KOMPAC II Dampening

Just wondering what fountain solution people are using with KOMPAC II Dampening systems. Press is AB DICK 9995 and I'm using RO water( conductivity 0).

 

What kind of plates? For poly I use Presstek/AB Dick products. 4 oz of the pink mega plate solution, 2 oz of the mega plate etch and 22 oz of distilled water. 28 oz total mix. Just a mix I carried over from my old Multi and Hamada days. NO scumming issues and runs like a clock with oil base ink. You can also try 2-3 oz of mega plate solution instead of the 4 oz I use. The 2 oz etch acts as a wetting agent and helps on startup. With the Komac running a metered film of water from nip to the plate it works nicely. Tap water in a Kompac can really break your balls sometimes no matter what the mix. Distilled keeps a nice consistant balance and no fungus. Even filtered water from the water cooler is a improvement over tap. You can run metal plate with the mega solution but it's a bit washy sometimes. Correct water form to plate pressure is also key. 1/8" stripe in most cases gets it done. Sometimes cheap presswash and leave residues that can help contaminate. So a water miscible presswash is good. I use VWM presswash and water (seperate wash bottles though) when washing up. I clean the Kompacs first this allows time to air dry and any wash to evaporate while the rollers are getting cleaned. Keep it simple and consistant. Saving a few bucks on inferior press products can cost you later in press time, paper and supplies. Once you find something that works stick with it.

 

I have found the the simpelest way is the best way. If you have really bad water where you are thats one thing, check your ph levels and try different amounts of fountain concentrate, the lowest concentrate the better. If you have a good well taken care of press, and your rollers are in good shape all the extra additives are a waste of time and money.
A kompak as well as a crestline water system should have nothing in the fountain solution mix other than a fountain concentrate and water. These water systems were made to eliminate the fussiness of balancing ink and water. If you have to do that, your rollers are out of adjustment, bad, swollen or stripes are not set correctly. I have found that presses not maintained at all require all the extra effort to get through a job with all kinds of custom made chemistry. This is not the way a press operator should have to work.

 

I am using Reverse Osmosis water with a conductivity of "0". Press has an 18 litre circulating unit. To 18 litres of water I add 13.5 oz. of Prisco fountain concentrate 142-126, and 18oz. isopropyl alcohol, PH is 4.5,( tried 5.0 & 5.5). Form rollers in kompac are new, ink forms are new, stripes are beautiful. Blanket wash is ultra mild, will not dissolve styrofoam, that's the only test I trust. I finish wash up with warm water everytime, you can eat off of my rollers! Ink is VANSON, I'm not going to use cheap ink after making a fuss about everything else! Still problems persist on runs of 5000 and up.

 

I use varn super lean

 

It all comes back to the same thing, A poorly taken care of press that you have to clean up and look at and say Oh My God, who ran this...
A kompac and a crestline are water systems made to set and go. no fuss, no muss...
No alcohol, special chemicals and no adjusting constantly...
These systems were made for eliminating so many problems. If you are having problems get a good service tech in and don't depend on the last person who ran and abused the machine.
I have been running one and two color presses for 33 years and am running a beast and really abused piece of equipment for the last 2 weeks. A call to service is in place and I know the owner will be pissed that the last operator didn't give a damn.
Fighting a machine all day when you have experience and care about what you do and produce can be soooo frustrating to work with someone elses mess.

 

tap water with prisco 2452 plus 2, clean the tank every six months no issues , oh and NO ALCOHOL
the same mix small press and large
FSA

 

We have had our Hamada H234 with a Kompac II setup and a Royse reciurculating system for almost 8 years now. For the most part its been a real work horse but the last 6-8 months we have had nothing but problems and the service guy has been her many times. We just had new rollers and some gears replaced that was supposed to fix all of our problems...still we can't get a screened image to look decent. We also have problems with plates wearing out and just overall image quality issues. I believe the service we get (we have a quarteraly maintence agreement) is of good quality because I have spoke to others in our area with the same set-up and same service guy and they are not having problems like we are. Sometimes I think we just have a lemon. I looked over all the suggestions above and our press is well kept. We just haven't had the success latley that we had in the past with our Kompac and Hamada. I know I really didn't give any specific comments or questions but does any one else have a problematic Hamada/Kompac. I have good operators and its hard for me to watch the equipment hold them back.

 

What plates,metal or polly? what fountain solution? what roller wash? what blankets? is plate to blanket pressure ok? what ink?

 

We are using polly plates. 3-4 oz of Nikken Mark III w/ 1/4 to 1/2 oz of gum arabic per gallon of drinking water (not tap water). We use Varn's California wash and Hamada Compressable blanets, per our service persons recomondation. The pressure should be okay they just reset the amount of plates cylinder packing and reset all of the roller pressures. We use Tanaguchi ink. We have used all of these things for years. Any ideas?

 

How are your poly plates produced. On what equipment?
Why are you adding gum arabic in your solution?
The Hamada I am not familiar with or the fountain concentrate or ink brands you use.
The kompac and crestline systems both operate basically the same and I have used those on many machines.
I use a fountain concentrate you can get from presstek or independent dealers. It is basically an Itek mega plate fountain concentrate and pink in color. My inks I use are Spinks Titan oil base.
Just trying to rule out what the problem is and the issues may be with your platemaker and not the press.
Get back to me and we'll see if we can get this figured our for you. Have a good day...

 

ok thanks,

The only thing that jumps out at me is the"california wash". Don't let the name fool you, it is a harsher wash on your rollers than you think, after time it can almost blind the rollers, i've had that problem myself. Clean your rollers thoroughly with Varn REVITOL,dampeners included.I mix 1oz.of REVITOL with 4oz. hot water in a wash-up bottle. Keep the rollers wet with the solution while the washup tray is on.Run the same mix in the Kompac unit (run for 10min, soak it up,put more in then run again) Do this until the mixture stops turning milky, it may take 5 or 6 times. Then try to run something you were having trouble with, if there's any improvement it's a buildup of crap from the california wash over time.

 

I am not the one with the issues on press, I think you have me confused.
I was trying to help out the one with the questions...

 

ok thanks,
The only thing that jumps out at me is the"california wash". Don't let the name fool you, it is a harsher wash on your rollers than you think, after time it can almost blind the rollers, i've had that problem myself. Clean your rollers thoroughly with Varn REVITOL,dampeners included.I mix 1oz.of REVITOL with 4oz. hot water in a wash-up bottle. Keep the rollers wet with the solution while the washup tray is on.Run the same mix in the Kompac unit (run for 10min, soak it up,put more in then run again) Do this until the mixture stops turning milky, it may take 5 or 6 times. Then try to run something you were having trouble with, if there's any improvement it's a buildup of crap from the california wash over time.

 

on my crestlines i use a green font by chemco but only a capful per litre bottle of water. used the same with kompacs when i had them also.. running metal positive plates always by the way

 

how many of us are going to scream when we see someone still using alcohol in there fountain solution. I run pretty much straight water on my 9985 with crestlines. Maybe a ounce of supermeg 220 to a gallon of water works really good. a good decontamination of your rollers is needed or your new fountain solution will just be garbage right out of the gate.

 

Crestlines have no need for alcohol and most fountain solutions have gum mixed in already. Too much will cause blinding, and stripping of ink from the rollers. Low VOC washes in time get a build up of surfactants on the rollers causing balance problems . Gans calcium and Surfactant remover works well. INKEZ KLEEN rinse also does a good job. Not available, try a vineger and water mix.