LOST JEEPS :: View topic - Impo software / Other

CD wrote:

Cmohr, what's the best way to clean the dampener covers. I was doing it with cold water but I now think hot would be best.

There are a lot of different opionions about that, I find for me, big sink, get a jet nossel on the end of a hose, and blast them clean just with water alone (no cleaners), hold the roller at one end and sit the bearing at the other end in the sink so as the roller can freely spin, use the water jet at an angle so as it spins the roller around, and run the jet up and down the roller, you should see all the ink coming off it and it coming clean, then I ussually just keep the jet at one end so it spins the roller real fast and that works like a spin drier and flicks all the rest of the water out.

I used to do the whole put dampener cleaner in and srubb with a brush, but, i found that that just rubbed ink further in and left the dampener contaminated with the cleaners and old ink, that can cause heaps of problems printing, like tinting in non-image areas and ink imulsifing causing poor images and solids. Make sure you keep your fountain solution clean, always wet the dampeners with fountain solution before putting them in , don't start up the rollers dry and get ink on them, if you always use fountain solution, it will help the cover to repell the ink. Then, when cleaning with the high pressure plain water jet the ink just comes out and the roller comes back to white (or red or blue depending on brand) very and easily.. If your dampener rollers don't have exposed bearing at each end for you to rest them on, it may be that they are held in the machine by a rod that you insest thru the side of the press, thru the roller and into the other side of the press, if thats the case, just thread the bar back thru the roller after you take it out of the press, that will give you something for it to spin on and something for you to hold on to whilst using the water jet. I always found the better and faster the roller spun whilst I was washing it, the cleaner and better the roller would be. Then after I had finished cleaning the roller, and I was shutting down for the night, I would spray the cover with a little straight fountain solution to wet the cover again, then scrap off the excess with a blunt edge (nothing sharp) that would then dry into the dampener cover once again making it better repell ink later.

If you look at the cover you will see the nap falls in only one direction, only ever scape the roller in the direction of the nap, if yu go against it you can cut and damage the cover and reduce its life and effectiveness. I think you have 2 wetting rollers and 1 ductor roller in that system, when you install them into the machine make sure the naps fall in alternating directions, IE if the ductor roller falls towards the operator side make sure the 1st wetting roller falls towards the off side, and then the 2nd wetting roller back towards the operator again, the water flows in the direction of the nap as the machine spins, and if all are facing the same direction, you'll find it hard to get an even water flow, you'll be washing out on one side and getting scumming on the other. Also make sur eyou regularly adjust the dampener pressures and keep them even, standard sort of presures (3-5mm bead, or if setting with strips moderate- even pressure both sides) uneven pressures willl again result in water travelling to one side or the other, scumming or washing out.

Hope that kinda makes sense.

cmohr

Oh and COLD water works a treat. Only ever use hot (or even boiling water) when you first shrink the covers on, after that, cold is all you need.

Author:	CD [ Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:	Impo software / Other
Cmohr what would you recomend I get (or anyone else), I had a look last night at a plug in for indesign. Price was good but not sure of the cost on indesign. I need to be able to create pdf's, convert cmyk to pms or grey scale & impose files. Also create bleed etc... . I'm going to be running this on a PC (for now, yes I know MAC is better but that can wait a while). CD

Author:	cmohr [ Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:19 pm ]
Post subject:
A little program called "Quite Imposing" is good, works as a plugin, but, to do other changes in indesign you need something like "Pitstop". You can get a trail version from the Enfocus website, last 30 days, then just use it again for 30 days, so on, and so on. Acrobat, for making pdfs, "quite imposing" is aslo a plugin to acrobat. To do any colour changes and global changes to trims media boxes, bleeds and the like, its pitstop again is the power tool for all typs of changes and fixes. CS3 is the latest package to get , it has InDesign, photoshop, acrobat, distiller, illistrator all combinded, then you get quite impo and pitstop as plugins, and you should be able to cope with just about anything. Yes, running on a PC platform is fine, just get PC versions...lol..

Author:	CD [ Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:58 pm ]
Post subject:
Thanks mate, I got a price from HT (approx $1750). Better than induvidual buy's, probably stop in on the way home to have a look see.

Author:	cmohr [ Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:50 am ]
Post subject:
I like mince..... any kind of mince, including fruit mince... You can have it in pies, pasta, meatballs, hamburger, savory mince, stews, taco's, spring rolls, curries.............. My favourite is San Choy Bow. Mmmmmmmmm

Author:	pipeliner [ Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:01 am ]
Post subject:
I use CutePDF for producing pdfs - problems I had with Acrobat have never occurred with Cute.

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Author:	CD [ Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:02 am ]
Post subject:
Hmmm cute .. mince, you Queenslanders sure know your stuff

Author:	cmohr [ Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:
pipeliner wrote: I use CutePDF for producing pdfs - problems I had with Acrobat have never occurred with Cute. Adobe invented the pdf and I'm not talking about simple pdf making, I'm talking about Acrobat Professional its a very different kettle of fish, I run pdf's to my digital press that are over 1gig in some bookwork cases....and to print from a pdf you need HI-res documents with bleeds, trim, bleed and media boxes, imbedded fonts, transparencies flattened etc etc, you need to convert RGB to cmyk and work with the Pantone colour system, it's a very different pdf than the everyday one. Cutepdf sounds cute, but it would be like showing up to a mining site with a gardening spade.

Author:	CD [ Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:
cmohr wrote: pipeliner wrote: it would be like showing up to a mining site with a gardening spade. Classic. I got CS3

Author:	cmohr [ Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:54 pm ]
Post subject:
Good, make sure you get the Pitstop plugin.

Author:	CD [ Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:
Did my 1st paid print job last night .... didn't go to bed till 2am . Got up at 5.15 to start trimming, now I'm at work and am looking forward to going to bed tonight

Author:	cmohr [ Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:19 am ]
Post subject:
CD wrote: Did my 1st paid print job last night .... didn't go to bed till 2am . Got up at 5.15 to start trimming, now I'm at work and am looking forward to going to bed tonight Yeah, those runs of 250 business cards take forever Congrats matey...The start of something BIG.

Author:	CD [ Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:44 am ]
Post subject:
cmohr wrote: CD wrote: Did my 1st paid print job last night .... didn't go to bed till 2am . Got up at 5.15 to start trimming, now I'm at work and am looking forward to going to bed tonight Yeah, those runs of 250 business cards take forever Congrats matey...The start of something BIG. LOL, not lookig forward to B'Cards. This was 40'000 1pp A5's and I've got to say I'm a little rusty.

Author:	CD [ Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:31 pm ]
Post subject:
Cmohr, what's the best way to clean the dampener covers. I was doing it with cold water but I now think hot would be best.

Author:	cmohr [ Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:54 pm ]
Post subject:
CD wrote: Cmohr, what's the best way to clean the dampener covers. I was doing it with cold water but I now think hot would be best. There are a lot of different opionions about that, I find for me, big sink, get a jet nossel on the end of a hose, and blast them clean just with water alone (no cleaners), hold the roller at one end and sit the bearing at the other end in the sink so as the roller can freely spin, use the water jet at an angle so as it spins the roller around, and run the jet up and down the roller, you should see all the ink coming off it and it coming clean, then I ussually just keep the jet at one end so it spins the roller real fast and that works like a spin drier and flicks all the rest of the water out. I used to do the whole put dampener cleaner in and srubb with a brush, but, i found that that just rubbed ink further in and left the dampener contaminated with the cleaners and old ink, that can cause heaps of problems printing, like tinting in non-image areas and ink imulsifing causing poor images and solids. Make sure you keep your fountain solution clean, always wet the dampeners with fountain solution before putting them in , don't start up the rollers dry and get ink on them, if you always use fountain solution, it will help the cover to repell the ink. Then, when cleaning with the high pressure plain water jet the ink just comes out and the roller comes back to white (or red or blue depending on brand) very and easily.. If your dampener rollers don't have exposed bearing at each end for you to rest them on, it may be that they are held in the machine by a rod that you insest thru the side of the press, thru the roller and into the other side of the press, if thats the case, just thread the bar back thru the roller after you take it out of the press, that will give you something for it to spin on and something for you to hold on to whilst using the water jet. I always found the better and faster the roller spun whilst I was washing it, the cleaner and better the roller would be. Then after I had finished cleaning the roller, and I was shutting down for the night, I would spray the cover with a little straight fountain solution to wet the cover again, then scrap off the excess with a blunt edge (nothing sharp) that would then dry into the dampener cover once again making it better repell ink later. If you look at the cover you will see the nap falls in only one direction, only ever scape the roller in the direction of the nap, if yu go against it you can cut and damage the cover and reduce its life and effectiveness. I think you have 2 wetting rollers and 1 ductor roller in that system, when you install them into the machine make sure the naps fall in alternating directions, IE if the ductor roller falls towards the operator side make sure the 1st wetting roller falls towards the off side, and then the 2nd wetting roller back towards the operator again, the water flows in the direction of the nap as the machine spins, and if all are facing the same direction, you'll find it hard to get an even water flow, you'll be washing out on one side and getting scumming on the other. Also make sur eyou regularly adjust the dampener pressures and keep them even, standard sort of presures (3-5mm bead, or if setting with strips moderate- even pressure both sides) uneven pressures willl again result in water travelling to one side or the other, scumming or washing out. Hope that kinda makes sense. cmohr Oh and COLD water works a treat. Only ever use hot (or even boiling water) when you first shrink the covers on, after that, cold is all you need.

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Author:	CD [ Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:54 pm ]
Post subject:
cmohr wrote: CD wrote: Cmohr, what's the best way to clean the dampener covers. I was doing it with cold water but I now think hot would be best. There are a lot of different opionions about that, I find for me, big sink, get a jet nossel on the end of a hose, and blast them clean just with water alone (no cleaners), hold the roller at one end and sit the bearing at the other end in the sink so as the roller can freely spin, use the water jet at an angle so as it spins the roller around, and run the jet up and down the roller, you should see all the ink coming off it and it coming clean, then I ussually just keep the jet at one end so it spins the roller real fast and that works like a spin drier and flicks all the rest of the water out. I used to do the whole put dampener cleaner in and srubb with a brush, but, i found that that just rubbed ink further in and left the dampener contaminated with the cleaners and old ink, that can cause heaps of problems printing, like tinting in non-image areas and ink imulsifing causing poor images and solids. Make sure you keep your fountain solution clean, always wet the dampeners with fountain solution before putting them in , don't start up the rollers dry and get ink on them, if you always use fountain solution, it will help the cover to repell the ink. Then, when cleaning with the high pressure plain water jet the ink just comes out and the roller comes back to white (or red or blue depending on brand) very and easily.. If your dampener rollers don't have exposed bearing at each end for you to rest them on, it may be that they are held in the machine by a rod that you insest thru the side of the press, thru the roller and into the other side of the press, if thats the case, just thread the bar back thru the roller after you take it out of the press, that will give you something for it to spin on and something for you to hold on to whilst using the water jet. I always found the better and faster the roller spun whilst I was washing it, the cleaner and better the roller would be. Then after I had finished cleaning the roller, and I was shutting down for the night, I would spray the cover with a little straight fountain solution to wet the cover again, then scrap off the excess with a blunt edge (nothing sharp) that would then dry into the dampener cover once again making it better repell ink later. If you look at the cover you will see the nap falls in only one direction, only ever scape the roller in the direction of the nap, if yu go against it you can cut and damage the cover and reduce its life and effectiveness. I think you have 2 wetting rollers and 1 ductor roller in that system, when you install them into the machine make sure the naps fall in alternating directions, IE if the ductor roller falls towards the operator side make sure the 1st wetting roller falls towards the off side, and then the 2nd wetting roller back towards the operator again, the water flows in the direction of the nap as the machine spins, and if all are facing the same direction, you'll find it hard to get an even water flow, you'll be washing out on one side and getting scumming on the other. Also make sur eyou regularly adjust the dampener pressures and keep them even, standard sort of presures (3-5mm bead, or if setting with strips moderate- even pressure both sides) uneven pressures willl again result in water travelling to one side or the other, scumming or washing out. Hope that kinda makes sense. cmohr Oh and COLD water works a treat. Only ever use hot (or even boiling water) when you first shrink the covers on, after that, cold is all you need. You’re a funny bugger, I'm pretty much over most of that but I appreciate the comments as they have helped reaffirm what I already know (so a great help). I will go with the jet hose approach, up until now I was using the ink knife and water from the bottle. But I was making the mistake of scraping both ways  . Last night I did a job with a big black solid and a big yellow solid, I think I had everything go wrong that could LOL. Got the job out and it looks good, looking back I feel great about getting it going but at the time I was real pissed LOL

Author:	CD [ Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:06 am ]
Post subject:
The paper plate I used last night only just lasted 5000 impressions, the non image area started to scum (no matter what I did - could have been me?) and I was lucky to run the qty out. I tried all sorts of things, + the condition of the plate was less than average. I'm printing 7000$ for one job and 10'000 for another job this weekend so I'm going to try the synthetic paper plate and see how they last. I will have a look at the brand of plate and let you know what I'm using. CD

Author:	cmohr [ Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:47 am ]
Post subject:
Tinting could be containation, or conductivity (pH levels) some of the newer papers are very alkaline, as you print it leaches out of the stock and builds up on the plate and fountain, then your tinting. get some pH test strips, a trick I used to use to bring the pH back was white vinegar, small amount in the fountain and a quick wipe over the plate and all was clean again. Watch the stretch on those paper plates, can be a real hassle with multi colour work. Is it a silvermaster of electrostatic plater???? Direct imaging or photo????? With silvermaster you have to watch the exposures so as not to get shadowing in the backgounds.

Author:	CD [ Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:37 am ]
Post subject:
I'm 99% sure they are Silvermaster plates, and it's a camera. I should take a pic of the unit to show you. The job I did last night had a black solid with reversed out type (which was yellow). On the top of the job was a yellow seal and around the bugger was a .5mm key line, that was a witch to fit. Not to mention it was 2 up , probably easy for you but for a bloke getting back into the game it was a good challenge I will get some of the vinegar and keep it on hand just encase, I will also do a ph test of the fountain solution. We used to use alcohol and water on the web press, but this bugger dosent drink .

Author:	cmohr [ Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:46 am ]
Post subject:
You can...... use iso (alcohol) but, with dampeners it tends to dry out too quickly and then catch-up, check your pH levels, also, the raw water pH, that can be a bit of a trick, as sometimes its the water out of the tap thats causing the problem..