Business News
H Portsmouth & Son upgrades its “two press dampening unit”
Wednesday 13. October 2010 - John Portsmouth praises the work of technotrans engineers who have fitted a new alpha.d dampening unit to its Ryobi 324 but added an extra connection so that it can also run with the larger and less used B2 Aurelia when required.
John and his brother Alan Portsmouth are the third generation to run the general commercial printers in Leigh on Sea which has been in operation for close to 90 years. They visited Ipex and reviewed the technology available from technotrans and its rival suppliers.
“We came down in favour of technotrans because we have had good previous experience with their equipment and because they are geographically close which makes it very convenient for spare parts,” says John Portsmouth. “The dampening has to be right to keep alcohol levels down (we are currently running with about 7%) and is more critical because we run polyester plates.”
The alpha.d is a unit which handles the circulation, cooling, filtration, alcohol control and additive mixing of the dampening solution. The new dampening unit was a retrofit for H Portsmouth & Son which was replacing a ten year old system.
Colin Starling, technical support supervisor of technotrans, says: “Companies like H Portsmouth are forward-thinking. They are now well prepared for changes in legislation on refrigerant gases. Many ageing chiller systems use inefficient and environmentally damaging CFC gas. R22 gas, in particular, is currently being phased out by the European union, meaning many printers need to consider replacing dampening and temperature control systems. Even now, dampening and ink temperature control units with R22 can only be repaired by using reclaimed gas and, by 2015, a complete R22 ban comes into affect. Printers need to plan for the legislation now.”
H Portsmouth offers a design and print service to produce colour leaflets, brochures and booklets through to letterheads and general stationery. It houses litho, digital and thermographic equipment to offer general and personalised print cost-effectively and responsively. It operates flexible day shifts.