Hi everyone! If there is a professional who knows how to run this press please please please- a few words of advise. I am a new printer with 10 years large copiers service experience so i can read, understand ( I think ) and follow manuals on all the adjustments procedures... Press has all new soft rubber rollers, nips are within range, AB Dick pink fount. solution, Spinks Acrylic ink ( as per POPKIN and CO tech that's only ink that will run well on this press). I cannot get density right especially on sides (run 11x17 20lb exclusively). Looks like too much water but any less will cause toning. Poly or Metal plates make no difference. Best case - middle gets nice and dense color but can't get sides printed right no matter how much I open the ink keys... Please any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Roman.

What kind of dampening system is on this press?
I don't think the press is limited to that type of fountain solution or inks.

It's, I believe, called intagrated- hard roller in a pan and soft swings between ink oscilator and fount roller. There is a fount roller to ductor adjustment on both sides and frequency adjustment lever. Tech didn't actually said that press is limited to strictly acrylic - just said that what works best. I had tryed to run some oil based ink - it was total failure, plate was flooding with ink regardless how much ink is in the system and how much water I supply. Fact that I had touched press less than year ago first time in my life and that had a Kompac and this one I had for Half a year - put over 2 mil imp. so far. Biggest problem - lots of my jobs have a border about 1/8 thick and as paper pass, top and bottom lines look light where leading and trail look ok. Also some ink accumulates on the leading edge of the blanket and at some point goes on the image so I have to stop and wipe it off. If there are any solid spots they don't look dense even if I decrease water supply and plate gets all toned up they still not solid as they should be. Funniest thing that it looks like there are 2 spring load adjustments and 1 lever and I am lost in it like it's a jungle . I had spent countless hours and boxes of paper just experimenting, never thought that I would have so much patience and will to accomplish something and keep on hitting dead end. I do run Multi 1250LW and AB Dick 360 making really saleable products, close registration, thermography B/cards allmost from the scratch, from knowing nothing and this press is killing me. Any advice... If anyone lives within driving distance from Brooklyn, NY and really knows this particilar press I am willing to compencate your time to come and share your experience with me. Thank you. Roman.

Things that I had done so far:
Strips look 3-4 mm even
Plate does covers solid with ink if no water supplied.
Looks like there is nice solid image on the blanket,
putting packing under blanket does not change anything,
putting thicker packing does not change anything

Unlimited I am not familiar with the Ryobi but I had a similar problem with a press that had a Kompac water system. The edges of the water form roller were worn and the roller needed to be replaced. This is just a guess in the wind as you have not specifed the make of your watering system. This Kompac had replaceable nylon seals on the sides that were constantly being replaced to no avail.

How are you mixing your solution? Per 1 qt bottle I use 4 oz solution (pink silvermaster (which I believe you're using) and 2 oz of silvermaster etch then fill to top line with H20. Something to try is fill a few clean jugs with water and let them sit to distill a few days. I've had better luck doing this then running straight from the tap. The water system on the 3200 is a whore at best. So I feel your pain. I use the etch as a wetting agent being it's a alcohol based solution. It does help. Also poly plates do require a bit more water to run. As for the line on your lead edge try moving the image down 1/8" on the plate. This will allow you to move the plate cyl up above the blanket and will eliminate the lead edge line. Should not be a problem if you can run more than a 17" sheet. You have the room. Right now if yor running the plate and blanket cyl gripper edge parallell you'll get a line no matter what. This is common buildup any press will get when running jobs "to size" stock wise. Also if you over pack the blanket you'll get the lines as well. It's not so much a pressure problem you have it's a water balance issue. So stay well within factory specs on the packing. Also be sure your plate chemistry is not spent and needs to be changed. So tell me what your solution mix is now. You might need to change it a bit to better suit the "good" Brooklyn water ya got there.

Thank you very much for all this attention. I am using distilled water and AB Dick fountain solution for dampening. I will try to mix it the way you had recommended and as far as framing-I see your point, besides moving image on the plate, I see that I'd have to re-arrange impression to blanket cylinders position a little bit on the bottom unit. I guess make it the way it positioned on the top since top unit has no problem. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Glad to help and good luck. Keep me posted on how things are going. Distilled H20 is by far the best when running the poly or silvermaster plates. And you might have to adjust your mix to suit. But that should give you a good base to work from. Sorry I'm so late with the reply here. I don't check in here as often as I'd like to.

i have run 3200pfa for years and sorry to say you wont get dense solids off it,mainly cos its blanket to blanket pressure there is no impression cylinder as such,keep me posted on any problems

Try using rotary inks. They run fine