We’re glad you asked! Our offset liners use a thin plastic film and a patented adhesive that installs easily and doesn’t leave a residue when removed. Simply install the liner and add ink. When it’s time to change colors, clean the roller & clean the keys. Then just peel up the liner and place a new one down. They save on ink contamination, rag & cleaning costs and most importantly: add valuable press time!
Yes; as long as the fountain is not Teflon coated.
It’s a simple formula really. When you’re cleaning ink fountains, you aren’t making money. You’re spending it. Fountain liners reduce that cleanup time by 50% when used properly. Your sales rep will be happy to give you a self-calculating spreadsheet if you know what your press time is worth per hour. It’s simple to figure out how much money you will save.
Some of our customers leave the liners in for two weeks. When it’s time to do maintenance on the keys, they remove the liners. They save 30 minutes of press time every two weeks which is about 12.5 hours of press time on a 4-color press at the end of the year. They don’t use a lot of liners, but we still love them just the same!
It’s best to cover as much of the fountain as possible, so there’s less to clean up. We are the only manufacturer with liners that cover the cheek plates, so cleaning those pesky corners doesn’t cost you press time! We have to leave ¼ to ½ inch uncovered at the leading edge of the fountain near the roller, so the churn of the ink does not force up the adhesive. This distance depends on the speed of the rollers.
We prefer not to do this; making the liner as close to the size of the fountain as possible makes it much easier & faster to install.
It takes a little practice. So, we make sure during the design process to give you ample prototypes to make sure your operators get good at it. Experienced operators can install an offset liner in under 10 seconds.
Our biggest liner is for a KBA 205 that measures 80 inches across, but we can make them bigger. Wanna bet?
Yes, we insist. They have to be exact, so will send you prototypes before your first order.
Now you’re getting it! We have a full-time former rocket engineer (literally) on staff who will work with you during the process, but first we must get some measurements. Please email Miles Johnson at mjohnson@dipworldwide.com or give him a call at 321.454.4543 and let him know you’re interested. Then he’ll gather the measurements and some pictures from you and you’re off and running! Miles will get you a ball park quote and make sure DIPCO has all the information needed to start saving you time on clean ups and color changes.
We measure all our offset fountains in millimeters since they have to be so exact. We like to collect as much information about the press as possible, but the minimum we’ll need is two pictures of the fountain; one of the cheek-plate and one of the fountain. We also need the measurements of the bottom of the fountain and a tracing of the cheek plate.
Seems like a task, eh? Well, just do your best to trace the cheek with a marker, pencil, piece of chalk, or your kid’s crayon. Scan it and email to Miles, so it prints nicely on an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper. Our design team will create a drawing from the tracing that you can print out and lay over the cheek to make sure it’s the correct size. It may need an adjustment, so we’ll get it right the second time. From here we’re ready to design your liner.
Once we have the cheeks the way you want them, we usually send 3 sample liners. The first one is always cut in half. Install the two halves. If there is an overlap in the middle or a gap, then the width just isn’t quite right. Measure the gap between the two halves or the overlap with a set of calipers and send us that measurement. If the two halves fit together perfectly you are The Master of Measuring! The liner can be used in two pieces, but once we know that space in the middle we’re already working you a finished product. From there we send 3 more sample single piece liners.
CORRECT! So, we’ll send you 20 more for an extended test now that we’ve got the size right.
All of our offset liners are packaged in cases of 100. 1 box is all you need to order up front.
Since we haven’t assigned a part number to your liner yet, Miles will manually handle your first order. After your first order, you can reorder in your normal manner by email, fax, phone, or web.