Certainly worth a closer look is Stehlin Hostag which – as part of the Huber Group and with ink-making forebears inspired by Alois Senefelder and his new-fangled lithographic process in 1796 – knows a thing or two about formulations.
So, when around nine months ago, Feltham-based Geoff Neal Litho replaced its Resistor N9000 quick-drying, rub-resistant, sheetfed litho ink with the new Quickfast, intended for uncoated and other ‘difficult’ papers, it didn’t lose any time in checking out the new offering.
Being a well-established and respected player, and winner of the Direct Mail Printer of the Year title at six of the past seven PrintWeek Awards, this former N9000 user’s adoption of the ink may well have been a significant factor in encouraging others to follow suit. Established in 1976, Geoff Neal is today an £11m printing company, often blazing a trail on the kit-investment front (in the past four years the firm has invested £5.5m in three new offset presses and new personalisation and finishing equipment), and with its formats, printing "high-end, complicated direct mail and brochures as well as anything out of the ordinary".
Geoff Neal was keen to try out the new ink and take part in early pre-launch trials, to take advantage of the promised benefits of quick drying, durability, high on-press stability and pigment density.
Richard Gill, UK technical manager at Stehlin Hostag, explains that the ink uses a production technology called Inkredible, instead of the now phased-out technology used with the N9000. The result is a high-pigment ink based on vegetable oils, suitable for non-IPA and alcohol-substitute printing with standard plates and blankets, which is Fogra ISO 2846-1 certified for compliance with the ISO 12647-2 standard and available in CMYK only.
In some countries there’s the option of a ‘duct fresh’ formulation, which stays open longer on the press but takes a bit longer to dry, but this is not an option actively marketed in the UK, reports Gill.
"We decided that, based on UK customer feedback, we wouldn’t offer that option here," he says. "It’s too similar to another product we have. To achieve the best drying results you have to use non-stay open."
Gill describes the ink’s quick-drying and rub-resistant properties thus: "It is for uncoated papers, also matt- and silk-coated papers that can be susceptible to rubbing and marking. There are some other hard-drying inks available, but this reaches its optimum level of rub resistance in a much shorter time. Some printers need this so it can be finished more quickly. Typically this is less than half the time."
Rub-fast characteristics
Geoff Neal production director Ernest Wale reports that the rub-fast nature of the ink certainly impressed him. "Quickfast is a hard-drying-style ink for uncoated materials. We use it a lot for uncoated cartridges and so on, when we want a nice hard finish. It works very well."
"Rougher papers are much more prone to rubbing than smooth surfaces," he adds. "So I often tend to use a hard-drying coating on our Heidelberg XL press as a belt-and-braces operation – if the coating doesn’t work, the ink will dry anyway and it works very well that way."
The quick-drying nature of the ink also comes in handy in situations where certain more ‘challenging stocks’ need to be overprinted once processed on the firm’s XL.
"I tend to use it for stocks that are difficult, such as book covers and particularly on heavy-coverage materials where I want to laser print afterwards," says Wale. "For instance, if I want to laser it and decide to put the hard-drying ink down, I know that if I leave it for 12 to 24 hours it won’t come off on the laser."
He reports, however, that whether or not a job can now be finished in half the time of other inks depends on the details of the job in question.
"We would normally leave uncoated print for up to 24 hours to dry before finishing, although we can commence finishing after six to eight hours if we use a water-based coating and Quickfast," he says. "But it really depends on the ink coverage. I wouldn’t really be able to say if it is 50% faster because the style of work has an impact on when we can start finishing."
No unwanted ink transfer
That said, Wale can confirm that, in Geoff Neal Litho’s experience, the claimed benefits of ‘optimised carbonising characteristics’ have held true – meaning long-term rub and set-off resistance where the ink won’t transfer to other sheets in a stack or finished book is ensured.
"If carbonising is a long-term marking problem we don’t see it, as we don’t have the product long enough, but – touch wood – I haven’t had any customer come back and say ‘it’s rubbing off’," he says.
Due to being used to using Quickfast’s predecessor, the N9000 ink, for similar types of job, there were no real issues in adopting the new ink, reports Wale.
"We run low-alcohol here, not alcohol- free. We use the same blankets and we can run it at speed," he says. "We don’t have problems with it on plates or on the press. It’s been working well and we will continue to use it until such time as we have reason to look elsewhere.
"I haven’t looked elsewhere so far because Stehlin Hostag has been a very loyal and complementary supplier," he adds. "They’ve worked hard with us to ensure we run an efficient unit. I am by nature a loyal individual. I don’t change for the sake of it, though if there is a reason I will. Currently there is no reason to change. They’re very helpful, friendly individuals who will always help out if you’ve got a problem. From that point of view I can’t recommend them enough."
Wale was also impressed with the way Stehlin Hostag responded to suggestions for tweaking the ink while they were in the early stages of trialling it. "We were very happy with that," he reports. "We trialled it and gave a report, with a few things that we thought it could do better. It came back and has been okay ever since."
The result is that today Geoff Neal uses the Quickfast ink for around 20% of work processed on the two larger Heidelbergs. The company also uses Stehlin Hostag’s Impression ink, likewise formulated for rub-resistance but a stay-open type that doesn’t emphasise quick drying so much.
"We did try the Heidelberg inks with the XL, but found them wanting and went back to Stehlin Hostag," reports Wale.
Geoff Neal does, however, use Heidelberg’s coatings rather that Stehlin’s, reporting that "their coatings suit us well." The company also opts to use Heidelberg’s own-brand ink on the Anicolor press, which has a keyless ink system that has different requirements.
Nonetheless, Geoff Neal is overall very impressed with Stehlin Hostag and its Quickfast product. Wale concludes: "We don’t always have time to wait for ink to dry and we don’t want to have the press standing around while it does the drying before a second run.
"The work we produce has to be printed to a high standard," he adds, "which is what Quickfast does."
SPECIFICATIONS
Fast oxidative drying inks in CMYK colours.Formulated for high rub resistance, especially on critical uncoated and matt-coated substrates. Enables fast post-print finishing. Increased resistance to carbonising
Formulation 100% vegetable oil. Pigment intensive
Certifications Fogra ISO 2846-1 certified to enable compliance with ISO 12647-2 colour standard
Suitable for IPA-free printing
Price £16-£25 per set depending on container
Contact Stehlin Hostag UK 0115 986 0477 www.stehlin.co.uk
COMPANY PROFILE
Geoff Neal Litho is an £11m printing company based in Feltham, a few miles from Heathrow Airport. It runs 24 hours a day, with customers including the automotive sector, financial services, the retail markets and fine art. Its main offset presses are all Heidelbergs: a five-colour XL 105, a six-colour Speedmaster CD 102 and a B3 Anicolor. The latest purchase, announced in early April, is a Heidelberg XL 106 six-colour-plus-coater press, which will replace the CD press when it is installed in June.
Why it was bought...
Geoff Neal adopted the Stehlin Hostag Quickfast ink for use on 20% of work on its two larger Heidelbergs when the Stehlin Resistor N9000 ink started to be phased out. Quickfast, the vendor claims, offers quicker drying, and enhanced durability, on-press stability and pigment density.
How it has performed...
Production director Ernest Wale has been very impressed with the ink, reporting: "We don’t have problems with it on plates or on the press. It’s been working well and we will continue to use it until such time as I have reason to look elsewhere."
