Mention this at Drupa 2024 and be surprised!

Curiously, in several countries, which includes Argentina of course, when someone asks "How much did it rain?", they answer "so many millimeters." Something like a one-dimensional but “dynamic” unit, since it also serves for volume.

Many other countries, knowing of this inconsistency, use “liters”, much better…but both have a hidden aspect! that lands the idea, the surface. If 1 mm refers to the thickness of a layer of water on a surface of 1 square meter - this is what is hidden - we have 1 liter and the inconsistency “lands”.

The bad news is that using odd dimensions is not exclusive to rain talkers, flexographers, anilox makers, technicians, etc. Have you not heard of BCM? This “pod” is billions of cubic microns. It is difficult to conceptualize a trillion as much as microns.

Pure extravagance associated with the useless!

Let's see, suppose you read “Mirada Diferente” (the book that I have written and that is downloadable for free) and extract from it that 1μ of film thickness is approximately 1gr/m2 of ink and that the same deposit gives you an OD of 1, how does the volume correlate with this data? You will have to convert units and accounts!

If you continue reading and find: “statistically it is observed that of the total cell volume of the anilox, half is discharged towards the plate and the same from it to the film; That is to say, only a quarter of the volume is deposited in the film. Don't you think that if I used more appropriate units for the volume, the calculation would be mental?

Well, those units are called “cc/m2” (cubic centimeters per square meter). So much so that, for example, a 4 cc/m2 anilox provides 1 gr/m2 of ink (which is approximately 1 μ thick).

That is, the BCM does not represent practical units, its use should be banned.

Ahh, if anyone wants to continue with those damn units, 1.54 cc/m2 = 1 bcm

Enjoy!