Ink drying speed: how to measure pH & conductivity?

First, thanks to the owners/moderators of this forum for starting this category. It's very handy to have a dedicated "ink" topic placed here.

My question: for those pressmen out there who measure your own fountain solution pH and conductivity, what kind of device do you use to measure it? Around 10 or 12 years ago I used to use a pen-type device that I dipped into a coffee cup filled with fountain solution, and we also had a table-top device that had a small receiving cup in which a tiny amount was poured...

I'm looking for the CURRENT state-of-the-art pH and conductivity meter... what do you guys use?

 

Not sure of the state of the art these days...But we just had our Ink guy replace ours, It is the table top one with the cup..As for "state of the art" All you are doing is measuring conductivity and pH, so the table top one works really well.
www.myronl.com/products/DS_pDS.htm ...try looking at that web site, there the one we use and I am very happy with it.

 

eagleI, thanks for that. That's exactly what I was looking for! Much appreciated...

 

Very welcome!! glad I could help. I know It has done wonders for me, aside from always knowing I can eliminate the water being the problem.. we have an auto doser and they seem to fail time to time.

 

It looks like you already found what you were looking for, but here is what we use:

http://www.myronl.com/products/ultrameter_II.htm

It's waterproof and allows you to test directly from the units.

 

we use the built in monitor that measures and automatically adjusts to within your predetermined parameters. There are no provisions for measuring ph on this system as the use of modern pressroom chemistry has ph buffered and measurement only works within a very narrow operating window. Once youve determined the proper formula and dosing required, the unit should take care of the rest. more important than ph these days is conductivity, alchohol level (if being used) and fountain solution temp. flucuations in ph will be seen as either a rise or fall of conductivity.

 

Hey guys, I need a little more help. We're finally getting around to purchasing a conductivity meter. Looking at this website (http://www.myronl.com/products/DS_pDS.htm), I see there are many choices and I'm not sure which one is appropriate for us. The choices seem to amount to sensitivity ranges. What range would you folks recommend for the small press industry? If it makes any difference, our printing machines are a Multilith 1650XE with a Kompac-style dampening system, running the pink glycol-based concentrate, and also an ABDick 9850 press with similar ink/dampening. We run mostly poly plates and some metal plates. Oil-based inks.

Oops, almost forgot to ask: what conductivity reading am I looking for, given our chemistry as I outlined above.
Thanks in advance,

 

pH conductivity meters for offset printing press fountain solutions

Hi Heideldude,

We have seen that a lot of our printing customers are using the M6/pH meter to test for pH and conductivity. The range is 0-5000 and 2-12 pH. As turbotom1052 has stated, pH is usually buffered so conductivity is important. I have put some links below for both types and you can save 10% by ordering online...

Link: pH conductivity meters

Link: conductivity meters for fountain solutions


Based on feedback from our customers, the typical range is around 2000 microsiemens. Although, I cannot say if they are using a similar setup/chemical mixture as you.

Does someone with a similar application want to chime in and help Heideldude out?

Best Regards,
Jim Rutan
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P.S.

If you are looking for state-of-the-art pH and conductivity meter, listen to Dan W's reply... The Ultrameter II 6P is waterproof, can save your readings and you can download them to your computer for analysis. It also has the best accuracy in the industry.

You can get them for 10% off by ordering online. You can check out the full specs and details here: Ultrameter II 6P pH and conductivity meter

Hope that helps,
Jim Rutan
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nice guys love the comment just found what I needed, by the way I'm a new member, I've been a follower for 6 months and finally made the move.

my doubts are: what can I do in mean time to regulate my conductivity and ph without an equipment, I have a 2 colors ryobi 3302 presse and since friday I printed on side with 4 colors and the other with 2 and yesterday around 4 PM theside with 4 colors was still wet and getting rub off when trying to finish the second side with 2 colors,

printing ink is van son VS3 and fountain soluting in by the same brond with alchool substitute
Sorry for speeling errors