Humidity resolution

I've been lucky enough to be in charge of 5 iGen3's, we have a dept sectioned off from the rest of the plant. The department has a dri-steem unit and 2 cyclone portable units and yet the lack of humidity is killing us. A majority of the time we operate below 20% and even below 14%.

Do you have any tricks to keep the etack's from fogging up? We wipe them down with anti-static fluid, but they still seem to get dirty. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

A fellow Wisconsinite I see. We had issues when we first got our Gen4. Our environment left a lot to be desired. I have not found any tricks or solutions other then a proper climate. We run 30% humidity on average now. I clean my etack's at the beginning of my shift and that is about it. Keeping it cool in the summer and humid in the winter really seems to help the quality control and helps with downtime. Without a proper climate you are just wasting valuable time and money trying to force the machine to produce quality that it most likely is not going to achieve.

Try to explain to your company that they are wasting valuable production time by not having the proper climate.

Also use the Tx 1009 alpha wipes only on the etacks. I used the other towels before and the color would jump all over the place. Took me months to find out why my color would jump all over after I cleaned my etacks.... Turns out I was just using the wrong damn towel Ha. Ha..

 

I use 1-2 drops of antistatic fluid on a fiberless cloth. Then switch to a dry part of the cloth and lightly, briskly wipe again. Antistatic fluid will leave a cloudy film, so less is more on the ETACs.

In regards to climate, I also work in an non climate-controlled environment and it sucks. We have to just "deal" with paper all the time. For example, we cut down parent sheets into press sheets a week ahead of time. Stored them in taped boxes. We went to run it this week and it was a nightmare. In the summer time, that never would have happened. Real companies have "print rooms" where the temperature and humidity are controlled. At least, so I've heard.

 

Humidity and temperature does have a major impact on the performance of the iGen. The EU can only control the temperature efficiently if the room environment is good in the first place.

Winter in the is a major problem for low humidity causing PQ issues and shutdowns due to arcing.

--
Mark

 

So there is a correlation to shutdowns and low humidity? We run just above 20% humidity during the winter months, I get intermittent 03-3000 communication faults, is this the type of shutdowns you mean???
I notice this happening when the seasons are changing but the igen3 usually settles and the f.c. does not occur til the next change of season. These can occur during operating hours or while the machine is idle during the wee hours of the night. Technicians are baffled and feel there is a voltage drop occurring. I continue to lose communication almost daily between PSIP and igen3.

 

my humidty problems amount to BOATLOADS of static....old dry paper.... if its isnt causing jam problems in the stacker, It causes visible arcs from stacker tray to the frame of machine, or paper to tray... when unloading... sometimes to my hand. zzzzzaaaaappppp!

My solution is to swear incredibly loud like a drunken sailor. usually works. even Makes my coworkers giggle too. as long as I look around first and make sure there are no surprise guests in the Igen room. LOL!

also have some "static tinsel" liberally applied to the stacker wherever I can fit it. helps a little...