From DPM 2340 to Laser Plates (HP / Okidata)

The cost of keeping our AB Dick DPM 2340 running is getting silly. If we factor in Chemicals, labor to maintain and plate material, it's working out to $7.00 to $8.00 per plate.

I've recently looked at a few different Laser Plates on the market specifically designed to run on the HP5100-HP5500 laser printers which would allow us to move from Computer->RIP->DPM->Plate to Computer->Plate with the average cost per plate dropping from $7.00 to $0.90 each.

I realize there will be differences in durability, and our press operator can, on simple jobs, get 100K impressions from our DPM plates, provided he monitors and adjusts the press properly.

Doing the math, it's a "no-brainer". Even if I can only get 25K impressions from a laser plate, I would only need 4 laser plates to equal one DPM plate.

I know $3 doesn't sound like much in the way of savings, but for our shop it will add up very quickly considering the number of plates we make on a daily basis. It would certainly make even more sense on small runs.

So what are the general opinions of these HP5100 and HP5500 laser plate makers?

Someone tried to sell me a new CTP Metal plate system that was supposedly magical, and would save me $1 per plate compared to the DPM 2340, but that $1 per plate savings would only kick in after the $30K price was paid to buy the machine.

 

Hi, if you decided to give up on your DPM, would you consider selling the rip? Thank you.

 

i have been using these laser plates off of my HP 5000 for about 14 years. they are great. i do perfect registration on 2 and 4 color jobs. the ones i get are either the Novadom or Hurst. both are the same, just diff. names. if you have a plate burner still you can get positive metal plates and make a positive laser film off of the HP and make a metal plate. when i first used these plates they were called 3 way.