Need to change shop lights over UV press?

[Slice]

I am converting our Komori to a UV ink system and will be running hybrid inks. Our Komori technician says the overhead florescent task lighting and halogen shop lights needs to be changed to special bulbs or the ink will cure on press. We run only process colour 5 days a week 24 hours per day and then washup Friday night and do not run on the weekend.

I never did this at my previous shop. Is he right?



Slice

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

Yes he is correct. It is a good manufacturing pratice, If you fail to filter out the stray UV light your inks could start to Polymerize in the ink fountains. Also make sure your inks and coatings come in Black light blocking containers to shield out light. Once the polymerization process starts it could ruin some very expensive raw material.

 

[danprtr]

UV ink (zeller and gmelin) run in our Heidelberg 1 color does not have special lighting but we keep the fountain covered and wash up nightly (spot color printing). A covered fountain and maybe some care with lamp placement, intensity, and shading, if necessary would seem to eliminate this expense. Just our experience.

 

[Dan Roll]

Industrial light supply houses can sell you relatively inexpensive plastic sleeves that filter the UV component out of fluorescent light and have the added advantage of protecting the press from debris if a bulb breaks.

 

[onwsk8r]

+1 for Dan Roll (Daniel TRoll? Is that a joke?). You printers need to understand there's a lot more light than just the visual light. Roy G Biv turns in his grave every time someone doesn't understand that a light puts out light at a wide range of frequencies.
Sorry. I'm here all night.

Your typical light puts out "light" in a whole range of frequencies - not just the ones you see, and don't be an amateur and say "blue light" or "green light" because it shows up blue or green on your daylight-balanced film. This is partially why the T-12 bulb (typical fluorescent) is no longer being manufactured. The T-8 has this problem to a lesser extent, and an expert on the subject told me last week that those bulbs as well will be phased out, although the timetable has not been established.

LED's, on the other hand, emit light over a very narrow frequency (spectrum) range. That's why they, when put in the next room over as the T-8, seem to be much closer to daylight than a daylight balanced T-8.

So what am I getting at? A portion of the T-8's light emission is in the UV range, which is decidedly bad for your UV ink. It's worse for T-12, Halogen, etc - T-8 is the best case scenario. The only way to truly remove the problem is to switch to LED lighting.