Anilox and Plate Screen
Enter the screen of the plate or of the anilox roll and the calculator suggests the other one. Choosing an anilox for a plate screen: anilox lines (lpi, lines/cm) against the plate screen. A planning guide, not a standard.
- Plate halftone dots
- Anilox cells (drifting, as if the roll turns)
Schematic: it shows the proportion of sizes, not the real scale.
Anilox for this plate
Within the 3.5–5 guide.
What about cell volume (BCM)?
The screen tells how small the cells are; BCM (billion cubic microns per square inch) tells how much ink they hold. They are two separate properties of an anilox.
In general the finer the anilox, the smaller the cell volume. Fine screens and small details call for a finer anilox with a lower BCM; solids and varnish for a coarser one with a higher BCM. Choose the exact value together with your anilox and ink supplier.
For conversion: 1 BCM = 1.55 cm³/m².
How it is calculated
The rule of thumb: the anilox is usually 3.5–5 times finer than the plate screen. So the anilox range = plate screen × 3.5 … × 5 and the plate range = anilox ÷ 5 … ÷ 3.5.
Unit conversion: 1 line/cm = 2.54 lpi. Cell pitch (µm) = 25,400 ÷ lpi.
Worked example
Plate screen 133 lpi (52.4 lines/cm). Anilox: 133 × 3.5 = 465.5 lpi and 133 × 5 = 665 lpi, that is about 183–262 lines/cm. The middle is 565 lpi (≈ 223 lines/cm), the cell pitch ≈ 45 µm.
The other way: anilox 500 lpi → plate 500 ÷ 5 = 100 lpi … 500 ÷ 3.5 ≈ 143 lpi.
An estimate: the real choice depends on the ink, substrate, plate and your printer's requirements.
Check a PDF