Scrubbing Rollers

Running a two year old LSX-629. Just looking for a consensus of opinions on what others are using for hand scrubbing rollers both rubber and copper. (rags, brushes, pumice, copper polish, vinegar..... you get my drift)
Thanks,
Dan

 

Hi Dan (welcome to the forum)
your post begs the question...what's on your rollers that needs scrubbing off ?

Normal day to day roller washing should be enough (as long as your roller wash product is of a good quality), together with an occasional hot water and vinegar* rinse if your water supply and/or ink has a heavy calcium content. *There are proprietary roller washes that do the same thing but sometimes the old remedies are the best.

 

yep...if there that bad vinegar and hot water and maybe some pumice....otherwise regular wash-ups with a vinegar deuch and some calcium-fix from bottcher should keep them glaze free..I cant remember the last time I had to take a roller out and scrub it by hand so yeahlke rich asked....whats on them?? welcome...
Steve

 

Nothing on rollers in particular. Running everyday with no real problems. Just have one unit that is not washing up well so I need to reset stripes. Figured that to be a good time to remove rollers and hand scrub, along with checking bearings and wiping side frame......etc. I have seen a lot of crud come out of rollers even when maintained well in press. Just looking to increase longevity of roller life. Thank you both for your responses, seems like the forum is shying away from this one. (maybe a fear of criticism from our pressman peers??)
Dan

 

Two year old press? How many hours per day you running?
Rollers out seems to be a tad overkill unless your inks and solvents aren't working well together
I'd only go down that road if my solids weren't good or I was getting other inking or washup issues.

 

you wanna come clean my rollers?? jk jk....nothing wrong with keeping it clean ....I had that ambition ....once , hmmm lol , take care man

 

Lol! Hey I got a two yr old press too... come take out my rollers... all 6 units :-D

just kidding - it's just that you don't often come across pressmen who relish that particular task.

And I include myself

 

Hi Guys..

Hows many parts vinegar to hot water would you recommend to use and how often to do this wash.......

 

We would just rinse with neat vinegar, let press run for a few mins then rinse off with hot water. Really depends on the amount of calcium buildup you have.

We're lucky that we don't get any buildup - at all, ever.

 

we have a major problem with calcium build up, have tried all the decalcifiers (sp) going and they don't make much difference......

will give the vinegar rinse a shot an see what its like

cheers

 

Are you in an especially hard water area?

As a matter of interest what inks/fount do you use...also just do me a favour and dip your finger in your 1st unit water pan and see if you've any silty deposits at all.

It may be that the fount/ink combo and the type of paper you run aren't playing nicely together.

 

hard water area yes...

we have silty deposits in all water pans and the bottom of the technotrans unit has a very thick film of of silty build up,

inks are siegwerk tempo perfect, also tried a few others, but were using until recently EPI process inks...


fount is varn ctp sheetfed fount, but has tried lots of different ones.....

we are in the UK BTW, presses are 5 col lithrone 26 and a 4col spica 29 perfector

 

Ok...hard water areas need more intensive fount solutions. Over the years we have tried many different ink/fount combos but the one we have now gives us the best result...ever.

We're in Derbyshire so our water is hard too.

2in1 fount (does away with IPA and fount solution)...lower VOCs and overall works out cheaper than IPA + Fount (especially Varn) Supplier: visioninks.co.uk

Inks? We use TOYO Hy Unity, very quick drying, overnight fresh in the duct (even weekend fresh!) Supplier: James Seymour I'll pm you the mobile number if you want.

That particular combination ...in my opinion...gives the best overall result on a wide variety of substrates...and I repeat NO calcium buildup.

FYI We run 6 col Lithrone 26/tecnotrans unit

If I were you I'd pester for a trial set of inks and then switch to 2in1...really can't recommend it enough

 

hi..

cheers.
ill let factory manager know and see what he says...

 

Hi Richard. could let let me have a contact number for vision inks as the webpage is just an order portal and wont let me order and also for james seymour...

we will try the 2 in 1 fount first

 

Yeah I use straight vinegar and hot water and maybe a roller paste , itll help no doubt , if your getting a major calcium build up its prob leaching into your water tanks so best to flush them as well.....

 

There's no point decalcifying if you don't refresh your water and clean all the crud from your pans because it will just keep coming back
If you go alcohol free you get a lot less calcium build up

 

Actually the wash we use we just squirt onto the rollers and it takes everything off. With everything going into effect as far as regulations, I have found a blanket wash that works great. It is suprising because it is low VOC and complies with California regulations. The product comes from Illinois and is made by Amerikal. It is called LemonAire. I have never been a fan of low VOC chemistry as I found most of it to be less effective. However not only did the LemonAire clean my blankets, it did so well enough that when we wiped the blankets down there was no residue on the cloth. It was almost like we had new rollers. My advice would be to get in touch with Amerikal and order this product. Especially if you are in California. If you are having problems finding good product in regulation with state guidelines, they have a full series of chemistry. They generally work with established companies so if you call and they ask where you are calling from tell them I suggested you. I know they like to make sure their product is used right and they will provide MSDS's with the product.

 

Thanks for the tip on the amerikal thing. They look pretty good and I'll give them a try as I'm in California and we're always looking for a GOOD low voc wash. As for the initial post on this thread I'd like to recommend double checking the blade condition, because we have the same press, and we had bad wash-ups because of premature blade wear. There is just straight air pressure with no ability to regulate the blade pressure against the roller, so we installed pneumatic needle valves to be able to control the contact. We were able to take a lot of pressure off and still get the same wash-up results. Just a thought...

 

Old post, but new info to present....because the problem is rampant. Roller maintenance is critical. Calcium is a major issue. Before's and after's. That's what rollers should like like when cleaned. Rollers last a lot longer and print quality is better. Waste is reduced and money is saved.