Do you have any suggestions for long runs? What plate should work better. I tried polyester plates but the image get strech. Right now I depend of metal plates but I do not have the plate burner yet and need to buy it somewhere else. Any suggestion is highly appreciated.
Metal plates have always been the most durable. The poly DI platemakers are the easiest as they are a all in one. But it's no metal plate and yes sometimes poly plate image fitment is a pain as you said. The key here is a good prep person to trap, choke, spread the images. I'd think some used DI metal platemakers and processors would be fairly inexpensive to find. I don't think you'd want to strip negatives but used digital film processors are out there as well. You can always find a shop with good digital plate equipment and have them make your plates until you find something for yourself. I'm not a prep person so don't really know what systems to look for. Paper can be a issue as well. If your running short grain and trying to trap and fit images sheet stretch comes into play. That and proper blanket thickness and tension. Add a poly plate and it's a nightmare to fit sometimes. Do you have a in house poly plate system and of so what plate material are you using? Is your prep person trapping the jobs correctly?
Thanks for the information. I do not have poly plate system just yet. I figured that a polyester plate will do cause right know I'm using a HP printer for my small jobs.
