AB Dick Century 3000 and poly laser plates.

Hey all...I'm looking to convert over from running Silvermaster Plates to a reliable polyester laser print plate due to changes in business location. I have Kimoto Kimoplate S3 but I'm not sure the best way to get the results I need for keeping them clean. The blanket tells the story by building up ink throughout the run. What is the proper fountain solution to run and ratios that can keep it all clean and consistent? We are also attempting to image it with our Canon 6000 color laser printer. The image seems to adhere nicely and ink sticks well to it. Trying to work with what I got. Any suggestions or experience out there?

 

Hi. #1, I don't think that poly laser plates are better solution as they're stretch up.
#2 As far as you Kimoto plate maker, poly plates are very similar in surface structure so you will, most likely, carry over same issues to laser poly plates. The advantage that Kimoto has is that it does not lay a microscopic background as most of the laser printers do. The AD DICK pink solution works well - has done a good job for years. I ran AB Dick Century 3500 with laser poly plates, you need to increase water flow as rule of a thumb for running laser plates.
#3 Making plates with color printer is illogical. Please understand that it is 4 print units in one. As stated above, laser printer does put microscopic toner layer that you don't see on paper or plate but with long run will cause serious picture framing, x4 that with printer with 4 units, i.e. Color printer.
I gave up my HP LaserJet 5100 and got Xante Platemaker 4, I had to run plates twice through HP to make the plate last and don't have to do so with XANTE. Qualty is also better but it is more expensive to buy and maintain.

 

Thanks for the help...Do you have a good solution mix to start with? If I start with distilled water how much pink solution and alcohol if any?

 

HP LaserJet 5000 will run great plates if you know how to setup and maintain the laser printer properly. The plates are thin though and when punched with a pin bar type punch the holes can elongate during the run giving the appearance that the plate is stretching. Several brands of metal reinforcement strips exist that are adhesive backed that you can stick them to the lead edge of the plate and then punch the plate giving you a more stable plate. Also running the minimum amount of pressure needed to achieve good quality on roller to plate and plate to blanket pressures helps. Xantes are good ones too, but we ran our shop for years using an HP 5000 and Hurst Smart plates for 1 & 2 color work, even 2 color trap jobs but I wouldn't use it for 4 color process but I have seen it done with decent pleasing color results.

We upgraded to a true CTP system when an opportunity presented itself to pick one up cheap, was a Mitsubishi Genesis capstan black poly plate unit...worked great then we upgraded to a DPX 5080 which is a drum machine. We love this unit an produce 175 line screen plates in about 3 to 4 minutes...

Also I have an AB Dick Century 3500, I bought it cause it had the vacuum pull guides, infrared dryer and of course Kompac damps...I really like the press now but when I got it a lot of factory adjustments were not right but I went through it from feeder to delivery and now it hums really nice...wanted to know what you thought of your 3000....