Printing Chemicals
Printing chemicals cover all the solutions needed in a print shop's production flow: from washing and cleaning solutions, products for adjusting pH and conductivity, to special cleaning solutions for the flexographic industry, products for developing and protecting offset plates, as well as solutions for maintaining and cleaning printing machines and equipment. We have them all.
The Printman portfolio covers five subcategories: wash solutions for sheet-fed, heatset and coldset presses, dampening water additives (pH adjustment, isopropyl alcohol, antifoam), developers for offset plates and replenishers & gumming solutions for protecting offset plates, as well as special wash solutions (flexo, anilox, machine components, dampening system, etc.)
Main brands
- Beca - flexo wash solutions
How our solutions help
Chemicals are selected according to the type of machine/application, the dampening system, the type of ink (conventional or UV), the hardness of the local water supply and the type of CTP plates used. A wrongly chosen product not only fails to solve the problem — it can create others.
We identify the specific application and recommend the right product. Developers and replenishers are specific to the plate type — they are not interchangeable. Dampening additives differ depending on water hardness and the percentage of isopropyl alcohol used. The wash solutions are FOGRA-certified and tested for compatibility with NBR and EPDM rollers.
How often do you run into these problems?
- The dampening system behaves unstably. The water pH fluctuates, ink emulsification is excessive, the ink-water balance takes too long to stabilize at start-up. The direct result: waste at start-up, toning and color inconsistency over long runs.
- Isopropyl alcohol consumption is too high. Costs rise, working conditions worsen, and legislative requirements on VOCs are becoming ever stricter. Modern dampening additives allow a significant reduction or the complete elimination of isopropyl alcohol — without affecting print quality.
- Foaming in the dampening system. Foam in the recirculation tank or in the Baldwin/Technotrans system affects the stability of water transfer. It is solved with a specific antifoam or by periodically cleaning the dampening water path.
Customers who come to us with chemical-related needs frequently also face recurring technical problems identified in production:
- The plates do not develop correctly or developer consumption is too high. Exhausted developer, wrong concentration or incompatibility with the plate type. Every plate in the Printman portfolio has its specific developer and replenisher — an unsuitable product affects development quality and durability in the run.
- The press gets dirty quickly and washes are frequent. A wash solution wrongly chosen for the roller type (NBR or EPDM) or for the ink used prolongs cleaning times and can damage the inking and dampening rollers
