Cleanliness Supports Quality Printing.
Whether you’re an experienced commercial printer running a Heidleberg or a local print shop offering digital printing services, you know that top-quality work ties directly to equipment cleanliness and maintenance.
While different presses require different cleaning practices, using the right shop towel to clean your print equipment can help:
- ensure consistent quality from job to job
- prevent damage to delicate printer parts
- minimize press downtime
- save time and money
Lint-free shop towels are ideal for wiping down plates and cleaning printing equipment. We'll discuss the best specialty wipers available for delicate print cleaning jobs in just a minute.
Here’s Which Shop Towels NOT to Use When Cleaning Printing Equipment
Shop rags and soft wiping cloths are popular wipers for print, digital and screen printing shops. However, taking shortcuts with cheap shop towels can make the difference between average and the best printing quality.
Cloth cotton rags top our list of lousy wiper choices on printing equipment. Rags are not effective at quickly removing ink and debris from printing machinery. Cotton fibers often leave linty residue on rollers or other vital print surfaces. Even after washing, rags risk redistributing contaminants back onto your equipment. And, at an average of a dollar per piece, cloth rags are not an economical choice.
The cost of rental shop towels is like their lint — too high. Due to the unreliability of rental shop towel services removing ink, grime or debris from their towels, contaminants are also an issue. For example, one metal shard embedded in a rental shop towel could cause irrevocable damage to your delicate stainless rollers.
The New Gold Standard Shop Towels for Printing Equipment
If you’ve been in the printing world for a while, you've likely heard of Nubtex®. Historically, Nubtex® was the go-to shop towel used extensively in the printing industry for cleaning and wipe-downs. Then, to improve machine speeds (and increase profit margins), the manufacturer of Nubtex® changed the process to eliminate critical steps. This seriously “cheapened” the performance of the popular wiper.
Today, two updated print shop towel products are available — both far surpass the characteristics of Nubtex®.
One of the new, best specialty wipers for delicate print cleaning jobs is the KrossTex® shop towel. It’s a thick, three-dimensional wiper product with cross-directional strength. The absorbency of the bulky KrossTex® fabric makes it ideal for cleaning rollers, ink trays, process equipment, blankets, plates — virtually any delicate printer or copier part.
Why Buy KrossTex® Shop Towels for Printing Equipment Cleaning and Maintenance?
KrossTex® specialty wipers are engineered specifically for the printing industry with these important characteristics in mind:
- KrossTex® wipers are made of the lowest lint fabric on the market today and won’t leave any lint behind.
- KrossTex® shop towels are disposable — get a new wiper every time and forget about introducing grease, grime, ink, metal shards, or other contaminants into your critical machinery.
- Strong, bulky, and absorbent, the hyper bulky “nubs” in the KrossTex® woven structure increase their cleaning surface area, grabbing ink, debris, and grime more effectively than any cotton rag.
- The large, perforated KrossTex® rolls take up less space, and provide easy dispensing and storage.
- Over time, using KrossTex® wipers will reduce paper and water waste.
Sure, you may find some of these qualities in other non-woven print shop towels, but not all-in-one like KrossTex®.
What Is the Best Printing Equipment Wiper?
- KrossTex® brand shop towels are available here on an extra-large perforated roll, two rolls per case. The roll can be hung from a dowel or stand above the floor for ease in tearing off one towel at a time.
The towel size is 12.2 in. x 15.3 in. At 800 wipes total on 2 rolls , $172.00 per case is just $.21 -$.22 per towel.
- Telesto Products offers the same thick, absorbent “nubby” lint-free fabric as KrossTex® under our brand. Our NT400X mimics the 3-dimensional technology of KrossTex® (and Nubtex®), but comes pre-folded in a quarterfold design, making it super easy to grab one wiper at a time and immediately clean small hard-to-reach spaces.
Telesto’s NTX400 print shop towel comes in a 12 in. x 13 in, quarterfolded form. A case includes 16 sealed packs of 25 wipers for a total count of 400. At $72.00 a box, that’s only $.18 per wiper. Order NTX400 here.
If you’re in the Printing Industry, you owe it to yourself to check out KrossTex® shop towels or our NT400X quarterfold print wiper. Both are in stock now and ready to ship FREE same day or next day (in the lower 48).
Why wait any longer? Make your purchase today and start your journey to protect your valuable printing equipment, improve quality and efficiency.
