Realistic Drying Times for Uncoated Stock and ideas to speed up the drying process.

Hi,
I'd like some feedback on what people consider realistic drying times before backing up uncoated 130# DT cougar cover or similar stock.
I have a job to run which is a pres folder that is CMYK with 100% coverage on the inside with the same coverage on the pockets on the front so they match when put together.
Now I normally throw in driers and coat this kind of job then back it up next day without too much trouble. Now our new press scheduler is saying I should easily be able to back it up within a couple of hours as they did that at his old place.
Now I'm not looking to discount his opinion but would like other peoples ideas on how I can achieve this or whether its BS. One idea I had was to run oxi-set inks with driers because they have to dry quickly.
Ideas please and thanks.

 

Couple of suggestions we currently do a lot of packaging work printed on reverse of sheet we use hard dry inks and coat the job with a high rub sealer still takes a fair amount of time to dry . We also find running job slower helps giving more time under lamps and hot air knife. Previous to this i did alot of label work again on uncoated stock and we used a duct varnish by the name of triseal it was thinned down by water and was a bugger to work with but it was printed inline with the other 5 colours but worked a treat. I have also used a paste for rubbing into impression cylinders which helps to prevent ink building up on cylinders again this helped a lot. Press schedulars are a pain in the butt you know best and what worked in one company with one job wont necessarilly work in another. I have printed on all sorts of material for 25 years now and wish companys would show more faith in the ability of operators most know the best and fastest way to produce the work sorry for the rant at the end but im sure you know what its like

 

I have run a fare amount of that stock, what press are you using? To turn the job around in a short period you NEED lots of white space around the image and down the middle for the forwarding wheels and the double sheet detector, I would use a hard dry inks and run the waters as low as you can! If you have air knifes do not up the temp, if any thing a little cooler to help set the inks, and I agree with jong586 slow the press down. I have had my share of "not so bright" suits to deal with in matters like this, and I tell them you can't rush quality or is that you don't care about the outcome, they usually see the light, but you have to make them thinks it's there idea to back up the next day. Or sorry to say, your new guy is just one of those pain in the keester suits, and if he is calling the shots, you will get two days when you do the reprint.

 

even under the best of conditions your going to run into delays when backing up and finishing on certain stocks. My best suggestion would be to try and schedule work around the longer drying times required for these problematic papers. This is of course assuming that all other aspects of your process are fine tuned to include... inks (non stay open, hard dry) fountain solution, and infared drying systems. Time after time ive seen certain problematic stocks scheduled in such a way as to not allow the drying process to take the required time. Try printing the first side of sheetwise forms on one day and backing them up the next day. Leave work and turn forms till the end of the work day to be backed up the next morning when possible. Wishful thinking, and a heavy workload have absolutely no bearing on how these stocks will dry. When the production dept. finally gets it in their heads that at times the process just wont be rushed then a better product will result with much less stress.

 

FSA,
The press is a SM74-4 with a coater.
Turbotom, I normally run this kind of job over a couple of days. The object of this thread was to see if there is a possibility that I could back it up a bit quicker and not to prove anyone wrong, ie the press coordinator.
I was doing exactly as you suggested as far as backing up next day and this seemed to be an ok arrangement with most of the clients we deal with. At a push I can normally back up a newsletter on uncoated stock same day if I start earlier enough and back up last thing at night whilst throwing a ton of Speedi-Dry driers in to the ink. However, when someone suggests to someone (normally suit to suit) that there is a better way to do something because they did that at "the old place" then its the press operators ability that is questioned.
I think i'm doing pretty much what anyone else would do with this kind of job but its always good to get some feedback or ideas. As usual things will blow over and everything will be back to normal as soon as (as FSA said) i'm given the 2 days to reprint the job!
Thanks again for the input guys.

 

no easy answers on this one recently ran job just like this' 130#strathmore cover i used a cv1000 gloss varnish and added aqua quest drier made by suprerior into varnish washed varn unit waited 2 hours backed up job got lucky
if the suit insists you do it his way ask him exactly how he wants it done drier ir temp coating type ink type fountain
soloution ect then ball is in his court dont be suprised if he has no answers lot of yes men in this position that dont
know ****.ps iwas using superior elite stay open cmyk , ir 110 press speed 6500imph lots of powder good luck

 

william,
are your running stay open inks? if so ditch the stay open inks when printing on uncoated stocks and use a conventinal ink with a full drying package. Ive found aqueous coating of little use on uncoated paper but a nice thick film of hard dry gloss varnish beneficial. You mentioned adding a "ton of speedy-dry" additive to the ink. i would be very cautious about using too much dryer and if and when i do i make sure im using the right stuff. You dont want a top dryer when running stocks as you mentioned. Last but not least id be sure to run an ink with a high pigment load. We use an ink made in japan that im very pleased with for a number of reasons to include its pigment load and drying abilities. But even then we swap it out when we print on certain uncoated smooth finished papers like mowhawk superfine, or Dulcet. In conclusion id like to say that even under all the best conditions there is no substitute for ovenight drying when it comes to certain papers. The sooner management accepts this cold hard truth the better off everyone will be!!!

 

amen to that