Now that the plate cylinder has been packed to your desired specifications, the blanket cylinder will need to have the same attention to packing consistency and quality. The relationship or interface between the plate and blanket cylinders sets the control for the entire printing process. From this point on the relationship between plate & blanket cylinders MUST remain constant, if you change packing in one cylinder, you must adjust the packing (to the opposite level) in the other cylinder.

Example:

After you have reached the perfect “Squeeze” between the plate and blanket cylinder and

you add .002 of packing to the plate cylinder, you must take away or reduce the packing

under the blanket by -.002. Excessive squeeze in this nip will increase both plate and

blanket wear. Blanket piling can be caused or aggravated by unnecessary nip pressure.The

blanket is the second most critical part of the ink trail from pan to paper.Even if the plate, ink,

pressures, fountain solutions, and paper are flawless, a poor blanket section will give an

inferior print. The blanket packing is so critical to blanket dot reproduction that a difference

of as little as .0015 inch results in a noticeable change in color values. A combination of the

blanket cylinder, press undercuts, blanket construction, and blanket thickness determines

the packing, and therefore the PRINTING DIAMETER of the blanket cylinder.

The quality of the print you get from your blanket depends on the quality of

your press-packing.