RP 3105 UI black drum not inking to the edges / variable darkness across page

[mixedfeelings]

Hello all!
I am having a problem with an RP 3105 not inking all the way to the edges. No matter how many copies I run I can't get the ink to spread to the edges. instead it looks like this:


top of 11x17 page


bottom right corner

Additionally, I am having a hard time getting a real dark black other than on the "good" left edge. I am printing a full page of #000000 black/greyscale mode from Photoshop.

I mean, it looks kind of cool, but unfortunately, I need print a poster that is a full 11x17 (bleed) and has a thick black border all the way round.

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot!
George

[ddude]

Remove the master off of the drum, and wipe the screen down with some citrus solvent or blanket wash-you may have some clogging happening due to the soy based ink.

[mixedfeelings]

I'll give it a shot, thanks!!

Do you think I need to take the screen off? Or will just a good scrubbing from the outside do the trick?

[ddude]

Usually you will not need to remove the screen, although you can clean it more thoroughly with it off. Just saturate a cloth with cleaner (citrus based solvent works good) and wipe down the screen, real wet. This will revive your solids, and, hopefully will fix the edge problem as well.

[mixedfeelings]

I never gave a proper thank you for you advice, so thank you! Worked like a charm.

One thing I didn't expect was how sensitive the drum screens were. I nicked it in a few places while giving it a good scrubbing and later noticed the nicks corresponded with nonprinted white marks on the paper. I realized that this is from the "mountains" where the broken bits of screen were pushing up on the master, separating it from the screen in those spots. Last night I took off the master and used a screwdriver to flatten out the "mountains", in some cases pushing them inwards. the new master inked right up and there were no perceptible "mountain holes" in the image.

So that works as a temporary fix, but do any of you experts think this will be a problem in the long run? Or should I try to replace the drum screen? I have two color drums with bad ink pumps that i could cannibalize for it.

Thanks!

[ddude]

Yes, if you have the screens available, I would change them- In the future, you will not need to scrub a screen to revive it, just allow the citrus solvent or blanket wash to dissolve the gummed up ink-wetter is better.