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Thermal, Photopolymer and Silver-halogen Plates: Which is the Best for Your Business. Photopolymer Plates(part 2…)

gabriel — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 05:10:39 +0000

Photopolymer Plates.

Photopolymer plates have experienced many changes over the years.

Louis Minsk, an employee of Eastman Kodak, patented the 1^st synthetic photopolymer plate in 1952. Time, Inc. introduced the 1^st photopolymer-based letterpress plate in 1957 for printing magazines Jump to 2002 when DuPont’s Cyrel Fast technology entered the market, eliminating the need for solvents in plate processing and melting unexposed photopolymers.

Photopolymer plates differ from other technologies by applying a light-sensitive coating to the surface of an aluminum plate, exposing it to light, causing the coating to harden in image areas and remain soluble in non-image areas.

Advantages.

Coatings provide more durable and abrasion-resistant image areas
Produce longer print runs up to 250,000 impressions
Have been known to print runs of more than 1,000,000 impressions
Dye-sensitized photopolymers can be etched by lasers
Requires more energy for exposure

Disadvantages.

- Requires a chemical treatment after exposure to remove the coating in non-image areas
- Cannot print as high of a resolution as silver-halide plates

Choosing between Thermal plates and Photopolymer.

There are different ways printers can determine what plates the need for specific platesetters. The first step is to test the plates you may be considering on your platesetter and presses. Of course, this means purchasing various types of plates. Once you’ve determined a plate works, you need to consider direct cost — including plates and processing expenses — and indirect costs, such as purchasing a processing, or baking unit.

True in any industry, it pays to hire an expert for advice and equipment warranties. Lyte Global is one such expert and has earned a global reputation as the most dependable source for reconditioned prepress CTP equipment, parts and service. For a complimentary consultation about your imagesetters’ plate needs, call Lyte Global at 091-3515-4139 or contact us below.

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Thermal, Photopolymer and Silver-halogen Plates: Which is the Best for Your Business. (part 1)

gabriel — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 04:08:38 +0000

The type of plate you choose, can impact your bottom-line.

The concept of Computer-to-Plate (CTP) technology is relatively easy for those in the printing industry to understand, but the numerous nuances and wide variety of manufacturers often make it difficult for business owners and decision-makers to choose the best solution for their specific business needs.

One such distinction is the type of printing plate —the tool which transfers images onto a certain type of material to create the final product — that will meet your expectations.

Thermal plates are the most common among pre-press and printing operations. However, like most solutions, each technology — thermal, photopolymer and silver-halogen plates — has its pros and cons.

Here’s a look at those differences.

Thermal Plates.

Thermal CTP has been a big hit around the world. Thermal technology was introduced at DRUPA, the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world, held every four years in German. In 1995, the conference attracted over 385,000 visitors, 1,670 exhibitors from 44 countries and all of the big printing brands announced one or more thermal-related products.

Advantages.

Offer the highest quality output when compared to the other two competing technologies
Depending on the type of paper, thermal printers don’t need ink or toner, only heat
Processing during daylight hours is possible so a safe light is not necessary
Improved print consistency across both the length of runs and repeat runs
Require little or no processing
Provide the largest section of plate options across a multitude of providers
Less impact to the environment
Can output longer runs, exceeding 1 million impressions (but requires baking); Unbaked run lengths vary from 100,000 to 500,000
A durable plate
Doesn’t cause overexposure
Outputs finer and sharper detail, accommodating over 200 lines per inch (LPI)
High process stability

Disadvantages.

- Some thermal plates need baking to achieve longer runs, requiring an additional step in the process, more labor resources and time
- There are fewer plate choices in the no-bake category
- Post-baking may damage plates by weakening the aluminum, cracking and requiring early replacement
- Requires more time
- Some printers cite substantial cost premiums
- Thermal equipment is more complex than competing technologies
- Maintenance costs can be higher
- Plate imaging is slower

In our next post(Part 2)...

we will talk about photopolymer plates.

we will also discuss its advantages and diadvantages.

The post Thermal, Photopolymer and Silver-halogen Plates: Which is the Best for Your Business. (part 1) appeared first on Lyte Global Projects Limited.

Types Of CTP Printing Plates.

gabriel — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 02:38:34 +0000

From our previous blog, we learnt that printing plates are templates or master forms by which graphics designs(images and texts) are reproduced in massive quantities.

Printing plates varies depending on the technology. There are printing plates for CTF but in this article we are going to focus on the printing plates for CTP.

In this post, we are going to look at;

The types of printing plates in CTP.
Qualities of great printing Plates.

Types Of CTP Printing Plates.

CTP printing plates has three types, namely;

Photopolymer plates.
Silver Halogen plates.
Thermal plates.

In the printing industry today the most commonly used printing plates are the photopolymer plates and the thermal plates.

The major type of photopolymer plate used right now is called “The violet Photopolymer plate”.

Silver Halogen plates are not used anymore because they are not environmental and health friendly.

Therefore we are going to focus on comparisons betweenThermal plates and the violet photopolymer plates.

Qualities of good printing plates.

Before we start it is important to know that there are qualities every printing plate should possess. How good a printing plate is depends on these qualities. They include;

PHOTOSENSITIVITY.

Photosensitivity is the amount to which a printing plate reacts when light falls on it.

Printing plates with high photosensitivity are stored in dark rooms. This might cause additional cost for the user.

However printing plates with low Photosensitivity are difficult to print on when exposed in the CTP machine.

Printing plates should have photosensitivity between 550 nm to 1.070 nm.

LASER ENERGY TOLERANCE.

Printing plates that require high laser energy for exposure usually consumes much electricity.

The amount of laser energy required for plate exposure should be between 100 µJ/cm2

and 200 mJ/cm2

RUN LENGHTS.

The run length of a printing plate is the number of prints a plate will be able to make before it begins to fade away.

Printing plates should have at least upto 100,000 prints.

Printing plates with high run lengths are preferred.

RESOLUTION.

Resolution refers to the sharpness and detail of printed images. Higher resolution means more.

In our next post...

We are going to compare Thermal CTP plates with Photopolymer plates.

Check out the link here.

The post Types Of CTP Printing Plates. appeared first on Lyte Global Projects Limited.

What is CTP.

gabriel — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 00:29:48 +0000

CTP which means “computer to plate” is a very popular word used in the printing industry today but do not worry if you haven’t already heard or not familiar with the word.

In this article, we are going to;

Breakdown what CTP is in layman’s terms.
Quickly look at the older way of newspaper printing before the invention of CTP.
We will finally do a quick comparison of CTP over the older way.

CTP is a technology used for mass reproduction of graphics (images and texts).

The images and texts are created in a desktop publishing application, they are then outputted directly on a printing plate.

The printing plate acts as a master form or a template for reproducing the images and texts on the papers.

This method of mass reproduction of graphics originated from the earliest form of printing called lithography.

What is CTF?

Before the the invention of CTP, newspaper companies used a technology called CTF which means “computer to film” for mass reproduction of graphics.

In the CTF technology, the images and texts are outputted directly on a film after being in a desktop publishing application.

The film is then taken to a dark room where it is tightly laid on top of a printing plate.

The printing plate is then exposed with UV light allowing the film to make impressions on the printing plate.

Just like in CTP, the printing plates also act as a template for reproducing the images and texts onto papers.

Learn more about CTF.

What is CTF?

Before the the invention of CTP, newspaper companies used a technology called CTF which means “computer to film” for mass reproduction of graphics.

In the CTF technology, the images and texts are outputted directly on a film from the imagesetter after being published in a desktop publishing application.

The film is then taken to a dark room where it is tightly laid on top of a printing plate.

The printing plate is then exposed with UV light allowing the film to make impressions on the printing plate.

This process is called film handling or development.

Just like in CTP, the printing plates also act as a template for reproducing the images and texts onto papers.

Learn more about CTF.

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