Apparatus and method for eliminating dot gain in flexographic printing systems

A method of fabricating a reduced dot gain flexographic printing plate, including the steps of:

• forming at least one raised segment on the surface of the flexographic printing plate;
• identifying at least one zero percentage area on the surface of the flexographic printing plate that has substantially no raised segments;
• and
• forming, in the zero percentage area, a dot screen that is comprised of a plurality of dot screen points, the dot screen points having a surface area substantially smaller than a raised segment, and having an elevation substantially the same as the raised segment.

A method of reducing dot gain in flexographic printing, including the steps of:

• forming a print image with raised segments on a flexographic plate;
• identifying at least one zero percentage area on a flexographic printing plate in which there are substantially no raised segments;
• distributing force placed against the raise segments by placing a dot screen in the zero percentage area, the dot screen is formed by multiple dot screen points, and having an elevation substantially the same as the raised segment;
• and
• using the dot screen to distribute force applied by the flexographic printing plate onto a printing surface such that raised segments adjacent to other raised segments are compressed substantially the same amount as raised segments which are not adjacent to other raised segments;
• whereby dot gain created by excessive compression of raised segments adjacent the zero percentage area is reduced by distributing the compressor force of the flexographic plate across the dot screen.