Registered in England No. 1725990 © Pomeroy Pressroom Products Ltd 2010 Website design by: AH Designs Q & A / Advice: We are able to offer our customers a wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of the printing process. At our manufacturing plant in Gloucestershire, we produce a wide range of pressroom consumables, including washes, fountain solutions and coatings. We are also one of the few blanket converters in the UK and Germany (Vegra GmbH) for analysis and development of a wide range of products. If you have a particular problem (or require more information on one listed), please drop it on an email to us (giving as much detail as possible, and any relevant photos etc), and we will do our upmost to help you.      Contact Us. “The Method”: Regular use of “The Method” will keep your presses in the optimum condition required to produce superior printed results. Controlling the ‘Calcium Curse”: Negative interactions are commonplace between press, ink, paper and press chemistry. As a result, insoluble salts regularly plague rollers, blankets, fount circulation system and ultimately affect print quality...and your patience!! Corrosion Prevention: Corrosion is a recognised problem throughout the printing industry. If it is not prevented or controlled it can have a considerable degenerative effect on presses, resulting in expensive component replacement and reduced press life. The Alcohol Debate: The alcohol free debate continues, with printers and suppliers being divided over the effectiveness of alcohol free or reduced alcohol printing. Coatings: A coating is basically a solution which is applied onto the surface of a substrate to enhance, protect or give added performance. The most obvious benefits are an enrichment of the optical effect, combined with protection of the material’s surface during both the finishing process and final use. Pressroom Solvents: Solvents, blanket washes and press cleaning solutions used by the printing industry have traditionally been based on organic aromatic or chlorinated hydrocarbons. There is now an increasing body of evidence that clearly shows a direct link between these petrochemical solvents and a wide range of workplace health and environmental problems. Fountain Solutions: Their formulation and application are becoming increasingly important as a primary method of controlling and maintaining a high level of print quality in the lithographic process. The delicate ink/water balance, always a precarious relationship between opposing forces, has never been under such scrutiny and, as lithographic presses become more efficient and printing speeds increase, so fountain solution are required to become ever more sophisticated. Conductivity: Manufacturers of fountain solutions, such as Vegra, spend considerable time and resources on developing products that are safe, effective and which produce consistent results. Ultimately, however, the success with which a particular fountain solution functions depends on the skill and experience of the printer, who is generally responsible for diluting the concentrate and then monitoring the results once it is on the press. Blankets: The blanket is a fundamental part of the offset lithography process and its construction and condition can dramatically affect the printed result. All too often, however, the offset blanket is considered to be of minor importance and, as a consequence, is the cause of many costly printing and downtime problems. Although modern blankets offer better performance than in the past, there is now a greater range available, making the correct choice of blanket even more difficult. It is therefore crucial for a printer to understand the basic concept of a blanket, what it is designed to do and how different types of construction can affect the printed result. Anti-Set-Off Spray Powders: Anti-set-off spray powders are looked upon as a necessary evil (especially as print speeds increase), as they remain the only practical method of ensuring that the printed sheets in your delivery pile do not stick together as a result of wet ink transferring from one printed sheet to another. Anti-set-off powders achieve this by creating an air gap (spacer) between printed sheets, thus preventing ink from one printed sheet contacting another and thus allowing the printing ink to dry naturally. Plate Mounting Tapes: Trouble shoot common problems associated with plate mounting tapes.