http://printplanet.com/forums/ Discussions on Ink, Substrates, and Consumables including ink chemistry, paper properties, and other raw materials used in the print production process. en Sat, 25 May 2013 16:36:11 GMT vBulletin 1 http://printplanet.com/forums/images/misc/rss.png http://printplanet.com/forums/ http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31174-ink-consumables-sales-technical-reps-only-sales Fri, 10 May 2013 21:20:39 GMT The Rep's that do the rounds in this industry or are the first point of contact for the ink & consumables companies. Do you believe they should have the ability to offer both sales & technical support, or only sales with the ability to have a technical adviser within that company help solve issues?

Any printer that has worked in a smaller print firm would know that unfortunately the technical assistance given within this industry is directly related to the % sales a particular company is going to make out of you.

Here is a list of comments that we have received over the years from various ink & consumables companies to either questions relating to a product they sell or a call for technical help.

Q: What is the tack rating of this particular ink set?
A: Its a pretty good tack
A: probably more a low tack as most bio inks these days are.

Q: What is the Glycol % or the fount your recommending as we have asked for it to be under a certain %
A: Not sure, I will have to find out & call you back. It shouldn't matter what % glycols are in it they are needed.
A: 80% glycols
Q: This will effect drying do you have anything with a lower glycol level
A: Glycols have absolutely no effect on ink drying.

Q: We are having a --------- problem with your cyan & we are running the fount you recommended, any other cyan we try works. Although prior to calling you we have checked rollers & settings, switched decks altered the fountain solution % still no change, do you have any suggestions?
A: Hmmm I don't know what would cause that issue it is a high quality ink, we ship it in & sell it as is. We have some customers using 1000's of kg's a month sorry can't help.

Q: The msds of your ink doesn't list the specific drier load in the ink can you get me that information please I need to know to see if its compatible with a specific fountain solution?
A: Thats the only information we have, since this ink is running on machines at 17000sph it is a high quality ink so I think the manufacturer keeps the drier load % a secret so other companies don't copy.
A: It has a good amount of driers in them & we find it drys well.

Q: The roller & blanket wash your trying to sell us, does it contain Aromatic or aliphatic hydrocarbons or both?
A: Not sure, why? Its a good wash people love it it washes up really well

Q Do you offer a bio based wash void of petroleum hydrocarbons ?
A: full vegetable based washes are a misnomer, there is no such thing. petroleum has been used during the manufacturing process of the raw materials and will still be in the product. They are no better then a hydrocarbon wash

Q: This ink & fountain solution you have recommended the screens are not staying open & we are getting a large amount of picture framing & blanket piling. All roller settings, blanket packing have been checked prior to calling you, we didn't have this issue prior to using your product, do you have any suggestions?
A: If your roller settings are correct, your fount dose correct, conductivity correct then I have no idea what would cause that. We have heaps of people using that fount no one else has that problem.


A good one was when I was talking to the supposed ink technician for our state and asking questions regarding an ink set, he was struggling to answer and said I dunno I'm not a chemist just an ex printer.

Worst one of them all is when you miraculously do get a "tech" through the door for help & you ask how are you, have you been busy? "Yeah flat out its crazy" Then they stand there and don't actually do anything other then check the PH & conductivity of the fount. Then scratch their head & say no one else is having issues. We have another product you could try maybe that will work
Well if no one else is having issues then why the f---- are you flat out busy.


Anyone else have some good one liners over the years from sales or techs from ink & consumable suppliers? ]]> Ink, Substrates, and Consumables Discussion Lukew http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31174-ink-consumables-sales-technical-reps-only-sales http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31172-need-help-putting-down-clear-labels Fri, 10 May 2013 13:50:01 GMT Hi All.

We often design and print "clear" labels for bottles, jars, tubes, etc. We print on a sheet-fed press on 2-mil adhesive polyethylene material. When we place the labels on the bottles we still see a light haze on the clear areas no matter how hard we burnish them down. An off-the-shelf product, on the other hand, has an almost completely invisible label. (I'm fairly certain they use some sort of heat process to get those suckers on.) Someone once suggested we use a touch of Windex on the bottle prior to labeling. This actually did give us a clear label, however, it killed the adhesion.

Does anyone have any ideas how to better get these labels on so that we won't see any haze?

Thank You ]]> Ink, Substrates, and Consumables Discussion atoledo@mwny.com http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31172-need-help-putting-down-clear-labels http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31120-there-g7-certified-ink-stes-uv-conventional Wed, 01 May 2013 16:24:52 GMT Hopefully all you ink Techs can shed some light on this for me. I have been told that our press room needs a G7 certified ink. Is there such a thing? Or what would get a set in the Paramiters that G7 requiers? Thanks. Hopefully all you ink Techs can shed some light on this for me. I have been told that our press room needs a G7 certified ink. Is there such a thing? Or what would get a set in the Paramiters that G7 requiers? Thanks. ]]> Ink, Substrates, and Consumables Discussion REYES1377 http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31120-there-g7-certified-ink-stes-uv-conventional http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31093-polyester-plates Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:03:39 GMT Does anyone know if polyester plates from different manufacturers are in fact different or manufactured from the same factory, IE mitsubishi ? Also wondering if some polyester plates are better then others, i.e.. have more grain, better print latitude ? We use dotprint 2 plates which I assume is a mitsubishi plate. Imaged on a DPX machine. Regards. Does anyone know if polyester plates from different manufacturers are in fact different or manufactured from the same factory, IE mitsubishi ?
Also wondering if some polyester plates are better then others, i.e.. have more grain, better print latitude ?

We use dotprint 2 plates which I assume is a mitsubishi plate. Imaged on a DPX machine.

Regards. ]]> Ink, Substrates, and Consumables Discussion Lukew http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31093-polyester-plates http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31088-sun-chemical-sunlit-crystal Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:42:22 GMT Hello,

I'm looking for reviews about this ink : SunLit Crystal.
I've already read some stuff on Internet about it, but it's often the same press release from Sun Chemical : this ink has no default according to this press release, of course.

Have you already use this ink? Heard some critics about it?
Overall, how to choose an ink? Which criteria ?

Thanks a lot for any responses!

Grégoire L.
From France. ]]> Ink, Substrates, and Consumables Discussion GregoireL http://printplanet.com/forums/ink-substrates-consumables-discussion/31088-sun-chemical-sunlit-crystal