BAUMFOLDER Why is blanket packing so important?

The BaumPrint18 is a bearer to bearer press. Bearer to bearer means smooth, quiet operation with superior image transfer. No plate and blanket gap bounce. The plate and blanket cylinders run smoothly together on metal rings. This means that the distance between the plate and blanket cannot be changed by a dial or adjustment. It can only be changed by building up the blanket with packing sheets to a calibrated correct height.

With this in mind the blanket packing is very important for many reasons. With too much blanket packing you will get too much squeeze between the plate and blanket. This will cause plate stretch, premature plate image loss, and dot gain. Also it can, through time, damage the inner workings of the BaumPrint18. With too little packing you will not have enough pressure between the plate and blanket, resulting in weak image transfer.

The plate cylinder bearer is zero undercut. The Blanket cylinder bearer has a .091 undercut. You need to have a .003 to .006 squeeze between the plate and blanket for optimal image transfer. If you add the .003 to the .091 you have a minimum .094 and adding .006 to .091 you have .097 maximum totals. This .094 to .097 is the total thickness of plate + blanket + packing sheets. See the formulas below.

Plate	.004	Plate	.006	Plate	.008
Blanket	.077	Blanket	.077	Blanket	.077
Total	.081	Total	.083	Total	.085
Packing needed for a .003 squeeze	.013	Packing needed for a .003 squeeze	.011	Packing needed for a .003 squeeze	.009
Packing needed for a .006 squeeze	.016	Packing needed for a .006 squeeze	.014	Packing needed for a .006 squeeze	.012

Plate	.004	Plate	.006	Plate	.008
Blanket	.076	Blanket	.076	Blanket	.076
Total	.080	Total	.082	Total	.084
Packing needed for a .003 squeeze	.014	Packing needed for a .003 squeeze	.012	Packing needed for a .003 squeeze	.010
Packing needed for a .006 squeeze	.017	Packing needed for a .006 squeeze	.015	Packing needed for a.006 squeeze	.013

As you can see from the above charts this is easily figured out by simple addition. Either a .003 or .006 plate to blanket squeeze will give you good printing results. You may want the .003 squeeze for polyester plates and the .006 squeeze for metal plates because of the stretch and image durability with polyester plates vs. metal plates. Metal plates are much more durable.