Ink disappears and reappears on C&P

Hello —

My 8×12 NS C&P has new rubber rollers with metal trucks. I tape the trucks and the rails with electrical tape and I’ve used the roller gauge to set it at the correct height.

 

Now, what happens is that I’ll print a few with perfect inking and then the bottom of the plate inking will go away… then it’ll reappear after a few more turns but another area will disappear. So the disappearing act  ?moves? throughout the press run.

 

I am using all three rollers so it seems crazy that they all are at a high spot at the same time. But since the ink “moves” throughout the plate, it can’t be one certain place where there’s a high spot.

 

I see that this happens to other folks but there never seems to be a solution.

 

The only thing that I am thinking are that my rollers sit on the press which I guess could create a low spot from the tape compressing? (I don’t take my rollers off because it’s literally the hardest thing ever!)

Or, that my trucks or roller cores are not even. Which is frustrating since I sent them a roller recasting company (about 6 months ago) who should have checked them to make sure they were correct.

 

Any solutions? It is a problem which needs to be solved or else I can’t print.

Thank you!

 

PS. I live in the DC area so if you know of anyone could come see the press and help me, I would be forever grateful.

 

I was having the same issue and it sounds like you may need to check to be absolutely sure that your platen is perfectly even/parallel to the chase (as a whole). Take the time to test all four corners. Take similar plates, put them in each corner and you will see where you need to adjust. Make sure to have someone there to help you and be careful–make only one adjustment at a time and check. It takes a good bit of strength and some time, but it’s WORTH IT!! Good Luck!! xo, Dee

 

PS. This is assuming that you’ve checked your plate, tympan, packing, etc…Make sure to do this first…;)

 

Oh, and one more thing… make sure your rollers and taped rails don’t have any sticky buildup from the tape… 

Hi Dee,

Thanks!

I just recently checked all four corners of the press and adjusted accordingly. The impression is even, it’s just that the rollers are not inking up the plate in certain areas.

 

I think I’ll re-tape my rails and trucks to “freshen” it up today and see if that can make a difference.

 

Thank you for helping to problem solve this with me!

 

Best,

Laura

Hi There,

It could be that your rollers are skidding across the rails. This has happened to me, and the solution was rather easy! Apply chalk on your rails. I take a stick of chalk and run it across my rails. Electrical tape can cause a slick surface, especially if both your rails and trucks are taped up…

Best of luck to you!

 

Janet

oh interesting! Chalk! Hm… I’m going to try that.

Yes, sometimes ink/ink wash can get on the rails as I’m cleaning up so it could be skidding from that.

 

Thank you for the tip!

I recently had a similar problem. I took all the tape off my rails and cleaned the rails *really* well with a brass wire brush (the kind that spins on the end of a drill), and put a good clean layer of tape down. Then I ordered new trucks (Delrin). I think the new trucks did the trick; at least it’s been printing well for the last 2 weeks!

Hooray!

Good to know!

I recently put a clean layer of tape down as well and it seems to help — I’ve got to keep printing for awhile to see if it turns up again but so far so good.

 

I’ve heard good and bad things regarding Delrin trucks and NA Graphics doesn’t recommend them for a C&P press ( he mentioned because of inconsistent inking?) but if yours seem work better, I dunno what to do!

 

 

NA Graph’s description for the Morgan Expansion Trucks for a C&P 8×12 says that they do recommend Delrin:

 

If you print from photopolymer plates, we recommend using our solid Delrin truck–experienced press operators report better success in uniform inking when using the Delrin truck.

Oh yes, you’re right — I mixed up Morgan Expansion Trucks for the Delrin ones.

 

Thanks for the correction!

 

Yes! I had the Morgan Expansion Trucks, then switched to Delrin. Better results so far.

Laura, 

 

What kind of plates are you using? Are you sure they are perfectly even? I was having this issue recently (I use magnesium plates) and realized the plate was warped because the wood sliver underneath was warped). When I used my other plates, everything printed perfectly fine, so it confirmed that my roller height was okay and my impression was even.

 

Have you had any luck?

 

xo, 

Dee

 

 

I have seen the problem lately with my old rollers (they had some cuts in them that I thought maybe could have been hiding some solvent or not allowing the rollers to roll evenly. I got new rubber tires for my adjustable trucks and I guess If I still have issues I will try derlin trucks… Alot times I wonder if its my wood mounted mag plates however..

I would inspect your wood mounted mag plates… 

 

If you leave the rollers on the press up on the inking plate when you’re not using it, it may have created a flat spot, which would explain why it only prints sometimes. I leave my rollers on the press, but I make sure I take out the chase and make sure the rollers aren’t sitting on the plate. We were having some problems when we first got our press, so we sent our rollers in to be recovered and it turned out that the trucks were too big for the rollers. So the company fixed it for us. My husband had them recovered so I’m not sure the name of the company, I think it was in Cleveland.

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