2-color presses for process color work

i run a 52-2 colour heidelberg gto an thats the biggest we have got so we do all our 4 col process work on there. it has its setbacks but at the moment i prefer it because you dont have 4 cols coming out at you at one time. you can concentrate on each colour and as long as your fit an reg is spot on you shouldnt have a problem, this is done easily by checking the lay. but if you are looking to do it quick an want to see how its going to come out straight away get a 4 colour!! ..

 

running color with a 2 color press is a good way to get into color work. if you keep consistent densities and register ins consistent, you'll produce good work. You don't want to target showcase quality work - that work, even if you have a new 4 color press, you would need the pre-press equipment, and calibration experience to produce it anyhow.

The cost of a 4 color press is not cheap, and by the time you get it running, manned, etc, you better have the work for it, or the cost can turn into a nightmare

in a nutshell, printing 4 color on 2 color press CAN produce very nice work, BUT it will depend ALOT on the experience of your press operator. Basic issues:
1. paper might expand/constrict due to humidity, from 1st pass to 2nd pass - some operators on critical jobs, will run job blank first to keep paper consistent.
2. densities - operator needs to keep good control of this, very easy to overlook.

Once you get your feet wet, and solid customer base, then move onto a 4 color press. Good luck.

 

I regularly do 4c work these days on a SINGLE COLOUR Heidelberg GTO and provided you keep the colour as constant as you can, you can get very very good results. It helps if you can get progressive proofs of the job, so that you have a better idea of the colour you're aiming for but I can get tight register on my GTO for up to ... well, I've done 8 passes without problems ... don't know how many it would do before it got bad.

 

i used to do 4c work on a single colour heidi gto 46, wow that takes me back, but i actually enjoyed doing the days work more than just doing the mundane spot colour. For me it gave me a sense of achievment, which i think everyone should have at some point in their chosen career. its easier now on a 2 colour machine and i am just getting back getting my hands dirty again, and this sense that ive actually produced something rather than just putting it on a digital machine really gives me a good feeling at the end of the day or when the job is completed. Ive just been made redundant from my job, which was photocopying and using a riso very much black and white crap, im really buzzing now and hope that i can put my new business forward and make it a success. I have the complete setup (digital print, wide format print and cut and litho with all finishing equipment) and now just need to get out there and pick up some more contracts and enjoy being my own boss. i have been in the trade for 23 years by the way, not a newbie thinking its easy and anyone can do it, like so many sign shops around

 

The very best of luck to you buddy. I took redundancy from the marketing department of a nation-wide manufacturer about 18 months ago so I decided to get back to my roots on the shop floor in printing. There may not be the money around that there used to be but my life is much more satisfying! I've worked for a couple of massive employers both in the public and private sector in the past but being you own boss give a much greater sense of achievement.

Litho still has it's place in the world, even (or particularly) small-format, if you ask me. The number of 4c double-sided a5 flyers I get asked to do is growing all the time. Normally runs between 1k & 10k. An Indigo can't do it ... A QM-DI could do it in theory but the machines aren't as versatile as a conventional press and they have terrifying running costs ... the bigger commercial printers with their 10c B2 Speedmasters will happily take the work on but charge 4 times the price.

I don't know what your take on how to build a healthy small-format printing firm is (I'd be keen to hear it) but I've decided not to pursue the huge 250k runs I used to do for mailing houses (although they are still welcome ) but rather stick to winning jobbing work from small local businesses. Shorter runs, more customers, more individual orders. The idea is that it evens out the flow of work though the year and give a good, stable turnover to build on.

You're probably way ahead of me here, but get on things like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc. and shamelessly sell yourself and your abilities to anyone that will listen, an anyone that won't for that matter. You'd be surprised by the work you can pick up from the web. People are (rightly so) very wary of these 'online printers' ... especially once they start reading the info they provide and realise they don't understand it. If you promote the fact that their if a phone number with a human waiting there to help, people will call you.

 

Thanks mate, the trouble with flyers are everyone wants them and all i hear is they are cheaper elsewhere. I prefer to stick to letterheads, invoice books and so on, even though i will take any work i can get. Yesteday i printed 2000 3 colour letterheads, no point doing digital cost too much so i litho printed them. Ive just printed a lot of my own stationery and a letter introducing my services which im going to pop into local businesses, you never know.. I have not got a website yet but it will come in time, as for facebook ect, i havent got there yet either. I do some work for local office suppliers and a few private jobs, not much really, hopefully it will all fall into place once i get my head straight and work out my plan of action.

 

I printed process jobs for years on a Speedmaster52 -two colour press. Registration was perfect, colour always consistent, if you have everything set right, rollers, damps, infeed etc. I ran Mag/cyan, yellow/black in that order using a Densitometer and never had a problem, loved running process on that machine!