Positive plates in Australia

Agfa have discontinued their line of P-55 positive plates. Still producing them for now but not for much longer.

I don't really have the money, need or space for a CTP system. Conventional plates are quite well suited to the type of work I do.

Anybody know of anyone else who makes positive plates with an agent in Australia?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Travis,
there are Huaguang´s positive PS plate types YP-II and YP-S. Lucky Huaguang Graphics Co. Ltd. from Nanyang/China is cooperating with AGFA since a couple of years. Huaguang is manufacturing different AGFA-labeled CTP-Plates and more. I don´t know if there is a distributor for Huagaung in Australia but it is worth to find it out. I have done a number of successful CTP installations and plate changings together with Huaguang Germany.

 

Thanks Martin,
I'm waiting to hear back from them regarding an agent here in Australia.
Fingers crossed.
Appreciate your advice.

 

Hi Travis
I am in exactly the same boat, have just received my last box of plates and have been told that's it.
Please let me know how you go, I use p-55 473 x 324 pre-punched for my Ryobi 985's.
Cheers Mark

 

I attempted to contact the above supplier mentioned by Martin.
No Australian agent. No reply from Chinese website. I have to admit, I could have tried harder and left more messages etc.
There are some plates available on eBay from the US although the freight cost is prohibitive.
There are plenty available on Alibaba however I'm a bit dubious about what you would exactly end up with.
The other challenge is getting hold of developer.
I have just secured 200 plates from my original supplier which is enough to last me about a year and I probably have enough Posidev provided I'm sparing with it.
I don't really know what the long term solution is but I'd be pretty confident that there would still be a very strong market for them across Asia and India so it will only be a case of getting hold of an importer.
I hate the idea of outsourcing my plates!

Mark how do you make your film?

I use a Canon Pixma printer that runs pigment ink. I get nice dark film but I can't even run a decent screen. I need to upgrade but it seems crazy in the current circumstances.

 

Yes Ive seen the plates available on Ebay and Alibaba and might have to give it a punt. I have also passed on the information from Martin onto my local supplier G2PSD. They are investigating and already import other product from China, so hopefully that works out. I will keep you updated on their progress. I have had to change from possidev to a new developer called Prima DP200 which does the job just as well. For film I use a 100 mic laserfilm from GCC Australia, John Osmotherly 0418177086. He also sells the laser printers as well. I run that through a HP Laserjet 5000, Its a 1200 dpi laser printer. Mirror Image, emulsion side down. Screens are okay but not the best, usually output at 100 line 600 dpi from anywhere 10-80 percent. To darken the image on the Laserfilm I use ordinary Diggers White Spirit Dry Cleaning Fluid available from Bunnings, cheap as. apply that with a light coating using a cotton pad, leave for 10 min to dry and makes a huge difference to the Toner density. You can buy a Toner spray but its expensive. Unsure of whats happening in the Australian Market, but I did say to my local supplier I cannot believe that a small printer say in India or Pakistan would now need to upgrade to CTP ? There must be hundreds if not thousands of small printers still using this system. There's always pressure from the suppliers sales team to upgrade, ive made it quite clear I don't want to. Anyhow see how we go!!

 

Sometimes I think they have a game where they try to see how many times they can say CTP during a conversation
Please be sure to post if you order plates from Alibaba, or better again of your local supplier starts importing them.
A HP Laserjet 8000 has just been advertised locally for $150 so I might buy it just to have a play around.