Press wash
Dear Briar-ites,
I’ve been using mineral spirits on older poly rollers, but have since had the cores recovered with new rubber rollers from NA Graphics. I know water miscible is the way to go; my local Xpedx/Veritiv rep has a few options, and I’m wondering what’s best: Cal Wash, Colorlok General, Colorlok Economy, Colorlok Premium. Cal is the most expensive, but is it also the best?
And, I’ve heard of using vegetable oil to remove inks, and then following with a water miscible wash to remove the oil. Would anyone who’s tried this recommend it?
Thanks, as always!
A water-miscible roller wash makes sense for lithographic
rollers, where gum and paper particles can buildup on the rollers, but for letterpress rollers, the mineral spirits wash should be fine.
Of course, the water-miscible wash will be fine for the rollers, but may be more expensive than the mineral spirits in the long run.
I’m not sold on the use of vegetable oils in clean-up, but certainly could be used if you get all the residue off with the following wash.
John Henry