Ink Management

All Printing Resources helps premier printer reduce costs with new end seal solution

Customer: Ampac Flexibles is a premier supplier of high performance printed and laminated materials to the pharmaceutical and food industries.
Situation: End seals in their enclosed press chambers were costly to replace and frequently caused leakage and down time.
Solution: APR designs a custom end seal for their printing press that reduces leakage, lasts longer and cost less.
Bottom Line: The new APR custom end seal reduces downtime and helps Ampac save significant money on press materials.

End Seal Racks

The Story

With demanding customers in the pharmaceutical and food industries, the Ampac facility in Cary, Illinois consistently needed to operate at maximum effectiveness. However, as is common with many print presses, the manufacturer's end seals needed to be replaced often to reduce ink leakage, driving operating cost higher and causing downtime. In fact, as many as 100 end seal replacements would be needed per month on their print presses. They also tried end seals from other suppliers using other materials–impregnated felt and various densities of foam–without the results they wanted.

"The new seal resulted in improved performance and reduced down time for changing seals or chambers."

- Paul Wendt
Press Department Supervisor
Ampac

"End seals are not just critical to print performance. Poor end seal performance can have a really big impact on the bottom line," says Tom McClelland, Technical Representative, APR. "End seals on the individual printing press chambers prevent the ink from leaking out of the cavity. If end seals wear out frequently, they have to be constantly inspected and changed out between jobs. Besides the downtime and manpower costs, the ink itself can cost a lot of money. And, when you have a press with eight chambers, for example, you have the potential for a lot of ink and downtime if you don't have a high-quality end seal that can last."

As is often the case, the end seals needed to meet exact specifications–to 1/10,000th of an inch–to ensure an extremely snug fit against the rollers. Fortunately, APR's end seal technology made it possible to both duplicate the end seal parameters and test different types of materials for better performance.

APR Finds the Perfect Fit

The end seals supplied by the print press manufacturer were made of hard rubber. Once the exact diameter and other specifications were met, the APR team set about making a variety of end seal samples using many different materials and grades.

"Using the circumference of our aniloxes, APR designed a seal with an exact fit to the anilox profile," says Paul Wendt, Press Department Supervisor, Ampac.

After many different sample materials were tested for performance, leakage and longevity, a light, hard foam seal was determined to be the best fit for the Ampac press. This material and the seals manufactured by APR not only performed as well and lasted at least as long as the original ones, they also resulted in a significant cost reduction.

APR End Seal Diameter Check

Custom End Seal Design and Supply

APR manufactured specialty end seals to fit the chamber system for the Ampac press in an effort to improve seal life and reduce leakage. This analysis lasted 30 days and included

  • End seal creation: The first step was to create an end seal that met exacting press specifications.
  • Sample end seal production: A variety of end seal samples were manufactured–at no cost–using many different materials such as felt, neoprene, rubber and foam; different grades, thicknesses and hardness were tested.
  • Leakage and performance testing: Working with the press operator under different print run conditions, the various samples were tested for performance and ability to prevent leakage.
  • Custom end seal manufacturing: Once the optimum end seal material was found–a hard and light foam–supplies are delivered as needed at a substantial cost savings over end seals previously provided.

The Benefits

"The new seal resulted in improved performance and reduced down time for changing seals or chambers," says Paul Wendt.

He cites the following results from switching to the custom-manufactured APR end seals:

  • Reduced ink loss
  • Improved up time
  • Reduced consumable materials waste (using less seals)

"With APR we have a partnership, not just a supplier-client relationship," says Paul Wendt. "Plus, I like the fact that you get the small company feel and personal service."

"If printers are having a problem with leakage or seal performance, we have the technology to have a seal that fits properly on the roller at a substantially lower cost.

Tom McClelland
Technical Representative
APR

More about APR's End Seals.

Share This!