Kick the Can—Get Rid of Old Ink

Highlights from “Ask a Print Expert” at graphicartsonline.com, where Ray Prince tackles challenges.

Question: My pressmen are keeping opened sheetfed ink cans by the press for use on future jobs. My ink salesman said all ink older than one year should not be used. Who is right?

Answer: Old ink causes so many problems that it would take me two full pages to list them all! For a good guideline, do not use any sheetfed ink over one year old unless it is vacuum sealed. Either dispose of the old ink properly or, better yet, donate it to a local school with a print shop. For web-offset inks, the time frame is six months. So, your ink rep is steering you right ... be sure to thank him for good advice! [Match inks can be reblended into new spot colors. See p. 29]

Question: What's a good policy on overruns? We have a large room full of overages that sales people tell the bindery to keep for samples or if customers need some. The space makes no money for us.

Answer: Your issue is quite common. First, you need to clear out the room. Take an inventory and put a cheap price on everything, then offer the salespeople a 50% commission if they can sell it in four days. If it's still there on day five, scrap it. Likewise, for all new jobs, the bindery supervisor should do a count, sales management should put a cheap price on it and give the salesperson three days to sell it at a 50% commission. On day four, scrap the overs. The commission is generous, but you're selling tomorrow's recycle.

Question: We have to repaint our pressroom walls every six months due to ink misting. The walls basically turn gray. Is this normal?

Answer: No, this is not normal and is not desirable. Because the misting is severe, you need to contact your ink company right away. If this is a UV press, then mist collectors should be installed above each unit. This would apply to sheetfed or web presses.

Question: There's too much spray powder in our plant. The cost of cleaning the presses, floor and the bindery is excessive. What can be done?

Answer: The best way to attack powder is at the source. Install a hood in the delivery and exhaust it to the outside. If you find a problem at floor level in the area of the delivery, then have a floor sweep built—wide opening and gentle vacuum evacuating to the outside. If that still doesn't do the trick, then install air cleaners at ceiling level.

Question: When counting sheets for making note pads, why are our counts off?

Answer: I reviewed the samples you sent, and your counts do vary slightly for pads of 20. Stabbing for such small counts does not work well and will be off by several sheets when you're working fast. If this bothers the client, purchase a tab inserting device to install at specific counts at press delivery. Then insert chipboard by hand at these points—and the counts will be dead on.

ONLINE: e-mail questions to Ray at rprince@napl.org