Frequently Asked Questions

A.: You’re not alone in this. We have been seeing this problem in the vast majority of shops we hear from. In nearly all cases we solve all of the mentioned problems by the use of a more efficient roller cleaning system.

The natural tendency is to begin experimenting with fountain solution, but when rollers are glazed or contaminated you must run excessive water to overcome scumming or toning. This then forces you to run too much ink to maintain density. The ink then waterlogs or at the very least overemulsifies, thus destroying the body of the vehicle in the ink and rendering the driers useless.

It’s true that a different fountain solution may produce temporary relief, but as the glaze progresses the window of success becomes progressively narrower until nothing works without producing other side effects.

As an example, I can speak from our own experience here at Star in the production of this newsletter. When the rollers in our old A. B. Dick 360 are perfectly clean, any one of ten different fountain solutions will work satisfactorily. Of course, one may be slightly too wet while another may be a bit too dry, but they will all produce satisfactory work. When some bad paper goes through the press and chemicals from the paper find their way into the inking and dampening systems, the buildup of contamination starts to work its magic and several fountain solutions begin to fail. As the contamination progresses to glaze, the list narrows down to maybe one fountain solution that barely works and the ink may begin to print snowflaky solids.

After a ten minute decontamination the press is right back to its almost flawless performance!

If I persist in running the paper that contaminated the rollers, the problem will return just as quickly.

In one case the picture framing was severe after running perhaps 200 sheets of 11 x 17 recycled stock, and the rollers in the Crestline dampener began piling ink at the same time. By sheeting off most of the surface ink and changing paper, the dampener straightened right out and the picture framing went away after around 500 impressions.

The bottom line here is, there is some bad paper out there, and it comes from any or all paper mills, and it is constantly changing, so we must be prepared to keep our systems cleaner than ever before to avoid constant problems.

Star’s Press Diet© Roller Maintenance System was developed to clean this nasty stuff out of your rollers. Printers tell us that our system works, and it must be true because hundreds of customers in a ten state region continue to reorder our products time and again.

Don’t hesitate to call us at 303-423-6300 for more information.

From Star Bulletin, September, 1999

Q.: What can I do to prevent sheets from sticking to my blanket?

A.: The smoother the sheet, the more prone it is to stick to your blanket. Some blankets we used years back were very problematic in this regard. Today we have some high tech blankets that give phenomenal release while printing extremely sharp and clean images.

If the sheet is pulling out of the grippers near the lead edge of the sheet, I would check that the cylinder grippers are holding the sheet tightly enough to pull it off the blanket. If the sheet is folded over four inches or more from the gripper edge, I would be suspicious that the delivery grippers are closing on the sheet too late. Both sets of grippers should be holding the sheet for around 1/8” of cylinder travel. This can be checked by removing the blanket and turning a sheet through the press by hand. Pull back on the tail of the sheet and see if it transfers into the delivery grippers smoothly. If it pulls out during the transfer, then it’s tune-up time.

If all is mechanically correct, check your pressures. Too much impression pressure can cause the sheet to stick to any blanket.

If everything checks out, but the problem persists, I would suggest trying one of our 9500 blankets. We have seen great results with this blanket. It is even in thickness or caliper, and runs easily with minimum pressures required for top quality printing. We have even eliminated streaks by simply changing to this blanket. We stock them for most small presses and many larger machines. Folks tell us that they really take a beating and last much longer than most blankets.

From Star Bulletin, September, 1999

Q.: What can I use to remove metallic ink residues from my rollers? No matter what I do it seems like there is always a slight residue.

A.: My first suggestion would be to change over to our Press Diet© roller Maintenance system to deep clean your rollers every time. I will also say that it is normal for particles of metallic flakes to remain on rollers even after a thorough cleanup. The only question is “How much is too much?” In general, the metallic flakes always look like a lot more than is actually there because they are so shiny against the dark surface of the roller.

If you can imagine how much of the surface of the roller is covered with the flakes, you will get an idea of how clean to clean your rollers. In general, the dirtiest roller would only have a five percent surface coating of particles, hardly enough to be visible on the next printing job. Consequently, you can usually ink up and run the next job with no worry whatsoever. After running several jobs you will see that the metallic flakes are all gone, absorbed into other inks and washed off with a normal washup.

From Star Bulletin, March, 2000

Q.: Any time I have a problem and call one of our suppliers it seems that the information they give me contradicts what another person has told me. How can I know who to believe?

A.: This has been a persistent problem in our trade for many years, especially since the change in the late 1980’s to alkaline papers, followed by many, many other changes to supplies and chemicals used in the pressroom for decades. Star got into the supply business partly because we couldn’t seem to get any answers either. It got so bad that the printing of the Star Bulletin became a real project due to problems caused by the changes in the paper supply.

I don’t have all the answers, but you can bet I’ll go to great lengths to find out, then I’ll offer a valid explanation along with any product recommendations or techniques predicted to remedy the problem.

I believe in proving that what I say is true to the best of my knowledge, and I was a pressman for many years, so if you aren’t getting the straight scoop, feel free to give me a call at 303-423-6300.

From Star Bulletin, February, 2000

Q.: Why is it that certain ink colors never seem to match the Pantone^® book nor the previously mixed batch no matter how careful we weigh and mix the colors?

A.: A color match consists of two different but related challenges. The first one is that the actual ink must match a previous batch. We evaluate this by putting a drop of each side-by-side on a piece of uncoated paper then drawing them both down with an ink knife. By holding the sheet up to the light, any slight variations can be detected.

The other challenge is the fact that presses print differently on different days. Add to that any concern about the job having been printed on a different press last time, or the rollers were newer or older last time, and you can see that the variables are piling up rather quickly. Ink also has a tendency to yellow over time, so tans and grays become another problem.

Now, let’s go back to the actual printing of the Color Book. I know that every job I have ever run had some color variation, so how about your formula book? It certainly has some variations; compare two books if a question arises. Some of the formulas may be flawed as well. Also remember that color swatches in the formula guide are printed without water.

Many inks have an excess of solvents to speed up the initial setting of the ink. Now add in some driers or tack reducers and your ink probably doesn’t match to start with, to say nothing of the “dryback” that will surely occur within the first minutes and hours after printing.

Now, let’s explore the addition of alcohol to your fountain solution. Alcohol has a tendency to “wash out” most colors, requiring the running of a heavier-than-normal film of ink to achieve the desired color. Certain colors containing opposite mixing colors will dramatically shift color due to the differing strengths of the mixing colors. An example of this might be Pantone 464. It is made with Rubine Red, Process Blue and Yellow. When run heavy, the Blue and Red darken up disproportionately when compared to the Yellow, so the color shifts dramatically. This color also dries back considerably on certain papers, and has a severe tendency toward yellowing.

Glazed or contaminated rollers will make color matches virtually impossible due to the fact that you will have to run excessive water and may not be able to achieve the required ink density regardless of how much you run on the rollers.

I don’t know if I have a positive answer to a solution to your dilemma, but above are the reasons for the problems. By accurately weighing your inks every time and double checking everything, you will normally achieve the same mixture every time. Keeping good rollers, properly adjusted and cleaned, will assure consistent printing results, and such problems will be held to a minimum.

We mix tons of ink here at Star, so if you have persistent problems with a specific color, feel free to call us and find out what we do about it.

From Star Bulletin, April, 2000

Q.: I know you have published this information before, but can you please explain blanket pressures so we can better understand what we’re trying to accomplish?

A.: There are two styles of blanket construction: Conventional and Compressible. In the United States we prefer compressible blankets probably due to the roughness of our papers and because we tend to run shorter runs on many different papers and the compressible blanket offers a wider window of error when establishing pressures.

There seems to be a lot of confusion because foreign-made presses give us operator’s manuals that specify settings and pressures often in metric. And we are not normally informed as to whether the numbers specified are for a compressible blanket. (In certain segments of the web press industry there may be an entirely different set of requirements, so what we are about to reveal here applies primarily to sheetfed presses.)

Let’s just go back to the basic rules of proper pressures from years ago. Rule one states that a conventional blanket needs from 2 to 3 thousandths (.002” to .003”) of an inch of squeeze to print properly. Rule two continues to tell us that if we’re using a compressible blanket we must add an additional 3 to 4 thousandths (.003” to .004”) to that dimension to print properly. By taking the averages of these two specifications, we arrive at a squeeze of .006”. This figure is true regardless of the size of your press.

So, how do we arrive at that dimension easily?

On older presses it was very easy. We simply measured the plate, packing and blanket then did the math. Then we would double check it with a packing gauge if the press ran on bearer pressure. If we didn’t have a packing gauge, we simply inked up the plate then put the plate and blanket together on pressure then measured the stripe. The width of stripe that always worked best with a compressible blanket was 3/8”, which is equivalent to a .006” squeeze on presses with cylinders up to around 10” in diameter.

On many of today’s presses that don’t have bearers, we still do the math, then double check our results by again doing the stripe test. Here’s where the complications come in; how does your particular press provide for such a test?

On some, there is a code that you type in to snap the pressures on then off. On others you must fool the machine to put it on impression, then let the plate and blanket get inked up so you can check stripes like a roller stripe.

Once you have established that the plate-to-blanket pressures are correct, the bottom or impression pressure is adjusted best by results produced. That is, by looking at the sheet and judging your results. A gloss sheet may print perfectly by adjusting your pressure setting to exactly the thickness of the sheet, while a rough, textured sheet may require you to squeeze it beyond the zero thickness setting. Don’t become fixated on your micrometer, adjust for results on every job. An old timer taught me this concept back in the early 1960’s by asking me how far I push down the gas pedal to go 50 mph. I told him I didn’t know, because it depends on a lot of conditions. He just smiled and walked away.

Yes, you can definitely print with less than the ideal pressure, but you’ll have to run excessive ink and water, color control will be a bit touchy, and drying problems will begin to surface on certain jobs.

From Star Bulletin, November, 1999

Q.: What are the differences between process black, Pantone^® neutral black and dense black?

A.: Process blacks are made to print as part of a process set. The tack is normally quite high, as most process printing is done with dark-to-light color sequence on multi-color presses. A fourth-down black is also made for certain jobs where it must overprint an opaque or metallic color. The color is also balanced to the requirements for process work; not too blue nor too yellow.

Neutral, or mixing black is made to a specific color and strength so grays will match correctly when the formula calls for a large percentage of white. Again, not too red, yellow or blue.

Dense black is formulated to print a deep, bluetone black, and is made with a greater pigment load as well as perhaps 5% of a blue similar to reflex blue. The blue overpowers the natural brown cast of the black pigment and appears blacker to our eyes. It can often be used as a process ink since the black plate normally serves only to add shadows in most cases.

Some printers add a 50% screen of process blue to a black solid when running a process job. The blue serves to maximize the opacity, or covering power, of the black ink.

From Star Bulletin, November, 1999

Q.: I’m a temporary pressman and I have been seeing a lot of Star’s Superior Ink in shops around town. What’s so great about it?

A.: The word “great” is a very subjective word. One person’s definition of a “great” ink might be one that is so cheap it comes in a plastic bag instead of a can, while somebody else would prefer an ink that costs a little more but does the job on the first try.

The best answer to this question would be for me to describe the attributes of Superior Ink as I see them, then you can decide for yourself whether or not it would be a “great” ink for you.

When I was running presses for a living it seemed as though I always had to have the ink “hissing” on the rollers in order to print dark enough to match the color book. I worried about offset all day long on every job, even on uncoated, and thus had to spray even simple jobs as a precaution. I also had to add lots of drier and fight jobs, to get them back through the press without picking or smearing. Large solids on a pocket folder using dark blues or greens always had me reaching for the aspirin and antacid bottles. I remember life being very tough in the pressroom and every job was a challenge.

I used to look at fancy annual reports from large multinational corporations and wonder how in the world anybody could ever print such a difficult job. Other pressmen I knew expressed the same opinion. Many jobs I ran won awards, but only I could know how difficult they had been to produce.

The first time I ran Superior Ink was in 1993, on our old A. B. Dick 360. The dense black was so black that when dry it read around 265 on a densitometer. The trouble was that I ran it like I was used to running ink, with it hissing on the rollers. After readjusting my way of thinking, I ran one issue of Star Bulletin at a more correct density of 170 and was amazed at how little ink I had to carry on the rollers and the handful of sheets where I had temporarily shut off the spray wasn’t offset.

So I guess what I like about Superior Ink is that it’s strong enough to carry a thin film and still get up to color density without screens becoming mottled, but not so strong that hickeys become a problem. This makes running a press a very simple proposition from my point of view.

With a thin film of ink, less water needs to be run to keep the plate clean, so drying is vastly improved, less powder means fewer problems on subsequent runs, as well as a cleaner shop.

I don’t know if the Made in America attribute is an important issue with most people, but Superior Ink Co. uses as many American made ingredients in their inks as possible, including soy bean oil as well as other vegetable oils. Most Superior Inks are laser safe as well.

Probably my current favorite thing about Superior Ink is that when we mix Pantone Colors for our customers, the colors virtually always match right on…even the grays and tans that can be problematic at times.

I don’t know if this answers your question, but if not, feel free to give me another call at 303-423-6300.

From Star Bulletin, January, 2000

Q.: I keep hearing a lot of people blame everything on “bad paper.” What’s the real problem?

A.: I understand the denial, because the paper mills are huge manufacturers that try to impart a sense of infallibility of their product. Their stance is that everything else is at fault.

Rather than point any fingers, let me just give you my personal experience with a particular batch of paper. I won’t tell the brand because paper mills manufacture paper for each other so there’s no way to know who the real culprit is. I will say, though, that Colorado has been a test market for many years as well as a dumping ground for marginal products (makereadies, if you will).

One issue of the Star Bulletin ran so well that I couldn’t believe how things were running. Then the next issue ran so badly I thought somebody had sabotaged my press. A full day of trying many different fountain solutions accomplished nothing. I decontaminated the ink and water rollers and still the problem persisted. When I ran out of that batch of paper, things smoothed out within 500 sheets. The toning and picture framing went away, the ink piling on the Crestline rollers went away and the printing looked sharper.

During the pressrun I stopped to take a phone call and took a piece of the [bad] paper with me to write a note and my pen quit working. A second pen did the same. Coincidence? Maybe. But read on. I came to believe that I did indeed have a bad batch of paper so I changed to 20# copy bond and haven’t had any problems since. That is, until I decided to use up that questionable paper in my laser printer. About 100 copies of miscellaneous sheets printed and my toner cartridge roller became contaminated with something and started printing with terrible streaks and blind areas.

Now I believe it for sure. My toner cartridge is still half full, and will just barely print simple reports.

So, what to do about it? Keep your rollers immaculately clean. This will give you the best shot at being able to diagnose a paper contamination problem. If setup sheets run fine but the job doesn’t, think about it. If different fountain solutions don’t change anything, it’s something else.

If you’re tired of all the finger pointing among your different suppliers, Give us a call. That’s why we got into the supply business in the first place; we couldn’t get any information from any of the big boys, so we had to find out on our own when things became so bad that we could barely print this Bulletin!

Star’s Press Diet^© cleaning system easily deals with any sort of contamination problem, but if your rollers are becoming re-contaminated within a hundred sheets, you’re gonna have a very long day.

The Press Diet^© system also includes excellent fountain solutions, inks and blankets that have been proven to produce top quality results.

From Star Bulletin, January, 2000

Q.: I recently tried to run a job with a rectangular solid next to a screen. I couldn’t keep the solid up to color without the screen filling in. What can I do?

A.: Judging by the sheets you sent me, it looks like a simple matter of ink fountain control. The solid requires much more ink than the 20% screen next to it, so excess ink is moved by the oscillators into the area of the screen, which is then overinked.

The easiest way to run this job is to turn your ink fountain sweep (rotation) up to maximum and turn in the keys until a thin film is transferred to the ink ductor. By regulating the ink film thickness with the fountain keys, a fine film is transferred into the inker in proportion to how much is being consumed by a given area of the press. Any excess ink that ends up in the area of the screen will be removed by the ink fountain roller and returned to the fountain and this will prevent overinking in the area of the screen.

The theory behind this is that ink does, indeed, travel both directions. When an area of the fountain is set for a given amount, it will put out exactly so much ink until such a time that the amount on the ductor matches that on the fountain roller, when ink will just sit there and not transfer either way. When an area of the ink fountain is carrying less ink than the ink ductor, then ink will travel back into the fountain.

A way to better understand this concept would be to load the ink rollers full of ink; really glob it on until the rollers barely turn. Then tighten in the ink fountain keys and engage the ink ductor. After idling for five or ten minutes with the ink fountain turning full sweep and the ductor doing its job, the rollers will be lightly inked again and the fountain will be full.

When running any ordinary job, with each contact of the ink fountain roller a minute amount of ink is transferred into the inker. What isn’t consumed by being printed to the sheet eventually is moved toward the outer edges of the inker by the oscillating rollers, where it is then slowly transferred back into the ink fountain, carrying lint, dust and hickeys with it. With a very short sweep, this excess ink just sits there on the ends of the roller and eventually becomes waterlogged. This “stale ink,” as it is called may eventually work its way back into the image area and end up in the printed job, possibly causing drying problems.

At the very least, “stale ink” loses its ability to flow properly when it becomes waterlogged and then forces you to run an excessive amount of ink to achieve a color match. The end result is normally a severe drying problem or chalking on certain papers.

From Star Bulletin, March, 2000

Q: What do the different colors of blankets mean?

A: According to an anonymous source at one of the blanket manufacturers, it is mostly a marketing tool. If I try to sell you another blue blanket, it will be perceived as the same old blanket with a new name. If it’s a totally different color, then it’s easier to believe that it’s a different product.

The color also might be used in a huge shop to designate some particular special requirement. For instance, our 9600 blanket is purple, and would most likely be used for running a job with extremely fine screens on high gloss stock. The 9500 blanket is pink, and is very smash resistant so it is probably the blanket of choice for 99% of the jobs you would ever run. In a huge shop the foreman might tell the press crew to “Change to the purple blankets for that Acme job.” It avoids confusion in trying to remember numbers.

The manufacturer can make any blanket any color. The color of the thread on the cloth back also tells the manufacturer something, as in the case of a warranty claim where several different brands of blanket are blue.

It’s also easier for a customer to tell a supplier, “Send me out 6 more of those pink blankets for my A. B. Dick 9800, and a pair of the blue ones for my Hamada.”

In summary, the color has absolutely nothing to do with performance. A certain blanket that performs poorly and just happens to be a certain color may just be an old product that has outlived its usefulness, and can’t cope with the rougher surface finishes on today’s papers.

From Star Bulletin, February, 2000

Q.: We have been having a lot of slow drying lately. My pressman says it’s normal to need 2-3 days for jobs to dry. Is this correct?

A.: Absolutely not! Under normal circumstances, any job should be dry enough to cut overnight at the longest. Many jobs should be dry enough to cut in 4 hours or less, depending on the paper and coverage.

It is very common to have drying problems when mechanical or chemical deviations interfere with the driers incorporated into the ink. The three most common culprits are contaminated & glazed rollers, improper fountain solution mixtures and incorrect pressures.

Rollers are not able to efficiently carry a thin film of ink if a coating of glaze covers their surface. Excessive amounts of ink must be forced onto them to get enough to the plate’s surface. Proper cleaning goes a long way toward extending roller life and increasing your overall quality. Old, hard, dried-out rollers make a press very difficult to run.

Improper fountain solution may enter into the picture as a result of roller glaze. A stronger mixture may temporarily enable the press to produce some jobs.

Incorrect roller pressures may simply need adjustment to bring the press back on line. Plate-to-blanket and impression pressures must not be taken for granted, either. If any of these pressures are too light you will automatically run too much ink in an effort to achieve color density. Excessive ink will require excessive water, the combination of which will destroy the driers in the ink.

If you’re interested in getting things back into shape, give us a call at 303-423-6300. We have the products necessary to do the job.

From Star Bulletin, March, 2000

Q.: We’re having a dampening problem on our 4 color press. We have to run each dampener at a very different speed to prevent washouts or scumming. If we mix the fountain solution strong enough for two of the colors, the other two wash out. What’s the answer?

A.: I suspect you’re feeding all four units from the same fountain solution tank. This method is frowned upon by some of the huge printers around the country. They maintain that each unit may need a different mixture of fountain solution for top performance.

The real key to correctly utilizing a single-tank system is to make sure all four units are in the same condition. Specifically, the metering rollers must all be in the same condition and made of the same material, preferably all made from the same batch of rubber, and made at the same time if possible. Ink rollers should all be as close to the same as well. If worn rollers cause you to have to load any unit with excess ink, you will most likely have a battle on your hands.

Another consideration is the cleanliness of both ink and water rollers. Contaminants from paper will tend to accumulate more readily in the first unit, and it is normally this unit that is prone to the most problems as foreign matter builds up throughout the system and causes toning or other problems that require an increased water feed. Weekly deglazing of all units normally takes care of this problem and permits all units to run close to the same.

Don’t forget blanket pressures as well. A unit with light plate-to-blanket pressure will need a heavier ink film to achieve density, which will then need more water to keep the plate clean.

From Star Bulletin, April, 2000

Q.: My press takes forever to wash up, and it keeps getting glazed and contaminated no matter what solvent we use for a washup. What can we do to fix this problem?

A.: A badly worn or misadjusted washup blade will cause a slow washup as will rollers worn smooth from age.

As a washup blade wears, the back side of it rounds off and tightening it only makes matters worse as it bends the tip of it farther away from the oscillating roller it is attempting to scrape clean.

When rollers become too old and hard, their “stripe” becomes too narrow and they skid no matter how tight they are adjusted. If the surfaces are worn smooth, a “friction glaze” will be present and they will act like squeegees and actually prevent solvent from being carried to the washup blade or cleanup mat.

If the ink system washes up extremely slow, solvent tends to evaporate and leave residues behind, resulting in a press that seems clean, but quickly contaminates clean colors. You may even experience significant roller stripping.

From Star Bulletin, May, 2000

Q.: Why are people telling me not to use gritty deglazers on my rollers?

A.: A young lady running a small 2-color press summed it up better than I could. She said, “My great grandmother used to beat stains out of clothing by smashing it between two rocks. Now we have high tech detergents that do the job much better and easier.”

In addition, a roller manufacturer reminded me that no amount of mechanical grinding will remove chemical contaminants from deep within the pores of the rubber. It will, however, remove some material from hard rollers, and may eventually wear them undersize sufficiently to require their replacement to eliminate certain streaks.

From Star Bulletin, May, 2000

Q.: How can I eliminate the buildup of calcium on my blanket and in my ink and water rollers?

A.: The obvious way would be to buy better paper. Since this is not really an option because such a product is not predictably available at any price, let’s take the realistic approach.

Since any paper contaminants naturally come from the paper, and since the blanket is the first contact, a top quality blanket is a must. We have several blankets that seem to be winners in this respect. They provide better release to lessen the amount of calcium transfer.

Routine cleaning of the blanket with solvent and water, followed with RBP Blanket Conditioner has been shown to dramatically minimize the transfer of contaminants into your ink and water systems.

Ink rollers should be deglazed weekly then treated at the end of the washup with RBP Cal-Free to dissolve any calcium remaining in the pores of the rubber.

Other than that, remain cognizant of the fact that if every time you run a particular brand of paper you have trouble, try another brand whenever possible.

From Star Bulletin, July, 2000

Q.: Why do some printers use color bars with all sorts of weird color blocks and numbers in addition to the solid squares?

A.: These color bars are used to help monitor press problems and color balance in addition to the solid squares you read with a densitometer. The star targets are very difficult to print perfectly, so mechanical or chemical problems in the press are judged by the pattern of slur toward the center of the target. Some bar sets have a 40% black screen block followed by another block made up of the other three colors, which, if everything is working properly, the two blocks should look the same from a normal viewing distance. Multi-color squares are often included to indicate how well inks are trapping, both in a wet-trap or a dry trapping situation. Other components feature concentric circles or a variety of small dots and squares with numbers next to them. This helps identify problems concerning dot gain.

These bar sets are the number one tool that is used to evaluate printability, and to the trained eye a great many press problems can be quickly identified to enable corrective measures to be taken.

To receive more information or to buy some bar sets contact Graphic Arts Technical Foundation at 412-741-6860. They are located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and have many sets available for various requirements. There are other sets of bars available, but I don’t have any information on any of them.

Always insist on bars from the legitimate manufacturers of these items, don’t let somebody sell you a set out of their trunk, as they may simply be poorly made duplicates and won’t necessarily come with adequate instructions for proper interpretation. How can I say this? Because I already went that route years ago, and the directions were not available so I fought a lot of problems unnecessarily due to my inability to understand what all the components of the color bar were intended to show.

From Star Bulletin, June, 2000

Q.: I was at a large trade show recently and several pressmen running different brands of presses told me not to use Step 1 and 2 Roller Wash. Can you explain?

A.: There are several things at work here. The first is that many new large presses are equipped with automatic roller washing units which only utilize one roller wash product. A good water miscible wash is recommended by all manufacturers I have talked to, so that lets out both Step 1 and 2.

A look back into the history of offset printing as we know it today starts back in the early part of the 1900’s. Letterpress was the predominant printing method, and those presses were all washed up by hand, due to a lack of washup attachments, at least on presses built in this country. To get rollers really clean, they just scrubbed them with type wash. Offset presses were initially cleaned the same way, until washup trays were invented. The problem was that typewash quickly damaged the material offset rollers were made from back then and not a lot of technology had gone into solvents of any kind, especially for the new, “upstart offset printing method.”

Several chemical companies may have been approached by local printing trade groups, and eventually somebody came up with Step 1, which was a simple mixture of heavy industrial liquid soap (soap cleans hands, right?) and some solvent to help the mixture break down the heavy ink. There was a real terror of getting water near ink rollers back then, so Step 2 was “invented.” Most Step 2 formulas are nothing more than gas station solvent or paint thinner, but they were utilized to remove the greasy residue left behind by the Step 1. At one point in time there was also a “Step 3,” which may have been something stronger, but I can’t find any information on this.

The problem today is that while Step 1 and 2 will definitely remove ink vehicle and pigment very thoroughly, they can absolutely not remove any water soluble glaze or contamination that builds up in your roller train, not even if you use a thousand gallons of each of them. The symptoms you may encounter are roller stripping of certain ink colors in an extreme case, but the most common occurrence is a lot of ink buildup on blankets, often referred to as “picture framing.” Therefore, for top performance, you would need to deglaze after every washup. The problem is, your rollers won’t last long under these conditions, so another system had to be found.

Water miscible washes were introduced some decades back and they answered the need to clean varnish, pigment and water soluble contaminants all with a single product. Deglazing is normally accomplished in under five minutes once a week.

In my own experience, I used Step 1 and 2 for many years on all sizes of presses, and looking back now, I indeed had a lot of abnormal problems, particularly “picture framing” and poor color control, requiring a lot of makeready sheets to be run through the press to get and hold true color.

Don’t let tradition deter you from trying new products. Call us for some samples of modern roller cleaning products and experience the benefits available to our industry. If you still want a good Step 1 and 2, we can furnish you with any of three different brands.

From Star Bulletin, January, 2000

Q.: Why do I have constant problems when I mix a metallic ink formula and the color never matches?

A.: We have mixed metallic color formulas at Star for many years now, and the one thing that we have learned after working with four different ink manufacturers is that these formulas virtually never match the formula book. This is due, in part, to the multitude of variables that continue to plague the printing industry.

Today we mix only from Superior mixing gold or silver. The printing gold and silver inks print extremely well, but for whatever reason the mixing inks are better suited for consistent color mixing and matching. Once we have corrected the formula and the color matches, that formula is the one we always use on that color. And subsequent mixes always match.

As to the variables, assuming the ink does indeed match our formula book (not necessarily your book or another book), we then arrive at the printing press, where papers impart different looks to the ink. The condition of the press can change colors dramatically, particularly metallic colors. The type of lighting in the shop will shift colors more than most of us may realize. Because the tiny metallic flakes are flat and totally opaque while ink pigment particles are somewhat round and transparent, any mixture of the two will create a color that is very difficult to evaluate. If you don’t think a color matches, simply turn 90 degrees to the light source and you’ll often see a different color; or go near a window where sunlight will further confuse your color perception.

For the ultimate challenge, let’s try to match something that another printer printed last year. He already went through what you’re going through and made a decision at some point and ran the job even though it might not have matched his book either; or maybe his customer approved the color on press after an untold amount of frustration. Now, you’re trying to match the yellowed ink on the furnished sample, and you will most likely have three colors that don’t quite match each other.

I hope this has shed some light on the crux of the problem. Metallic blends have always been problematic and will continue to be so. For best results call your ink supplier for an accurate formula or buy ink already mixed. Then deglaze your press and check all pressure settings, mix new fountain solution and run your job. Good luck!!

From Star Bulletin, January, 2000

Q.: How can I save money on my one pound special ink color mixes?

A.: By mixing them yourself. Labor is more expensive for an ink company because they must mix the ink first then verify that the color is correct. Mixing less than a pound isn’t much of an option, since the raw material is the smallest portion of the cost. Then it has to be neatly canned and labeled and packaged for shipment. And, of course, there’s paperwork that takes additional time.

When most printers need a minimal amount of ink for a small job, it’s a relatively simple matter to just mix an ounce or two, run the job and discard the leftover ink. You would only mix a pound of ink if you have certain colors that you use often.

You say it’s too time consuming to mix your own ink? You don’t have the time? It’s just too complicated?

It shouldn’t be. A simple triple beam or digital scale and a piece of plate glass is the only equipment needed in most cases.

We hire people to mix ink here at Star, and in as little as fifteen minutes we can teach somebody who has never seen the inside of a printing shop how to use a digital scale and the techniques of thoroughly blending the colors together.

Why a digital scale? Because it always starts at zero regardless of how much ink has been slopped onto it. And digital numbers are much easier for beginners to work with, especially when you need a fraction of a pound. For instance, how much is ¼ of 7/8? Decimals are just easier to understand. And you don’t need to deal with the beam hopping around when you’re attempting to judge how much ink is on the dish.

I had been mixing ink for decades when I finally took the time to go to one of our ink suppliers for some hands-on training. I thought I knew everything about mixing ink, but I gotta say that I didn’t. I know a lot more now, and I’m still learning, and I have plenty of information to share.

This article could go on and on, but if you are interested in saving a lot of time and money on special mixes, stop by our place and we’ll be happy to give you some pointers and explain the fine points of mixing ink. I can also furnish a lot of information over the phone, so don’t be afraid to call.

From Star Bulletin, July, 2000

Q.: Our plate supplier says our rollers are severely glazed and we’re having a lot of problems with all brands of plates, especially on the first units of our 4-color press. We have tried all sorts of deglazers without success. What is the next step?

A.: We have seen this problem in a steadily increasing number of shops. It gets back to the fact that there are, indeed, a lot of strange ingredients leaching out of papers and ending up in your ink and water rollers where they build up in layers.

Normal deglazing ordinarily prevents this buildup from occurring, but in the day-to-day rush to turn out jobs we often skip over this very important step and it eventually causes all sorts of problems. The fact that the first units of multi-color presses are the ones affected the worst virtually proves that something is coming out of the paper regardless of what some folks may want you to believe.

I know you don’t want to read this next sentence, but the alternative is to continue having problems and losing valuable production time and materials.

Pull all the rollers out of the press and hand scrub them with our RBP Blanket Conditioner. Don’t even attempt to pour it into the ink train in hopes it will accomplish the same results—it most likely won’t. And it will possibly swell some of the rollers. By hand cleaning, you only have the product on the roller for a very short period of time and the rubbing action of the rag dislodges an unbelievable amount of sludge built up deep in the pores of the rubber. Any slight swelling will go back down usually within fifteen minutes. As you reinstall the rollers be sure to check and adjust them if necessary.

Rollers cleaned this way will normally perform so much better that you’ll see the difference and be more inclined to hand clean them quarterly.

Weekly deglazing will often keep rollers clean enough to avoid emergency deglazing, although many shops deglaze daily during the last washup, which should only add five minutes to the procedure.

Call us for our recommendations for your particular requirements.