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
Saw the coolest tool for measuring blanket thickness about 6 months ago. It was brought in by our local blanket rep who had no intention of selling us one. He simply used it for his own convenience. It was called a PosiTector 6000 Since seeing it we have purchased our own and never looked back. Let me tell you why I am so sold on this device and why I think every printer should have one. First, let’s talk about how it works. It’s a simple probe that uses magnetic or eddy current principles. By putting the probe against a printing blanket, it can tell you packing/blanket thickness within thousands of an inch. It simply measures the distance to the bare metal. Oddly enough, it is not manufactured specifically for the printing industry... yet. It’s main application is for measuring the thickness of paint against metal. The device's main purpose is to measure the thickness of paint on metal surfaces. However the printing industry is catching on to