Roller Wash Up Blade

[LeadPoP]

I'm curious to know how others are washing up their rollers on web presses. After the rollers are saturated with rollerwash and run for about 2 min., I engage the wash up blade. As the rollers dry up a bit, I apply more rollerwash and a little water and repeat until clean.

My question is, should I leave the wash up blade engaged throughout the whole process or disengaged whenever I apply more rollerwash?

[pdan]

I keep that blade engaged, can't imagine a need to lift it until the rollers run clean and dry. (You will get mess if you stop the machine with it engaged however.) And a new blade is probably worth the cost of all that solvent that gets used with an old one.

[LeadPoP]

I totally agree. I only asked the question because I was told by a senior pressman that solvent should never be applied with the blade down because it prevents transfer to all the ink rollers. Any insight on this?

[pdan]

Bunk. OK, depending on which roller(s) you're applying the wash-up to, there may be value to that. If you apply wash to the roller in contact to the blade, or near "upstream" to it...that has merit. I apply wash to the top roller in the machine.

Do a test...time how long it takes to wash both ways.

[REYES1377]

On a Komori sheetfeed press the wash up is in automatic and dis engauges the blade while it squirts solvent or water. Then it lets it run in for a few revolutions then re engauges.

[Ret Heidelberg Instructor]

In my many years of experience the press was washed up with the blade on. You only took it off after all the ink was removed. Saying that I want to add that a lot of newer presses have Automatic wash programs that put the blade on after the solvent is squirted on the rollers. Programmed metered doses of solvent and water are squirted during the process. On some Heidelberg presses you were able to record a wash program or edit a program to suit your needs. Good for metallic ink washups. I wuold often hear complaints that manual washup was slow and the wash programs didn't work well. Generally I found that rollers in the ink train had lost their settings and the proper transfer of solvent soaked ink was not good. Proper settings of the rollers will greatly promote proper inking and washup. I learned long ago Don't fight with the press because the press is going to win.

[RGPW17100]

I use step 1 when starting a clean up. When using this product you should let the step 1 mill in the press for about 10 seconds then engage the washup blade. The step 1 does it emulsifies the ink so that it will not bead up on the top of the clean up blade but allow the ink/step 1 combination to flow down into the clean up tray. I use V120 mixed 50/50 with water after this. Most press washes I have used tend to cause a bead of ink to form on the washup blade and then it takes forever to clean the press.

[LeadPoP]

Thanks for everyone's input on this. I think I'll stick to what I feel is best for the press (which is keeping the blade engaged) and only doing it the other way when "Mr. know-it-all" is watching.