Progress in Platemaking (PROCESSING'S PROGRESS)

STELLAR's leading position has prompted other companies to catch up and produce faster and better products.



Although the printing plate technology has become a hot spot for major media coverage in 2000, the plate making equipment has been quietly advancing with little speculation, especially in the field of flexible printing. The application of CTP technology did not change people's preference for traditional plate-making technology. The decline in the weight of the traditional plate-making equipment sales was even more inspiring for the research work of plate-making companies, thus providing printing companies with more prepress options.



The current packaging and printing industry has entered the era of modernization, but the dependence of its core departments on traditional soluble platemaking processes is still an indisputable fact. Rui Budadell, the digitalization manager of DuPont's Curel Corporation, emphasized the significance of this traditional platemaking. He said: "Although the sales of soluble platemaking systems have started to decline, they have been prepared on high-speed or thick-plate (such as corrugated board) plates. There will also be considerable and continuous growth."



In recent years, the continuous merger of packaging or paper processing plants will also have a certain impact on the prospects of platemaking equipment. According to Dan Rosen, senior product manager of MacDermid Graphic Arts, Digital Technology Corp., due to the merger and integration of various prepress service companies, the growth of the general flexible printing market next year is conservatively estimated at 4 to 6 percent. between.



Some problems with offset printing plates



Problem Category Cause Action Factor



Chemical reaction caused by chemical contamination of ionized plates in an ink/water/print plate

Printed Stained Plates Chemical Contamination Plate Preparation, Handling, or Printing Machine Cleaning Problems Printer/Worker

Abrasion of deposits on a chemical plate or roller. Ink/printing plate

Printing machine coating layer expansion printing plate / solvent

Plate printing plate Uneven printing plate/printer

Ink product defect plate/printer

Coating curing insufficient plate/platemaker

Poor dispersion, emulsification, chemical reaction ink/water/print plate





CTP progress

Although flexo printing may require CTP technology more than offset printing, digital platemaking has only just entered flexible printing and is currently in expansion. Ian Hower, manager of BARCO Graphics' corporate development department, believes that people's interest in flexible printing CTP technology has shown an exponential increase since the last six months. He believes: "The digital flexible technology is developing in all directions. From more sensitive plate masks to more rapid CTP ablation, it has now been developed to full thermal plate technology."



In response, Seychelles took their best in 2000. They produced a series of new digital prepress products for flexo printers. Their Thermoflex platesetter includes a set of TIFF front-end software and a plate production control tool that maximizes the image on the drum and minimizes imaging and plate-making time.



On the other hand, equipment manufacturers have also begun to switch to the production of CTP and CTS. MacDermid's uninterrupted processing system, the Flex-Light 60 ASL, uses the Solvit QD platec, which significantly reduces dry time. It is fully capable of imaging, washing and drying automatically without any manual intervention.



In addition, Mac Dermid has also begun cooperation with Strok STK to jointly develop the development of CTP, in particular to promote its application in the field of corrugated paper. The new boxcor 1700 machine, which will be available for the first time at the SuperCorr exhibition in October, will have an inkjet system that will ensure high-quality, consistent image reproduction. After masking it, it can be directly imaged by ultraviolet rays without additional film or extraction. vacuum.



At Drupa's exhibition, many advanced imaging technologies are competing, but the most notable is the direct digital UV imaging technology, which reveals the potential development direction of the future plate making equipment. Digital UV image technology is a technology that uses dense UV beams to generate images on a resin plate through digital modulation. Although it has abandoned the masking process, it still requires platemaking. Boldwell pointed out that “the power required for offset printing is low, and UV direct imaging technology can quickly find its market, but the flexible printing power is higher, so the commercial application may be relatively lagged behind.”



FAST heat treatment system further promotes the development of plate making technology. DuPont Cyrel plans to launch its digital FAST products in the first quarter of 2001. Broadwell said that once this fast, compact digital FAST system is combined with inexpensive CTP and fully digital workflows, printers can take digital files directly from customers and complete the platemaking process next to the press.



At the same time, the traditional plate making process technology is constantly developing and improving. Anderson & Vreeland now offers Toyobo's washable flexible Cosmolight plates. This Cosmolight plate is suitable for a variety of flexible printers, can improve printing performance, can be washed in normal tap water with appropriate cleaning agents, without toxic preparations, the plate ready to complete the work within an hour.



Kelleigh's solvent-based fastline platesetters, which are 24 x 30 and 36 x 48 inches, are controlled by a PLC unit to ensure that the flushing speed is always at its best. Its dry plate system is monitored by a high-precision electronic thermostat, which effectively avoids poor registration due to stress relaxation of the polyester film.



In the “more faster, cheaper” production process, prepress suppliers are eager to have more advanced methods than today’s high-speed processing systems. Direct lithography in flexible printing—the technique of simultaneously laser-etching the image on the plate and evaporating the selected area is one such “reducing platemaking step”. Rodriguez of MacDermid declared that the elimination of all the steps of the platemaking process is the driving force for their company to enter this research field. He said: "The only problem in this area is to solve the problem of quality and speed."



Econo launched their Laser Rubber System product and also joined this "Laser Action." This system uses a 0.067 and 0.170 thick coating for soluble, water-based, UV inks, directly to achieve the laser plate printing process. According to Econo's director of product technology, J. Forrens, the product is able to increase the number of screen lines in the press, and has the ability to control the reduction of dot gain and eliminate missed prints.