Web Cleaning System Improves Press Efficiency

One of Baldwin's Jetstream 1000 contact-less web cleaning system has been installed on a Wifag OF 7/570 GTD press at France's largest daily newspaper, Le Monde.

The two Wifag presses in use at Le Monde's Ivry-sur-Seine premises near Paris, are equipped with Baldwin's Litho Spray Optima spray dampening systems.

The Wifag OF 370 GTD, which consists of six four-high units, is also fitted with Baldwin Impact Global automatic blanket cleaning equipment.

However, the company wanted to improve the efficiency of the 1,280mm wide Wifag OF 7/570 without having to replace the existing blanket cleaning system.

The Jetstream 1000's aerodynamic nozzle, positioned close to the web surface, works via a combination of vacuum in the cleaning module and a high velocity air flow, which moves along the web surface and in to the cleaning module, said Baldwin.

The airflow breaks the boundary layer on the paper and forces the particles that were trapped in that layer in to the cleaning module.

An ionising bar positioned upstream of the cleaning module reduces static electricity, enabling the loose particles to be removed more easily from the web surface.

The compact system requires little space, maintenance is minimal and one module will clean both sides of the paper web, added the company.

A central filter unit extracts the dust particles from the air collected by all cleaning modules.

Jetstream 1000 is claimed by Baldwin to be simple to operate and to have low energy consumption.

The only consumables required by the system are the central filter elements and they can be changed when required.

Le Monde has reported that since commissioning the Jetstream 1000, the blanket cleaning system on the Wifag OF 7/570 has been used much less frequently whilst manual washing of the ink rollers has virtually ceased.

That has led to time and material savings.

Baldwin claimed that the Jetstream system is becoming increasingly popular amongst European newspapers and commercial web offset houses seeking an inexpensive way to reduce paper dust and debris to improve print quality and press productivity, whilst also reducing running costs.

Le Monde is said to be equally pleased with its Impact Global automatic blanket cleaning system, which has been in operation at the site for three years.

The company said it has been impressed by the Prepac washcloths, which are impregnated with a precisely defined quantity of low-VOC cleaning agent.

The system does not require piping and protected pumping stations to feed washing agent to the 24 Impact Global wash bars fitted to the press.

The 48 blanket cylinders on the Wifag press are cleaned automatically after the production of each title with virtually no operation intervention needed.

Baldwin said that Impact Global has resulted in a reduction in make-ready times on the press, lower material usage and washing agent consumption, as well as improved working conditions for the press operators.

Le Monde has an average daily circulation of 450,000 copies, a figure augmented by the financial newspaper Les Echos (120,000 copies) and a special edition of the British newspaper, The Guardian (17,000 copies).

Production at the site also includes several titles, such as Le Monde Diplomatique (300,000 copies), the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (250,000), and the tabloid Politis (22,000).

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