Agfa LP82 Plate Processor

[Will Prep]

Hello.

We have had this plate processor for 4 1/2 years. Within the last couple of months the developer tank has been getting A LOT more sediment, the bottom of the lid gets what looks like a silver coating, and the last top roller (of the developer tank) gets hideously dirty. All of this accumulates within the two weeks between our minor maintenances. I've been flushing out the drainage tubes to make sure they are flowing.

Anyway, this is a fairly recent development (so to speak). Is something within the processor malfunctioning? Did Agfa recently change the formulation of the developer or the coating on the plates?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, any ideas on how to get these rollers cleaner.

Thanks!

Processor: Agfa LP82
Plates: Lithostar Ultra, LAP-V
Developer: L 5000b Ultra Developer

 

[mizark]

Re: Agfa LP82 Plate Processor

Hello there.

We have had our LP82 Ultra processor for 5 years now. I clean it every monday morning. I take out all the rollers and scrub them and fill the tanks up with water and let it circulate for about 15 minutes then redrain that and put everything back together.

We do get silver coating on the bottom of the developer resevoir, but we also get a light purpleish coating in the rinse resevoir.

I dont think it has anything to do with it malfunctioning. Are you plating more than usual?

How are your rollers looking? I had to replace the top roller on unit 2 and 4. They were turning a dark silver tone and I scrubbed one of them way too much over the past year and it ended up feeling like an old mans skin.. all wrinkley and it was noticeable on press. I don't know why the top rollers of unit 2 and 4 get WAY more filthy than the rest of them but I've learned not to scrub hard on those when cleaning them because even though they turned silver they still work good.

All I do is stick a roller in a pretty big sink and have water running while I use a coarse scrubbing brush. Like I said, I dont scrub hard on top rollers 2 and 4. The rest I do put some muscle to them. Oh, and I switched out the 2 and 4 top rollers one time due to one being very wrinkled and it worked well.

Hope that helps somewhat. I hate cleaning the processor btw. I am tired of being purple

 

[silentrant]

Re: Agfa LP82 Plate Processor

I'll be completly honest, your violet plates are causing you more stress and money than it would be to invest in an upgrade to a thermal amigo/azura setup. They work, are consistent!! and will pay for themselves in no time. Did I mention that they work.

 

[AdrianJ]

Re: Agfa LP82 Plate Processor

we're using the LP 68 Ultra Processor... There are so many problem lately that I've gotten tired of cleaning rollers.

Sometimes plates come out with lines (Lots of them), and the sediment becomes so thick that you can actually scoop it up.

We're using lap V plates, does anyone know why these plates comes out with the lines and the reason for so much sediment build up?

 

[Will Prep]

Re: Agfa LP82 Plate Processor

Hi Mizark.

We aren't using any more plates than usual. What I find strange is this extra sediment issue, silver coating on the lid, and extremely dirty top roller 4 (all in the developer tank) became a real problem only a couple of months ago. There's no new variables that I know of. My thought is that possibly the developer itself isn't circulating enough, so older developer (and associated sediment) is hanging around in the tank longer, allowing the roller and lid to get coated more quickly.

Do you clean ALL of the tanks (developer, 1st finisher, and 2nd finisher tanks) every week? I clean the developer tank and 2nd finisher tank every other week and the (very gross) 1st finisher tank every 8 weeks. This cleaning frequency seems to be in line with the little progress bar on the processor's control/display panel.

I do scrubbed the heck out of all the rollers, especially top roller 4 and all the rollers in the 1st finisher tank. I haven't damaged the roller material, yet.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[mizark]

Re: Agfa LP82 Plate Processor

Hey Will,


Yes I clean EVERYTHING every monday morning. Including the wash off section which is always nasty at the bottom. And YES its a pain but it keeps everything flowing nicely. It doesn't take very long to drain and clean everything because I have a certain way I do things. I have let it go for 2 weeks though and I really noticed a difference which is why I do it every monday. The progress bar never gets even an eight of the way. I don't think I have even seen it go a fourth!! I know after 14 days the processor will do that beeping noise telling me it needs to be clean and that only happens on rare times where I let it go 2 weeks.

I know when I purchased a new top 4 roller that within that week it turned silver already. So I am not sure if our processors are just getting way too old or what.

We don't have a service contract for some stupid reason (haven't had one for like 2 years now). So I have to clean it like I do for preventive measures and have been lucky to not have very many problems.


Do you clean the procam unit often?? I have to do it once a month. The filter gets so nasty and clogged.

 

[Bat-Erdene]

I 'm Bat . we have LP-82 and I have one more problem when the plate releases from second liquid and goes througt drier, it is not being cleansed completely.
I think , second liquid became thicker while having been kept for a long time.
Can we dilute it with water
if it is workable, that would be the ratio of water
Looking forward to hearing from you and thank you

Best regards
Bat

 

[Printservedigital]

I can say with some confidence that using water to clean processors is the worst thing you can do... WHY?

The first time I witnessed prepress staff cleaning rollers and baths with water I told the ops manager to stop them. He noted my comments but the operative did it anyway, needless to say a day later I was called in to fix the blocked processor I had to rip all the tubing off and scrape out the blockage and clean the pipework.

As the residual polymer comes off the plate it settles in the bath, when you use water to clean the water makes the polymer residue act like and "ionic" solution (because of the ph) in that it binds itself together and dries up on bits that are not kept submerge, this causes severe blockages in drains, developer pumps and recirculation controls. If you have ever taken a recirculating developer pump apart you will see exactly what i mean.

We have a solution if anyone is interested, it's a solvent base but it clean rollers really well and makes it easier to get rid of residue in the bath.

Any silver sediment can only be the aluminium, maybe plate guides are set wrong or PH not correct. Check everything it's not right.

I also recommend having your dev and gum pump head cleaned every six months, anyone in the UK who wants this we can do it , we can replace the pump head and will take the old one away.

 

[Printservedigital]

---------------------------------------------------
I 'm Bat . we have LP-82 and I have one more problem when the plate releases from second liquid and goes througt drier, it is not being cleansed completely.
I think , second liquid became thicker while having been kept for a long time.
Can we dilute it with water
if it is workable, that would be the ratio of water
Looking forward to hearing from you and thank you

Best regards
Bat
--------------------------------------------

This could be your gum roller bearings wearing out if the Gum isn't being dried properly ,

ALSO some gum types start thickening as the water is evaporating from the solution during operation this is normal BUT you do need to try and keep the Specific Gravity close to the original product as it will change its strength and you could end up with scumming on the press.


You need to buy a hydrometer to check the Specific Gravity of FRESH Gum then keep the Gum in the tank monitored every day ( three day) depending on usage.