Printing Metallic Gold or Silver Waterless.

Firstly, it may be in Pakistan but every printer has aspirations to be better, maybe the OP can be the first in his area to offer this. Secondly yes it really is that simple, if you have a machine that is anilox equipped you just put a roller in with the correct cell structure, the technology is well known and info available on the net. Import some mettalic acrylic and off you go. As far as flexo plates go I know they are used in Pakistan, maybe not as common as in Europe but not such a big problem.
I know the OP originally asked about doing it on a unit, but later he asked about the coater which is when you didn't want to answer on the forum, so I did. If you have a good cheap solution I am glad and maybe the OP can use it. I'd be interested to know what it is because in my experience Good and Cheap are not common bedfellows in this area of printing.
YG

 

@yorkshire. Thanks for your reply. I know it won't be easy 1st time, but I'm sure we will learn through some trial and error.

 

I did not try to offend Pakistany printers in any way

I did not try to offend Pakistany printers , but be realistic !

When you come to the point of orderring a new Anilox roller to spec , it will fall for the 3000 Euro it costs before shipping.
when you come to the cost of Acrilic's aposing to the 1.5 US$ ink they use , it will fall for that.
Every printer wants to improve & learn , but when the prices your market can pay are so low you cannot pay for technology & quality , you choose the cheap way to avoid the need - you move on.
I have had lot's of experiance with printers from Pakistan , Bangaladesh and similar countries. This is nit India with a capabillity to export printed work. it is 99% for local market that has no money.
Yes loacl man power is very cheap , but what you get for your work is even cheaper.

And i do not want to think what will be when the operator / helper puts no attention to safe keeping that Anilox roller and something hits it.....

This is not the UK , not France.
I had a local printer choose to buy a 2 color press older by 5 years and conventional instead of a 5 year younger press with Alcolor for 1200 Euro in price.....this is not our western world logic , and again , not looking to insult , it is simply the result of a very very hard market struggelling , and a realistic point of view.
give him a way to pay less 50% for 75% off quality and he takes it.
Simple , painfull and hard to grab , but that's life.

I can not see in my best vision a printer in Pakistan buy a chambered system and pay for Anilox rollers to do a one off job. more likelly he will look for a scrap Anilox sold by someone with a small heart and love for cash....

I had an indian customer last month who paid for 12 year old UV ink that was kept in a 35 Deg Csince it was found dead 12 years ago.
I told him it was dead ink and he can not use it for UV as it has no photo initiators left in it......but it is half price he replied and took 800 kilo of junk....

Sorry , this is reallity....

As for Flexo plates.
Yes you can get them but , for the firt time you need to callibrate the plates to the press....that costs an extra plate (right ?)
Then the cost of the plate / job.....and will they pay a 100$ for plate when they pay 4$ for a 70X100 offset plate just to keep costs down ?

They need another method to do the same and get the nice result they want , and that technology is available , but only for a very low cost , yet they will not pay , as they want the world for free.....

A printer in the western world will easy pay 5000 Euro for this technology , but they will not pay 200 Euro to get it as they think the world is for free.

well...
Good luck

 

@Meny.....Why don't you sell your So Called technology in Europe, so you can get 5000 Euros instead of 200 Euros....
And for your info I'm not a printer who wants to earn Profit without spending any money, I'm just a press operator who wants to learn new things and gain experience and I'm very thankful to the people on this forum who shared their experiences and knowledge with me.

 

I don't sell it for 5000 in Europe... i sell it for more...

I do not sell it for 5000 but for around 8000 Euro / 10000 $ - this is for a start.

When i offered the knowledge to you for a very low price it was to help you , not to make money over your back.

And last.....you are a press operator as i am an ELEPHANT.....

At least tell the truth....

I stop here - good day

 

I have layed down a 100 % yellow as a base and printed the 872 on top of it which gave us a rich look to the gold.

Having the ability to print waterless ink on a reg. press is a dream come true for a pressman. You will have to invest in a way to make your plates which can run into expence, but if you are willing to go that rout, it will work on your press. I would suggest removing your water form rollers to prevent your plate from wearing out over a long run. We have taken a plate off of our DI press(which is waterless system) and tried it on an AB Dick press using waterless ink. It had taken us a few minutes to figure out where to outline a cut for that size plate but as far as running , it did just fine.

 

Don't you think 60 to 70 %yellow would be enough?

 

You are correct, I tend to use opaque colors on the light side for the drying time I need to process the jobs through the shop. Using a more solid base under the color will enable me to get a quality look with the gold without laying down a heavier coverage of the gold and having to wait for dry time. Standard process colors dry quickly in my location and laying down a solid yellow and a lighter coverage of 100 % gold gives a nice look with less time than say a 100% gold at a normal coverage. A 60 or 70 % coverage will also work although I may have to lay the gold down a little heavier to achieve a look which looks rich but I may have to wait a little longer for it to dry / or use a little more powder on the job. Each printer finds their own technique to lay colors down depending on the time available and the resources available.
The best gold look I ever printed was with a varnish base and the next day to print gold on top. The effect I achieved was the look of a true metalic almost a mirror finish , But I do not have the time to do this everyday as I wish I could. I am sure every pressman wishes they had a little more time they could spend on each job, ( wouldn't that be nice).

 

Yup you arer right.... due to busy schedule I cleaned my impression cylinders today after a month

 

Could be way off here as this thread has gone a bit pear-shaped but...
A. Can you not use a coating blanket on one of the units, cut out the strips and then flood print it?
B. Run it as a regular job but spot varnish the gold.
Also...
MENY, shame on you if you are trying to profit from this forum. It doesn't matter if you've saved a company 1 penny or $100,000.
This forum is for press operators who need help for whatever reason. After all, in this economy a little bit of advice could be the difference between someone keeping their job or not. Any advice I give will always be for free. If they want to profit from it then that's what they have to live with and good luck to them because what comes around goes around.

 

It wouldn't be possible to cut the blanket, bcoz the strips are only 3 to 4 mm wide.... we 'll UV that job after printing...

 

exactly

This is the problem with quality work at low investment
to do fine graphics you need a flexo plate (expensive) or a coater & the right technology (expensive) or the abillity to cut a special blanket very fine (automated (expensive again) or you can run it again in another pres and put some UV varnish on it (second run - again expensive)

OR you can use the right technology that is cheap and yet very good for this use , and without the extra yellow under the gold.

And that is cheap , very cheap , but you will not pay it so...pay the more expensive or trail & error.....
That's life

 

trail & error would be much better option than paying you for that cheap but so called great technology...

 

Hi,
I would not normally comment on this type of heated discussion but as much as I don't like someone even though I have never actually meet them and I am not naming anyone specifically some people do have issues translating their native language into English and when they do try to write the translation into English it may not come over as naturally as he or she ment it and it may come over aggressively in the posts..........just my thoughts !!

 

That's OK , I don't mind him being agressive

I realy couldn't care less
He has good English & bad manners , it's fine with me

I am happy to help the ones that deserve help and investing my time for
I am cool , he can heat up as he wishes , and he still get nothing from me

Meny

 

I don't need your help Mr Meny... I asked a question on this open forum, not specifically from you.
I refused to pay you 200 Euros for your answer with thanx and this is bad manners....

 

I don't agree...that is why we are all here. to learn...

 

i too agree that this forum should be a free exchange of ideas between printers. Shame on you meny for trying to charge for your advice. I have offered assistance on this forum to many people over the years and never asked for any compensation. This is the very reason for these forums. As stated earlier you should at the very least pay an advertising fee to the moderators to be allowed to pursue your greed.