Techtips

New UV Lamps but Low Output? By Tim Reece We all understand that conventional ultraviolet lamps diminish energy over time. Therefore, we use UV light meters to continually monitor the performance of these lamps so that we may adjust main and back exposure times. Certainly, some could argue that they don't need a UV light … Read More...
Struggling with printing pleasing highlights? Using these tips, your highlight issues can fade to zero! Prepress & Software Your press can only print as good as the artwork it’s given, so it’s only fitting that prepress plays a key role in improving highlight quality. While there are some tricks to provide an illusion of smooth … Read More...
Many times, during job changeovers, we are in a time crunch to get the next job on press and up and running. Cleaning chamber parts and re-assembling them can be time-consuming. Quite often, technicians are wiping, scraping, and practically chiseling dried ink. If not done properly, dried ink remnants remain on blade clamps and end … Read More...
It's easy to overlook a small plate problem when it isn't causing a glaring issue later in the printing process. Catching these small signs early can save a lot of headaches down the road... Floor thickness is set by the washout, not the back exposure time. While the plate relief may be correct, the back exposure … Read More...
Making plates isn't necessarily rocket science, but it is, indeed, a science! It is beneficial to track and quantify platemaking conditions so that changes in the equipment or finished plates are found before they cause costly problems on press. Measuring the UVA light output of your plate exposure unit is a great place to start. Most plate … Read More...
For the results of this test to be meaningful, the following four points are absolutely essential and must be followed: Do not touch or in any way contaminate the surface to be tested. Dirty surfaces lose their wettability. Do not use contaminated or outdated ACCU DYNE TEST™ marker pens. Never retest the same location on … Read More...
Gear marks that are evenly spaced, over distances longer than the pitch of the press gears, may be generated at the die station. Often times butt-cut dies, sheeter dies and rectangle dies, with long lengths of blade running across the web, are required to produce labels to meet customer specs. These long cross cut dies … Read More...
The proper connections to the ink pumps and viscosity control units are vital for proper operation and quick change over. The day of the hose clamp and screwdriver are a thing of the past. Having the proper connections and the ink hoses routed correctly make for a smooth ink delivery system. This also reduces downtime … Read More...
The UV Ink Spitting Problem UV flexo printing continues to achieve outstanding results in the flexo industry. However, despite the fact that many of the ink companies have dropped their viscosities for UV inks the phenomenon of UV ink spitting still persists. Although there are numerous explanations as to the cause of ink spitting, the … Read More...