High quality  bic doctor blade, doctor blade for open well printing machine, doctor blade for pad printer   A doctor blade system has an open reservoir of ink from which a flood bar draws ink onto a printing plate and a sharp doctor blade wipes the plate clean. With this system the ink is exposed to the air, which enables the solvents to evaporate, slowly changing the ink viscosity. Several machine types make attempts at creating “covered" inkwells but it does not significantly diminish the changes in ink consistency.

Doctor blade systems have been successful and popular where there is short print run (less than 500-1000 pieces), a number of color changes, and experienced machine operators who understand the nuances of ink preparation. These machines are common in plastic housing, golf ball and promotional product marketplace. A significant advantage of the doctor blade system over the sealed ink cup system is that it can easily print long images (for instance on plastic housings like a television, computer monitor, or vacuum cleaner) because there are no major limitations as to how wide a doctor blade of plate can be made.