We are spending too much time to stop and clean a stubborn buildup of ink and glaze on the impression cylinders. How can we reduce this downtime?
Sep 13, 2018

The ink and glaze buildup is ink/varnish, fountain solution gum, and even spray powder. If you run the same sheet size you can try this quick fix. Cut the blanket packing size to just smaller than the sheet size. The blanket outside of the packing will not contact the impression cylinder and transfer ink and fountain solution. Cutting the packing short can leave a score ridge in the blanket from the edge of the packing that would show up in the print if a larger sheet size is run on the same blanket. Do not use this shortcut if you are having emulsification problems or printing on a non-porous substrate such as plastic. Since this buildup is difficult to clean, use a mixture of water and solvent, soak the glaze, and allow the mixture to soften the glaze before scrubbing the cylinder.

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