Customers complaining of chemical smell on printed pieces.

[macjmccoy]

We use soy based inks only and have had some complaints from customers about a "chemically" smell on their final pieces. Has anyone else had these same complaints?

 

[kansasquaker]

Are you putting an overall aqueous or uv coating on the press sheets? I love the smell of uv . . .

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

Wasn't that a line from a movie 'I love the smell of UV in the morning'
Have you run some blank stock through the press with the dryer on to see if it smells. are you using anything different than you normally use, like different Fountain solution, do you see this normally of is it just this particular customer?

 

[Lukew]

Just because its "soy based" doesn't mean that its a low odour or mineral oil free ink set.

There's a vast array of low odour/ low migration inks in the market, contact a few vendors to see what they have.
The type of fountain solution you use could be causing the issue as well.

I know we had a heap of boxes turn up to us that had been flyers printed at another print firm & it absolutely stunk... you could smell the odour coming from the sealed boxes and when opened it wafted through the whole factory. God only knows what the the hell they were printed with. & one could imagine their factory would have stunk.

 

[seejay]

what stock is it printed on. We have had situations previously, where we've used soy based inks on an uncoated stock and had the same issue.

 

[RGPW17100]

Heavy coverage of ink on uncoated stock equals nasty linseed oil smell. I had to deliver a job to a customer first thing monday morning and left the job in my car over the weekend on a hot summer weekend and the stink in my car was there for almost a month. Coated stock will stink but not as much as uncoated.

We have run scented aqueous and that smell lingered in all of our coating jobs untill we used up the 55 gallon drum. Customers wanted to know why there jobs smelled like Apple Pie

 

[joyce]

Paper machines require regular cleaning. Depending on the method used there can be residual solvents that remain in the paper. These can combine with the solvent based fountain solutions solvents in the inks and solvents used to clean blankets and rollers increasing the potential to have an objectionable oder.

Using pressroom consumables that are very very low or no solvent can result in virtually oder free printing.


http://www.paperage.com/issues/july_august2009/07_2009pmc_cleaning.pdf

HelioJET® Paper Machine Cleaning Solutions

RossJET - Doctors & Showers - IBS Paper Performance Group

 

[Alith7]

If you ran on uncoated, the smell is usually strong enough that even my "press stench" dead sniffer gets a little overwhelmed. I don't know much about "unscented" inks, but unfortunately, I think it's just the nature of the beast.

 

[Lukew]

If you ran on uncoated, the smell is usually strong enough that even my "press stench" dead sniffer gets a little overwhelmed. I don't know much about "unscented" inks, but unfortunately, I think it's just the nature of the beast.

Have to disagree with this. It doesn't have to be the nature of the beast.
That may be so for the majority of ink & chemistry people choose to use, but there are inks & chemistry out there that have very low odour on press. Most important low odour & low migration on the final printed piece.

 

[pacart]

Tell them you can print them digitally (doesn't smell) if they don't like the added feature of the air unfreshener!

 

[Alith7]

Have to disagree with this. It doesn't have to be the nature of the beast.
That may be so for the majority of ink & chemistry people choose to use, but there are inks & chemistry out there that have very low odour on press. Most important low odour & low migration on the final printed piece.

huh...I'll have to ask my vendor about those next time he comes in.

BTW....that "bad smell" still smells like home every time I've been gone from the shop long enough to be able to smell it again.

 

[tomatron]

Here is my point of view on this one. Really!!! Give the inks and chemical guys a break, we trial inks and chems. about every 2 years just to make sure we are running the best suited ink and chem. for our business. The big move to low VOC that has been shoved down our throats has created enough challenges, particularly with rub resistance. We now have more recycled content in our stocks, low VOC in inks and chems. I would be willing to bet that the customers that complain about smell are the very ones that insist on environmentally friendly everything!!! Unless your packaging for human consumption smell should be the least of your worries.

 

[dabob]

Maybe, just maybe it's because there are chemicals on them thar sheets . .. otherwise they would just be white . . . .

And some people are just too fragrant sensitive . .. I have been to meeting where some people could smell the permfume of a restaurant patron that was there the night before . . .

 

[RGPW17100]

It takes a long time to make chemistry work in a print shop. Finding a solution to make ink and chemistry print on coated and uncoated stocks. Then finding an ink that the pigments are correct that you can mix and actually match to a PMS book. The biggest challenge we have is when these materials are altered to make them greener. In most cases we are not aware of these changes till we start having problems. I know there are greener ways to print but everytime we try we get blindsided on jobs that wont dry, color does not dry correctly, no rub resistance or reactions to coating. Small and medium size plants have it the worst because we are too small to have reps come in and test our chemistry to give us better solutions. It gets pretty old when people keep preaching to us to go green. We recycle our chemicals and inks. Some times that has to be enough.

 

[Peter Welfare]

The other big factor here is the current trend in inks is to environmentally friendly and low VOC. The driers also play a significant role. Without the low molecular weight solvents to allow the ink to dive into the paper, ink makers must rely on accelerated drying by adding more driers. These drier catalysts dry the ink, but also produce drying by-products. These by-products of drying have the general chemistry of aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids. They are volatile and mobile and are produced in very minute quantities, but they do have strong odours. Once the inks have dried and the printed sheets aired out, to release these gases, the ink has no odour at all.

 

[Lukew]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!!!!!
If your Pressroom or final printed product has an offensive odour, smells or stinks you are doing something wrong.

We use an ink that has <1% VOC, a fountain solution that is near zero VOC. The press hall does not smell nor do any printed jobs dry with an offensive odour.
This combination allows us to use one ink set on any stock we print on without the use of a IR drier! Uncoated, matt coated, silk coated, gloss coated, synthetic, plastic.
Jobs dry faster, have higher scuff resistance, high gloss & a sharp dot structure.

 

[Alois Senefelder]

Heaven at last !!!

Heaven at last !!!

Lukew,

Go on, Lukew you can tell us all, what this Printers Heaven is really like or is it still Hell ?



Regards, Alois

 

[Alois Senefelder]

from a Printer's Devil !

from a Printer's Devil !

Lukew,


Now that you are resident in Printers Heaven Pressroom, Xerox Paper should pose no

more problems.


Regards, Alois

 

[Lukew]

Lukew,


Now that you are resident in Printers Heaven Pressroom, Xerox Paper should pose no

more problems.


Regards, Alois

Correct Alois. Print & cut same day if needed on that stock now we use this fountain solution & ink. Although we have just gone back to our original stock as the sheeted cut xerox stock was a pain compared to guillotine cut stock.
The fountain solution plays a critical role in the setting & final drying capabilities of an ink, not to mention its rub/scuff resistance.

Alois I know your trying to have a dig with your comment. I have a great interest in print, it is from my own research & funds that we are now utilising this product.
Gather fountain solution material safety data sheets from a bunch of manufacturers and compare. You will notice they are all very similar in ingredient profile with a slight difference in %'s. The main issue with this is you switch from one to another with no real change. The underlying problem is still there.

Did I say I was in print heaven? No. All I said was with the correct products used, the printed piece should not stink, have drying or scuff issues.

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

Lukew, can you share the products you are using to get the results that you have achieved?
Cheers