Hickies

Hi All,
I have inherited a GTO 2 colour press, (the previous minder has just retired), and I am absolutely plagued with hickies. The guy who has retired has put up with it for years and tried everything to stop them, but he had no luck. The other single colour GTO that he ran had the same problem, is this something that is peculiar to GTO's? I have no experience of GTOs, but I am very surprised that a machine of this calibre should suffer from this problem.
I've never had this problem with any other press that I've run...........Solnas, Rolands etc.
Has anybody got any ideas, as it is driving me up the pole.
Thanks in advance.

 

Forgot to add that the machine has "bareback dampers"

 

Hi,

Have you taken the rollers out to inspect / clean them.
It could be a roller breaking up.
Has the vibrator damper cover been changed recently.
It is unusual to have hickies constantly.
Do you trim the paper before use, if you do is the guillotine blade ok.

Regards.

 

Thanks very much for your reply, mrheidelberg.
I've inspected the inkers and they seem to be OK. The paper is trimmed and the damper covers are fairly new. Am I correct in saying that the newer the damper covers, the more trouble I would have? The thing is, it doesn't seem to matter whether the covers are old or new, the problem is still there. The hickies do not seem to be fibres, but round "specks"....... It's a mystery!!
As i said, the single colour GTO suffered from the same problem.
I must admit that I am at my wit's end over this.
Any other ideas?

 

Hi,

Ok the damper cover shouldn't be causing an issue then.
If all the rollers are ok and i presume you have inspected even the middle inkers and the damp trough is clean ( and re-circulation unit if you have one ) then another common aspect could be the ink.
Does the problem appear on all jobs using different colours of ink.

Regards

 

Hi mrheidelberg,
The problem does appear with all ink colours. We use various brands of ink, but none of them give any better result.
I've been thinking along the lines of a new roller wash, anything you would recommend?

 

Does the weight of stock hae any affect on the problem?
Cover stock gets more hickeys than text? If so then maybe your rails under your water unit are not set and the sheets
are "slapping" on something under or up there knocking
crap down causing hickeys? Don't know GTO's, but had the same problem on 6C/72S. Good Luck to you.

 

Thanks bdk,
I'll check it out and will let you know if there is any improvement.

 

Are you getting hickeys on both heads? Try flushing your inking and damping rollers with Water during washup. Also have you tried to reduce the ink?

 

Hi nirelandguy,
Yes hickies are on both units. When I wash up I use a water miscible solution and I finish off with just water. I've also used a ink reducer, but it does not make any difference. I am at a complete loss as to what to do next, as I have tried everything i can think of. I've been printing for over 30 years and never come across this sort of chronic problem, I have had the usual odd job where either the stock or the ink is not right and I have got hickies, but as i said it is a constant problem on this machine, and nothing seems to fix it!
Thanks for trying.

 

how often do you clean your ducts, is their any dried ink laking off and dropping down

 

To me this is a real head scatcher. Both units get hickies? Same size all the time? Same areas of the sheets? How old are these presses? Take a clean white sheet of 80# gloss text and sheet it into your ink rollers if it comes out with less hickes on it than your press sheet then the hickies are probably comming from somewhere else? Best of luck!

 

Thanks both of you for your help.
The ink ducts get washed all the time, ob1. At least once a day.
The press is really old, bdk, my firm bought it second hand and it is at least 30years old and has done a lot of work. One unit has ink rollers that are only about 6 months old, the other unit's rollers are ancient, but it does not make any difference to the hickies. I am inclined to believe that the hickies are coming from some where else, but where, that is the question? I cover the machine up every night.
I shall try your suggestion with the art paper tomorrow.

 

Hi,

Do you have anything blowing onto the rollers like an open window or an air conditioning unit (dont laugh, i know your in the UK).

Regards

 

The only thing that is next to the GtO is a whacking great 5 colour Mitsubishi. the minder before me, swore that it was the source of the hicky problem!!
The thing is..... I occasionally run a small Rotaprint R30 press, which is also beside the Mitsubishi, obviously it uses the same ink,paper etc. as the GTO, but I very rarely get any hickies on this machine.

 

It must be the Mitsubishi then !!!!

Get them to turn off their spray powder, lol.

Regards.

 

The powder comming from the Mitsu could be the raeson, but can they tirn it off ? don't think so.
SO what you have left is to make sure the dirt that fills you press is taken out automaticaly when you print.
On an old press you can not have "Deltas" but you can install a special roller
that will guide the dirt out and keep your plate & blanket clean
feel free to contact me about the options - they work and don't cost so much

ELi Zamet
ISrael

 

Hi,

What is the special roller ??

Regards.

By the way Meny turning the spray powder off was a joke !!

 

What I wrote was that I did not think it was possible to turn that powder spray off , not that you should do so.
About the cleaning roller - call me : 00972523201671
I cannot advertize on the forum

Meny

 

Meny could be talking about a hickey picker roller that goes in the first ink form roller.