Maintaining consistent ink

danielheff
on 22 Apr 12 (23:46)

I notice while I’m printing larger surface area forms that after about 5-10 I can clearly notice a difference in ink density. I’m printing on a Challenge 15MP. How do you Vandercook guys manage this issue?

Devils Tail Press
on 23 Apr 12 (00:26)

On a press without a fountain you must add ink when necessary, eventually you will get a sense of how the form draws the ink, and will figure out if one side needs more than the other, and how many sheets you get from the amount put onto the press. I used to run large solids on a Vandercook, and for the amount of ink I consistently applied would be able to print 6 sheets. Of course the first would be heavy, the next three or four would be fairly consistant, and the last would be a little light. The only way to do it is by trial and error.

Paul

Bielerpr
on 23 Apr 12 (01:38)

danielheff

Well, yeah, of course. You continually need to add ink during a run. You simply have to gauge when you need to add it. Normally you would trip and print but as ink wanes, especially on solids, you could do a double trip or even a triple trip to keep the density even before re-inking.

Does this make sense?

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com

LetterpressDad
on 23 Apr 12 (14:32)

Let me ask an obvious (read that as maybe stupid) question for a SP-15 or a MP-15: In trip mode, you are inking the type, but not printing. But in print mode you are only printing and not inking as the rollers pass over the type in front of the paper being printed?

thanks!

Widmark
on 23 Apr 12 (15:02)

Unless the rollers are raised, you are inking every time you move the carriage over the type, whether in print or trip, forward or back. Paul’s Vandercook book has a nice illustration of the different “modes”.