Introduction Printing ink is so much more than just the black stuff that you put on a page. It has been around for thousands of years, and it's been used in everything from newspaper presses to digital printers. As you can see, we're not talking about offset printing ink which is oil based. I want to have a little fun and talk about how you can make your own ink for your printer. At home! Ready? Ingredients You will need the following ingredients: Soot (5 tbsp) : This is as purest as it gest. You can make the soot yourself by holding a glass up to a flame. This will allow you to slowly accumulate the soot. Water (2 tbsp): For the base of your ink, use distilled water so that you don't introduce any impurities into the mix. Distilled water is also easier to clean up than tap water because there are no minerals or residue left behind from tap water. Alcohol (2 tbsp) (grain alcohol): This ingredient works as a preservative for your ink and allows it to last for several mo
On a offset web press, troubleshooting web breaks can be a daunting task. It’s a job that requires the offset pressman to have a full gamut of understanding of how the machinery operates. Here are some guidelines that along with good pressroom management, can help you get to the source of the web breaks. First of all, these tips concern an offset pressman if he has one or more web breaks per 100 rolls. That may seem like and aggressive goal, but the reality nowadays is that paper production in combination with the equipment that is being built today give offset printing high reliability. If an offset pressman can achieve one percent, you are competitive. So I present to you, the pressman, methods troubleshooting web breaks: 1. Be Observant The first and easiest part to troubleshoot web breaks is your tension. Start by asking yourself, “What has changed recently.” If your tension settings have changed, try to go back to what was working before the web breaks began.