inks for Finich smooth

we have a older heidelberg and are having issues with offset on
any kind of finch smooth stock.
thats the only stock we have problems with our current ink.

is anyone printing on finch ?
thanks

 

Thats the nature of the beast when printing on that stock, or any other super calendered stock. Significantly increased caution needs to be used when printing on these types of paper because they are all highly prone to setoff. I would suggest.....
1. Be sure your powder unit is clean and working as it should.
2. Use a larger micron sized powder when printing on these types of stock. Id be looking at 30 micron powder at the very least.
3. Be sure that sheets are delivering smoothly, and without excessive blowdown air.
4. racking in the delivery on these stocks is highly recommended. Also might want to think about stopping the press when putting in a rack as running the delivery nonstop, increases your chances of setoff, when you pull out the delivery rake.
5. Highly pigmented inks are recommended
6. If running 4 color process be CERTAIN that prepress never exceeds the recomended total ink percentages in images with rich black. For any supercalendered paper you will want to experiment in just how high you can go with the rich black builds. Off the top of my head i would suggest no more that 240%
One of the big problems with printing on these types of paper is that you can't expect to just treat these jobs like any other job. Extra time, and a strict attention to detail is a must. To expect these types of jobs to be easy hang and bang jobs, would be a big mistake!!!

 

Certain uncoated stocks are slower drying than others. Adding certain dryers might help, but usually not enough and you basically just have to take extra care when printing on them. One possible remedy is you might try and take the time to find a suitable finish/brightness with another brand.

I can remember a certain brand my boss used to like to order (Cougar) that had an extremely smooth finish and was also very bright. Even though there were (are) other comparable brands available, you couldn’t change his mind about it and he would order this paper for almost every uncoated job that any customer wanted - he liked it so much that he designated it our ‘house stock’. Definitely a nice stock but an absolute drying nightmare and without certain precautions, it was almost guaranteed to set-off every time. And if it needed to be backed-up right away, it would also be almost guaranteed to pick when turning it over.

This was usually avoidable by simply letting the first side dry overnight, but when the job is a work and turn, that can become a problem. I can remember having to wait until the end of the day to print these jobs, then running the first side and leaving it to sit until the next morning for back-up. Not really that big of a deal but having to gum the plates and leave the ink/press settings as they were without standard end of day shutdown was imo, a little bit of a pain. When you consider that there were other comparable brands of paper available, it was definitely an unnecessary step, to be sure.

I guess you could say that it kept the job...interesting.

 

Even worse than that is when the company is backed up with work, and they insist you pull the job and come back to it later. Of course when that happens the expectation is that that the ink setting you save from the first side of the work and turn, should fall right into color, with zero waste!!!