Constantly Maintain Cylinder RZ – The key fundamentals of defect free rotogravure printing include maintaining the blade’s contact angle at ±65°, an air gap set at 2.5” – 3.0”, little or no blade pressure and constantly maintained cylinder surface polish at either 40μ or 60μ RZ. Cylinder polish allows a small amount of ink under the blade to keep both blade and cylinder lubricated. As a result, cylinder and blade wear are reduced. A polish at 45° will also keep the blade’s edge free from particle build up to prevent print defects like haze, drags and streaks.

To be effective, polish must be constantly maintained. The secret to maintaining effective RZ requires you “ABP” – “always be polishing”. All you need is the right “polishing paper” and a bit of operator training. Our Pro Polishing Film comes from 3M in both 20μ for printing on paper and 40μ for printing on film. It’s easy to use on or off press. Unlike many polishing or sandpaper products, the polishing aggregate is encapsulated, so it won’t release into ink. By the way – you can’t over polish. Let us know if you need instructions on how to safely polish on press.