrasonic anilox cleaning is less common. It still requires special cleaning solutions, which create recurring costs and an environmental burden.
Cleaning results can be just as inconsistent. Cleaning rolls with chips or cracks can be hazardous to the coating: cavitation and cleaning solution penetrating beneath the ceramic layer may increase the risk of further damage.

Media-blasting anilox cleaning

Cleaning with jets of baking soda, dry ice or plastic beads is extremely difficult on high-line-screen rolls with a high cell volume, because narrow, deep cells are hard to clean all the way to the bottom. The equipment is relatively expensive, and cleaning is less effective than anilox roll laser cleaning.

Anilox roll laser cleaning

Laser cleaning with LaserEcoClean technology is effective across the full range of line screens and removes all types of ink. Our laser removes titanium-dioxide white inks, varnishes, two-component inks and all forms of polymeric or organic contamination from the ceramic surface.

Over the years, we have developed cleaning parameters that do not damage the anilox roll, even after 60 cleaning cycles on a clean roll. The effectiveness of laser cleaning is easy to demonstrate on anilox rolls previously cleaned by any of the methods described above. A comparison with other laser cleaning technologies is available here.

Each cleaning method therefore has its own application:

• manual chemical cleaning — for routine daily cleaning in small printing companies;
• ultrasonic baths and automated chemical cleaning — for medium-sized printing companies;
• media-blasting equipment — for large printing companies using low-line-screen rolls where print-quality requirements are less stringent;
• LaserEcoClean anilox roll laser cleaning equipment costs about the same as ultrasonic or chemical cleaning machines, while its precision mechanics and optics deliver predictable cleaning quality. Each point on the anilox surface receives a single laser pulse with minimal overlap and precisely controlled power.
  
  LaserEcoClean equipment can therefore be used for daily deep cleaning of even high-line-screen rolls in medium-sized and large printing companies.
  
  Our machines require no consumables, and the laser source we use has a service life of 100,000 hours — equivalent to 11 years of continuous 24/7 operation.
  With no consumables and such a long laser service life, LaserEcoClean equipment pays for itself in two to three years.