Hickies

you are right but still will not give out names on the forum

 

Ah yes i do recall seeing this type of roller.........but not for a long time.
If i remember the roller has a special type of rough surface which can capture the hickies.

I still believe it would be better to get to the bottom of a problem instead of trying to mask it, because roller and machine manufacturers would include these type rollers as standard if they felt the issue was a normal everyday thing.

Regards.

 

You could talk to your roller recovering rep and see if they do a 'soft' roller, but unless you identify the exact nature of the hickey it may only serve to mask the problem.

Is the problem confined to any area of the sheet- ie sides or centre, if sides then I'd go for roller break up or residual dry ink from washups collecting at the edges of the roller and eventually breaking off.

More prevalent in the morning - then it could be excess tack pulling at the coating of the sheet - try adding a little gel tack reducer.

Don't think spray powder would do it - its too fine. Are the hickeys large or small, fibrous or hard irregular shapes, are they paper or ink or unidentifiable?

Are you using the same ink as the rotaprint?

The more info you supply the more chance that someone will nail it for you.

 

How is your stock trimmed? Do you 4 side trim the stock??

4 side trim the stock or at least the the edge that has all the fuzz. Thats the edge of the paper that is away from the blade after the cut. Also toss the top and bottom sheet of eat lift after the cut. It'll help a lot.

 

Do the rollers feel soft and / or spongy at all.

 

Hickies have hurt me too in the GTO!!!
What helped me a lot is:
1 Use water while washing(you already do)
2 Calibrate dampening unit(i mean BE SURE is good)
3 Calibrate (or replace if old) 4 inking form rollers...
(i read that the first two rolles-yellow and blue- do the mayority of the emulsifing of water-ink, so make sure those two contact 3,4 mm to the plate. And the other two 2mm)
4 The key for no/little hickies: Very minimun water possible

I've been archieving good results (and no hickies) in the GTO lately, so don't give up

Moe

 

Hickey Picker Roller

I'd keep a Hickey picker roller around in case. If your in the UK, Bottcher can make a good quality roller.

I've even had guys leave them in by mistake for a long time as a regular 1st form roller.

 

Hickey picker rollers are a good thing to have on hand. Roto-Dyne does ours and we don't have any problems with them.

 

Hickey Pickers

Yeah...we use Rotadyne too. Here in the states. They have good quality control & can service many parts of the country including Europe.

 

Printerpat hasn't been on here for a while. I wonder how his issue with the hickies is going ??

 

In the past with problem stocks I've wiped the edges of the stock with glycerin on a clean shop towel. This can help reduce and remove paper dust from the edges. On really bad stocks I've just run the stock thru the press blank (no spray) bumping the sheet with each unit. Depending on the run length this may or may not be an option. 9 times out of 10 hickeys are linked to a dirty ink train. Dried ink on the hard rollers, edges etc.... and the rollers need to be spotless. Sometimes depending on the ink used it can dry and start to skin in the fountain. A spritz of "ink ready" stay open spray can help or using a more stay open formula can also help. As mentioned old rollers can start to pick apart. If you've ever shread a metering roller is can make a mess and even circulate thru the Royce units. In some cases I've even seen the rubber from the sucker feet drag on a heavy sheet and leave a residue. The Komori 5C I ran was a mess when I first took it over and hickeys were a big problem. I took a day to remove clean and set all the rollers and things were much better after that. If the rollers aren't set properly you'll A not get good transfer and B will not get a good washup which can leave ink to dry on the rollers and cause hickeys. I too would use water in the washup as most do. Some of the pumce and paste roller cleaners can leave a powdery residue. I used a liqiud roller cleaner like Prisco Easy Kleene or the likes. While it's hard to eliminate 100% of the hickeys these things can help reduce them. Oh ya the old hickey sticks if your press has them. Clean the old ink off them and change the rubber tips as they age.

Maybe Printerpat hit the pub? Pressman need alcohol too sometimes??? LOL

 

Pull a solid with your water off. If the hickys go away you know it's from the damps.

Are you running cheap paper ? If so it's hard to polish a turd

Good luck !

 

If you end up running a hickey picker roller go with the medium or fine nap. I don't know how many ink form rollers the GTO has but I wouldn't use a hickey picker roller as the first form roller. The #1 form lays down most of your ink so using it there is a bad idea. Put it in the middle some where. You won't want it going last either because it can leave a pattern in the printing.

 

Might try putting a red runner on the "bareback". Those water forms on GTO usually have a rough surface that does not wash up well at all. It sits overnight and dries up and soon as you start up you can have hickeys out the yingyang.

 

this may be odd, but you described the hickeys as round objects? are they paper fibers/ coatings?

 

hey. i have an idea. can you check the vacuum pump/ compressor? That might be the source of dirt/oil being sprayed on to the paper. everybody else suggest you clean the machine, so, this is the only place left to get the hickeys.

 

Hi ya Pat. It's Ade, Think i used to work with you!!!

 

i think printuniverse may be on to something. oil spots from your compressor or anywhere else for that matter on the paper or tranferring to the paper via any other means will repel the ink from the stocks surface and form a void in the print that is not dounut shaped like your typical plate hickey from the inker. to check if its oil you might try putting alittle balled up gauze pad into all the blast hoses on the feeder. after a day or so inspect the gauze for oil residue and youll know. if the gauze does have oil on it you might consider a rebuild of the pump

 

You have to determine what is the source of the hickies. (Process of elimination) First of all look at your ink. Take some ink fresh out of a new can with a good metal ink knife. Try to spead it on a piece of paper as smooth as you can. If there are grooves in you ink behind your knife,then the ink has tried air pockets in it from a bad grind. Sometimes there are bubbles in the ink that eventually dry from the inside and create the problem. You should be able to see the junk floating around in the fountain as the ink ball rotates as well.

Second, take some clear packing tape and lift the hicky from the plate or blanket.Using your loop and a needle try to determine if it is ink ,paper or rubber. If the hickies are consistantly paper,then your ink is probably too tacky. Try a process series with the back tac no higher than 16. If the hickies are rubber then you have a roller coming apart internally. If the hickies are usually close to the ends of the rollers , then you need to pulll out all the rollers and clean the build up on the ends. The oscillation of the viberator rollers are picking up the dried ink at the ends and pulling it in.

Check your head stops. There could be a masive build up of paper dust that has acumulated over the years. Use air hose.

Let me know what you find after you do the tape samples

Rod

30 yrs experience in this never ending problematic trade .what a rotten life! ar,ar,ar

 

Try from a washup different stock to prove a point