Care & Feeding of the Crestline®(and Other Bareback Style Dampeners)by Jim Meagher There seems to be a lot of confusion about the Crestline® Dampener. The statements below would also apply to the Kompac® and Heidelberg Quickmaster dampeners. After having dealt with literally hundreds of these dampeners on all makes of presses, we have determined that the most common problems are directly caused by both improper cleaning products or techniques and the persistent attempt to “stretch” the useful life of the rollers beyond any reasonable time span. Simplicity Itself The Crestline® Dampening System was developed for two very important reasons: 1. The elimination of a need to use alcohol in fountain solutions and, 2. To make the press easier to run, and to improve quality, particularly in the case of an operator new to our industry, who is just learning. A properly performing Crestline® easily fulfills both of these promises, until the “new” wears off, that is. As with any “de-skilling” attachment, there are trade-offs—you can’t get something for nothing. Since the “skill” of dampening is built into the dampening unit, all adjustments must be absolutely correct (roller pressure stripes). The rollers must be impeccably clean and free of contaminants (Star’s Press$Diet© Roller Maintenance System easily fulfills this requirement). And the rollers must be of the correct durometer or hardness. If even one of these requirements slips away, the necessary skill level shoots up and experimentation inevitably begins, normally with fountain solutions and additives, and quality and production go out the window. What permits this dampener to work is the fact that all properly formulated ink emulsifies slightly and carries a certain amount of water within the ink film on the rollers. More ink carries more water to automatically keep solids smooth and reverses open while areas of light coverage across the plate from the solid areas would tend to transfer less ink to the dampening rollers and less water will therefore be transferred to the plate in that area. Cheap Insurance If the above conditions are always met and maintained, this system performs flawlessly and top quality comes “automatically.” If rollers are kept immaculate and pressure stripes are maintained but the plate scums or builds up ink in the non-image areas, even after opening up the metering roller, the answer is simple: You need new rollers. The rollers are the built in skill. They normally perform perfectly for about a year, at which time you must begin to compensate slightly, perhaps a slightly wetter mixture of fountain solution. The deterioration then accelerates rapidly during the next six months or so until the rollers no longer can do their job and problems mount as jobs get ruined and production suffers. Is it worth it? (Remember, paper companies love bad rollers!) A Fact of Life From a cost standpoint, if you replace rollers yearly, each roller in this dampener will cost you about 8¢ per hour. Normally the hard rollers can be expected to last from three to five years, so add up your soft rollers and shove a quarter an hour into a coffee can. At the end of a year you’ll already have the funds for three new rollers. You say you only run the press four hours a day? It doesn’t matter. The clock is still ticking and the rollers are still becoming harder. Usage seldom hardens rollers; father time does. Since rollers in the Crestline® are all intended to carry ink, they must be cleaned like ink rollers—ink rollers that also carry water! Read the foregoing sentence several times and remember it well the next time somebody tells you to clean the rollers with dampening roller cleaning products. If you would like to get your Crestline or other “bareback” style dampener under control, give us a call. We can introduce you to our Press$Diet© Roller Maintenance System and help dispel any other myths you’ve heard. We’ve done the research and now we have most of the answers. Give us a call at 303-423-6300 to proceed. |