Are you printing a narrow width but still using the same size ink and dampener rollers you’ve always used?

If ink and dampener rollers are wider than the area being printed, then ink and paper lint can build up on the edges of the ink rollers, in the process causing ink mist and slinging as the press runs.

 

This condition can also reduce the life expectancy of your ink rollers, which in turn will cause the copper ink drums to wear out prematurely on the edges.

The following is a reader’s question to me concerning a width reduction of the plates, blankets and printing rollers on his Goss Community press.

Q: I have a 10-unit Goss Community. We run a 28-inch web and never plan to go wider than 28 inches. I was thinking about getting 30-inch rollers, 31-inch water rollers and 30-inch plates and blankets. Do you know of anyone who has done this? Do you think I would run into any problems? We could save more than $5,000 a year on plates alone.

Here’s my answer: You’re right on target. Go for it! Reducing the width of the ink rollers, blankets and plates will also reduce some of the ink slinging that you would otherwise experience.

You can also make all of the rubber on the rollers the same length. If you want to save even more money, do the cutdown of the rollers yourself.

Simply put the rollers on a stand and have someone spin the roller slowly by hand while someone else uses a razor knife to cut a deep groove in the rubber roller where the rubber is to be removed. Then slice the rubber to be removed in multiple axial segments.

The segments can then be removed by cutting them away. You will never be able to remove all of the rubber unless you have access to a lathe but you will be able to remove enough rubber so that the rubber is not in contact with the ink drums or the plate.

You’re not alone in trying this: Other papers have done the same thing.

Even if your newspaper decides to go back to a wider web width in the future, the money saved during the cutdown will more than pay for the new rollers and blankets to restore the press back to a wider web width.

However, it may take some time to recoup the cost of re-equipping your press with new rollers.

With a 10-unit press, you’re talking about 120 rollers, or 12 rubber rollers per unit. With each roller costing about $90 (including bearings and shipping) you would be spending close to $11,000 to re-roller your machine. Add blankets, at a cost of about $70 per blanket, and you’re talking an additional $1,400 to cover the replacement cost of the two blankets in each unit.

You said that you would save $5,000 per year. (The amount of square feet saved by reducing a printing plate from 36 inches wide plate to one that has a plate width of 26 inches is 28 percent. If you buy plates by the square foot, you’d be able to shave 28 percent of your total plate costs annually). That means that in a little more than two years that you would have saved enough money to completely replace every roller on the press if necessary.

In addition to the cost savings, reducing the width of the ink and dampener rollers will keep the press units much cleaner, including such components as unit side frames, unit guards, water form control rods and ink form control rods.

Frank Bourlon has more than 30 years’ experience in the newspaper industry. He is the executive and training director for the Newspaper Production & Research Center. He can be reached at 405.524.7774 or via e-mail at nprc@flash.net.