Cold Ink problems???

[hondarr9]

Has anyone ever had problems running ink that was somewhat cold in temperature? The owner of our company has been turning the heat off at night and since it has gotten cold here in the NE we have been having some strange ink/water balance problems. Especially in the morning hours. The temp in the shop when I walk in is about 50F. We are running a Ryobi 3304.

 

[CKL]

Cold Ink

Cold Ink

We had to keep a complete ink set on top of a 150 KVA transformer.
It was enough warmth to get us running and the ink would flow

 

[turbotom1052]

at 50 degrees you will have problems with more than just the ink. even if you were to find a way to keep the ink warm and flowing youd have problems with other things. Roller settings come to mind first. then of course the press lubrication system will not be flowing very well. Lastly im thinking youd be chasing ink water balance until things came up to temp.

 

[Ret Heidelberg Instructor]

Ret Heidelberg Instructor

Ret Heidelberg Instructor

Heard this story many times. The owners try to save a few bucks on the heat and then press crews pull their hair out fighting the elements. They should think of the down-time that they will have to absorb. You never see them bring a customer for a press approval into a cold plant. The next thing tou know they will have you power down when you go to the john or stop for lunch.

 

[nhprinter]

You might want to suggest to him to install a programmable thermostat. He could set it to bring the temp up a couple of hours before your shift starts. It's not ideal, the temp really shouldn't be lowered in the first place, but it might be a compromise. I know everyone is trying to save money.

 

[Xlb]

Cold Ink Problem

Cold Ink Problem

Get a new boss !!!!!!

 

[loopyg66]

cold ink/press

cold ink/press

another option would be to let the press run at speed for about 10 minutes to try and warm up the rollers, etc. If your press has a drier in the delivery, try setting your ink cans on top of it while running in an attempt to warm the cans. I doubt you're going to convince the owner to change his ways, so you're going to have to be creative in warming things up.

 

[hondarr9]

Well, after I made him aware of the problem, I came in this morning and the heat was on and set to 63F Seems better so far.

 

[gsterwald]

Cold Ink

Cold Ink

Time to start looking for a new job

 

[bikozak]

Monitor it

Monitor it

The best way to make your point to your boss is to track the waste and downtime each morning when you make a cold start compared to a warm start. Try each for a month. When he sees how it hits his bottom line, he'll see it your way. That's obviously the only language he understands.

 

[Bloodsaler]

The standard temperature of ink flow is 25℃±2，if temperature too low,ink will be difficult to transfer,that means it will take more time to do the make ready.Meanwhile the operator have to add some additive to change the ink fluidity，but it may also change the color character of ink own.That means your compensation curve for your press will be useless~

 

[kbarz]

forget the ink ,this guy is crazy if he thinks that cold is the only thing that is getting affected,,,, you got paper there right, you got spray powder there right, and you should have a press ( for now any way). as thr press room warms up there just might be some unwanted condinsation going on on the press,this can and will create allot of greif for some one.this press is going to rust up on the side frames ,op side/gear side.rollor hangers will frezze up from rust.. and a whole list of things.. may want to consider oil burning space heater...

 

[rbailleu]

put the ink your going to use in the morning in a camping cooler the night before. fill a 2 liter bottle with hot water put it in the cooler with the ink

side note: we used to have a radiant tube heater and we had to angle the reflector away from the press because it would dry the ink in the fountain over lunch.
so you dont want too warm either