Need help asap please polyester printing plates printer died

Discussion in 'Platemaking' started by tservice, Apr 16, 2011.

  1. tservice

    tservice Member

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    I was using a hp 5100 printer to print my plates. It died this morning. I have jobs I have to do asap!! Is there a off the self printer that I can get to work with polyester printing plates?? Please help.
     
  2. Chris from Printshop

    Chris from Printshop Senior Member

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    Hi, do you have a printdown/vacuum frame & developer/gum to hand? Get some film and you can do it from any old printer - including inkjet printers.

    Alternatively, depending on where you are and what press you have, do a google for repro-houses etc. I've found several that have helped me out recently ... most can get film or plates to you within 36 hours.

    Xante PlateMakers/FilmMakers are probably quite cheap secondhand now to.

    If it helps, I've managed to make positive film on an Intec CP2000 SRA3 laser this week. By rasterising a PDF of the artwork into Photoshop, converting it to a bitmap using the halftone screen function ... 1200dpi and 150lpi ... create a curve to compensate for the laser printer output (by trial and error) and the resulting job looks (to the naked eye) like the pre-press was done via a half-decent imagesetter. And yes, I even managed to register CMYK together ... with the correct screen angles. And it worked.

    I hope some of this is useful to you.
     
  3. plotter

    plotter Senior Member

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    can i ask what type of film are you using, what name?, is it the milky whitish one i use, cant remember the name though. i did try on normal laser film but couldnt keep it dense, then got this other stuff and its 10xs better.
     
  4. Chris from Printshop

    Chris from Printshop Senior Member

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    Can't remember the name but yes; the one that looks a bit like frosted glass. Myriad rings a bell. You can also get an aerosol to enhance the density which works remarkably well. Densitone or something. You might want to increase your dot gain compensation little if you use it though.
     
  5. plotter

    plotter Senior Member

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    hi chris, i remember some thread here where you said that youve tried nearly every type of platemaking possible, i have tried a few but always come back to laser film and posi plates.. im your opinion, do you think this is the best route as i have, or have you found another way. Ive been looking at poly plates and have a sample coming, I used to use silvermaster alot, but as i only do sporadic runs on the press the chemicals go off before ive even really touched them so again not cost effective, as would be an imagesetter - processor.. Direct to plate from inkjet i was looking at, but the rips do seem a tad overpriced just to get it to print postscript.. I am left with laser and posis which i find do a good job, and if i need process work im sure i can find someone to supply the sets of film for me.. is this your conclusion?
     
  6. Chris from Printshop

    Chris from Printshop Senior Member

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    Hi Plotter, Yes, I'd concur with that. Sivermasters seem like a good idea but as you say, they need to be kept clean and used regularly. Imagesetters and processors do give a far superior image but they take up space, need plumbing and also need regular cleaning. I'm sure inkjet plates are an effective method but the rips are pricey. I've resorted to a modern led laser, with film, a printdown frame and so on. The results are surprisingy good ... far better than anything I ever got from the Xante FilmMaker.

    There are online suppliers of imagesetting and platemaking that deliver within 36 hours and I must say the ones I've used are good but unless it's for a high value job, I avoid using them where I can because of the cost.

    I've managed to produce CMYK work at 150lpi using my led laser printer and film ... with a bit of jiggery pokery. I've done it by makfing a separated PDF of the artwork and opening it in photoshop, then flipping it over so that it's a mirror image and converting it to a bitmap at 1200dpi with a 150-line screen. A few years back I wouldn't have considered this an option because of the size the resulting bitmap files but computer memory has fallen so much in price that it's ok now. It's just a cunning way of emulating postscript control but before it hits the printer ... so the printer doesn't really even need to be postscript ... because I just send black & white tiffs to it.

    If you want an online imagesetting firm, visit www.willows.co.uk They do plates as well. I use them for higher quality stuff where I can charge a bit more to cover the cost of the film.

    The one method I've yet to try is printing on to a conventional metal posi plate with an inkjet printer. I have landscape b3 presses, so an sra3 printer isn't big enough to get the plates through. I'm on the look out for a high-res A2 inkjet that I can run a few plates through using my photoshop method of making rasterised bitmaps. I figure this must work if the printer is 1200dpi or more ... print directly over the presensitised coating, expose and develop the plate the old-skool way. I've spoken to a couple of people who can't see why it wouldn't work and apparently there are people using exact this method.
     
  7. plotter

    plotter Senior Member

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    ive just ordered a sample of the film to try, i have a canon 24" inkjet, so if you want ill do some posis for you to try if you want , i cant guarantee quality though. ill try that, but dont know if i can split into cmyk and pdf with corel 14, ill have a look ive never even tried
     
  8. dduthler

    dduthler Member

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    What ever you do stay AWAY from Xante. They will not help you when you need service or give you phone support. I have three Xante plate makers all are broke. I use an HP5000 and a Screen 8000. Hp 5000 can be found on ebay and Valley Litho in Wisconsin have all the supplies you need. Good Luck. Dont know where you are at but we make plates for other printers. Maybe you can find a printer near you that will help until you are back up and running.
     

  9. plotter

    plotter Senior Member

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    well i had some poly plates as samples, and i put them through my colour copier on gloss mode.. wont need a laser anymore. much better quality and run lengths, i also tried printing directly onto plates like you say chris, but made a mess as he ink wasnt dry enough and splattered all over the glass on the printdown frame. dont know if i could put it through a dryer first to make sure it really goes off
     
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