Poly plates for heidelberg printmaster 46-2

[maverick1971]

Hi All,

We are considering using poly plates for the first time (cannot seem to find any poly plates in SA). Anyone out there using poly plates on a Heidelberg Printmaster/Quickmaster 46-2?

Please excuse me if my queries sound trivial but we have never used these plates before. I have a few questions which I hope you can help with:

1. What size are you ordering your plates? (cannot find any device that can image a plate that is 505 x 340mm)

2. What printer/copier would you advise imaging on? Will a Canon photo copier work - through the bypass?

3. What brand of plates do you recommend?

4. Anyone out there using TechNova plates (from India)? These are double sided and they claim to output approx. 10 000 impressions per side.

5. What cleaner do you use on these plates (if any)?

6. Does ordinary fountain solution work when running these plates?

7. Can poly plates be re-run? If so, how do you store them?

If anyone has answers to any of the questions I have raised, please could you post a reply or e-mail me at info@acaciaprinters.co.za

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

Shawn

 

[OkiTech]

Hi Shawn. You order your plates in size required by your press, they should be out there as it is a popular press.
Canon photocopier may or may not work... subject to trial and error but most common devices for this is HP Laserjet 5000, 5100 or Xante platemaker 4.
Trough the years I found Xante and Hurst Graphic plates to be exceptionally good but most of others work well too.
4. Dont get your hopes up- 2sided plate gives you as advantage only if you just imaged it and found some problems. It is higly unlikely that you can image both sides use one than another, the inner side will get damaged or scratched while mounted.
5. There is a cleaner made by Xante that you use on the plates before printing to remove toner scatter. Other than that no other cleaners and I never heard of anyone saving and reusing these plates.
6. Your ordinary fount should work just keep in mind that poly plates tend to run a little wetter than metal.

 

[maverick1971]

Hi Unlimited,

Thank you for the response!

The reason I asked about plate size is because the recommended press plate measures 505 x 340mm but I don't think there are any printers out there that can handle that size. What max size does the HP 5000 series handle?

When you say the plates run a little wetter than metal plates, do you mean that more water is required to clean them whilst running?

Thanks Again!

Shawn

 

[OkiTech]

HP can take 305 wide and xante 330mm wide. There should not be a problem with plate being just a little bit narrow, I run TOKO R2SH, it does not have automatic plate mounting but according to specs, plates should be more than 13" wide, anything over 12 works. Yes, you will need to adjust a dampening system to apply a little more moisture. To make plates 340 mm precisely you will need a different kind of platemaker, the one that runs off the roll with chemistry etc. as far 10,000 impressions, you can get more if pressures are set correctly but only with line art, i.e. no halftones, significantly less if halftone images are present.

 

[Swifty2]

running 7 mill paper plates for 12 years....from press-tech..(or whoever they are called now) for our DPM 2000 plate maker we order material #53967 7 mill 13 5/8x 200 you can save some money and run a narrower plate but I found the qm46 will run with less toning and scumming with a wider plate to carry more water. I use AB dick fountain solution 38773. The poly plates IMHO are not worth the extra cost over paper

 

[maverick1971]

Hi Swifty2,

Thank you for the reply. We do not have paper plates available here in SA.

In fact, even the Poly Plates I have had to source from India. What do poly plates cost in the US?

Thanks again!

Shawn