Ink Film Thickness and Its Relationship to Quality, Productivity, and Waste in the Sheetfed Litho Pressroom

Not much has been published about ink film thickness and its effect on presswork. Indeed, most press operators that I talk to have no knowledge or the wrong knowledge about ink film thickness. They always assume that you run the least amount of ink you can. They are afraid if they run a good film of ink, they will cause picking or piling. Or if they run the job with a good ink film, the job will setoff or block, or the ink will cause slow drying. If the ink is formulated correctly, none of these problems will happen. Indeed, good ink run at a good thickness will ensure a trouble-free pressrun and produce a quality job as well.