Impression heavier on edges of text block

Hey, guys! 

I’m trying to troubleshoot an issue I’ve been having a lot lately. 

Because this happens with just about everything I print, I’m assuming it’s an issue not with my makeready, but with either my rollers or the print bed. 

Any time I have a longer line of text, the words on the ends of the line will print much heavier than the middle. 

Do you think this is a roller height problem? 

I’ve attached a picture for your reference. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks

Allie

Allie, a few more details should help narrow down your trouble.

(1) What press are you working on? (You might be exceeding the impression strength of the press.)

(2) Is the impression that’s heavier, or is there more ink at the ends of the lines? (Check this by taking an impression with no ink on the press.)

(3) Are you running the lines of type parallel or perpendicular to the rollers?

(4) The photo above is photopolymer, yes?

Oh my gosh, Duh! Sorry….

1) I am printing on a C&P 10×15. I don’t typically print with a super heavy impression because I don’t want to break my press. 

2) I feel like the impression is about the same, its just the ink that’s heavier. Or, if the impression is more, it’s very subtle. How would you check that, other than running your finger across it?

3) I am running the lines of text perpendicular to the rollers. I typically do it this way. Is there a better method?

4) Yes, I use photopolymer.

Thanks so much for your reply! Really looking forward to some help here 🙂

Cool–the only suggestion I have is to try running text parallel to the rollers. I was taught that this will eliminate the “end-of-line” inking variation, because then the line of type itself holds the rollers up. If the rollers are only hitting one letter at a time, then they put much more ink/pressure than you want on the sparse areas of your form.

If you still want to print perpendicularly, you’ll need to raise your rollers (or tape your rails) in those areas. You could use something like bearers (or a bit of extra polymer) outside your printing/paper area to help balance the rollers better.

Hope that helps!

Kelly

Kelly,That is genius. I will try it! Thank you so much for your help.Allie

Good morning! 
Sounds like you already got some great advice. I’ll just add my two cents in case it helps shed a little more light on the problem you’re having.

I have had this too-much-ink-on-the-outside-of-the-line problem in the past as well. I usually run my text parallel to my rollers, but it can happen with running text perpendicular to the rollers too.  My printing mentor at Day Moon Press (doen’t use photopolymere and) often uses what she calls rails, type-high leading off the edge of the printed page, to basically hold the roller rubber at the same height across the surface of the printed text. This is seems to work slightly differently than just raising your rollers. Because you are using photopolymere, you can’t add leading, but you could perhaps add some height by using old spare photopolymere to get the height needed, as Kelly suggested below. The main problem I’ve found with trying to just raise the rollers is that the center type doesn’t get inked well, but I don’t know if this will happen with adding photopolymer outside the printing area – because I haven’t tried it! 

I’m curious to know how you solved the problem for this project – and I’d love to see how the finished product turns out! 

Kindly, Marit

Interesting! 

Thanks so much for this, Marit. I’ll definitely look into it. I haven’t done any printing since the problem started so no progress to show yet, but I’ll definitely update you girls as soon as I do!

Allie

Please, change the position of the plate, and cheek  if the plate is burn correctly…

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