Printing cylinder engraver calibration system and method

A system for calibrating an engraving mechanism of an engraver used to engrave a printing member, comprising:

• a viewer mounted in viewing relationship on the printing member for viewing a plurality of cells in a test cut made in the printing member, wherein said plurality of cells has been cut while the engraver was operating at equilibrium conditions;
• a converter coupled to said viewer for converting an optical image viewed by said viewer into electrical signals;
• and
• an image analyzer coupled to said converter for employing said electrical signals to measure at least one morphological characteristic of each viewed cell in the plurality of cells in the test cut, to calculate a morphological parameter value for the plurality of cells, and to compare the calculated morphological parameter value with a pre-determined morphological parameter value;
• and
• means for adjusting said engraving mechanism in response to a variance between said calculated morphological parameter value and said pre-determined morphological parameter value.

A method for calibrating a printing member engraving element, comprising the steps of:

• using the engraving element to engrave a plurality of cells in a test cut in a printing member;
• obtaining an optical image of each cell in the plurality of cells;
• converting each optical image into electrical signals;
• processing the electrical signals from the images of each cell cut while the engraving element was operating at equilibrium conditions to calculate a morphological parameter value for the test cut;
• comparing the calculated morphological parameter value with a pre-determined morphological parameter value;
• and
• adjusting said engraving element in accordance with any variance of said calculated morphological parameter value from said pre-determined morphological parameter value.

A system for calibrating an engraving mechanism of an engraver used to engrave a printing member, comprising:

• a viewer mounted in viewing relationship to the printing member for viewing cells in a test cut made in the printing member;
• a converter coupled to said viewer for converting an optical image viewed by said viewer into electrical signals;
• and
• an image analyzer coupled to said converter for employing said electrical signals to measure at least one morphological characteristic of each cell in the test cut, cut while the engraver was operating at equilibrium conditions, to calculate a morphological parameter value for the test cut based on the morphological characteristics of the measured cells in the test cut, and to compare the calculated morphological parameter value with a pre-determined morphological parameter value;
• and
• means for adjusting said engraving mechanism in response to a variance between said calculated morphological parameter value and said pre-determined morphological parameter value.

A method for calibrating quality control characteristics of a printing member, comprising:

• recording in a computer processor a pre-determined morphological characteristic for a test cut;
• providing a plurality of cells in at least one test cut in the printing member, wherein each of said plurality of cells is characterized by at least one morphological characteristic;
• using an optical imaging device to capture images of the plurality of cells;
• transducing the optical images into electronic signals representative thereof;
• using the electronic signals to analyze a morphological characteristic of each cell in the plurality of cells with the computer processor, wherein each cell analyzed was cut while the printing member was operating at equilibrium conditions;
• responsive to the analysis of the morphological characteristics of the cells and the predetermined morphological characteristic, adjusting the quality control characteristics of the printing member.