Ink Disc Markings
Hello,
To clean my disc I have been using a spray cleaner for window glass….I am a newbie and it shows….anyway what is showing more is it has some pretty large diagonal streakson the disc, kinda light blue in color. I don’t know if they were there all along, since its over 100+ yrs old or if its something I created.
I see people who restore presses have their ink disc shiny as a piece of silver. I am wondering if I need to buff the disc to try to get rid of these marks. I don’t know if the spray has somehow etched the disc, or as I say its been there. I don’t use anything abrasive other than a paper towel to wipe off the ink which to this point has been water soluble. After new year I will order good ink.
I can’t really tell, being new at this, if its affecting my prints or not (most everything I put out is sub quality at best). I will post a pic when I get home tonight, but just wanted to see what everyone says.
Any suggestions on how to treat, buff or help this from becoming more serious?
Thanks!
More than likely you have done no permament damage to the ink disk. I don’t know why it would have a blue cast, possibly residual ink, but the sooner you can switch to a standard non-water based ink and use standard solvents for cleaning, the better off you will be.
In fact, you might wish to leave the ink disk after cleaning and drying with a wipe with an oily rag so it doesn’t set open to moisture. Usually when using non-water-based inks, your cleanign solvent will leave a thin film of oil on the surface which will protect from rust.
There should be no need to get the disk bright and shiny as long as whatever ink you use rolls up OK on it.
I’m wondering if the blue is some residual left from the window cleaner—which many times has a blue hue. Perhaps just appearing in some minor imperfections in the disk.