Digital plates and platesetter

In terms of improving the performance of computer-to-plate systems, manufacturers of plates and plates should adopt two digital techniques. Plates and platesetters must be in place because the lack of either party's CTP technology will not work. The platesetter may need a larger initial investment, but the plates play a major role due to their greater impact on the application of CTP technology.

The entire printing industry is not satisfied with the existing status of CTP technology. The thermal imaging technology is on the lookout for people who have been looking forward to the development of non-flushing plates, first to ablation plates, and now to the non-residue plates. In terms of violet laser imaging technology, it has been trying hard to make the transition from the silver salt plate to the photosensitive resin plate in order to avoid some negative accusations on the violet imaging technology.

At present, the CTP-free thermal plate has greatly simplified the CTP workflow, and the users in the industry have also mastered the processing technology of the silver salt plate (such as the existing violet laser CTP system).

However, due to fierce market competition, the plate-making company should have a future development plan. Even if the pre-press equipment rental period is only 36 months, the 36-month lease period is still very long in terms of the speed of new technology.

The outlook is promising

The product development cycle is difficult to predict, and even the developers themselves are difficult to draw conclusions, so the form of sales is not the same. In the case of plates, the introduction of new products may be announced before or at the time of beta testing, followed by controlled sales, and then fully marketed. As the production process shifts from trial production to full-speed mass production (which has a certain impact on sales), some problems will inevitably arise.

The current generation of violet laser imaging technology requires a faster silver salt emulsification material due to the lower imaging energy of the plate due to the use of a 5 mW laser diode. Violet-laser-sensitive photosensitive resin plates are expected to no longer use metallic silver during the imaging process. However, due to the slow emulsification, a 30-milliwatt diode is required to ensure proper operation. In the end, this type of plate and platemaking equipment was announced as early as a year ago, but it has not yet been put into the market in the United States. Plate-making equipment manufacturers say they are waiting for the availability of supporting plates. According to Jim Crawford, Fujifilm's business manager, the company's Brilla LP-NV violet laser imaging photosensitive resin plate will be introduced to the market in the fourth quarter of 2002. He said: "The LP-NP photosensitive resin plate primarily supports our Saber violet laser platemaking machine, and it can also be matched with the violet laser plate made by other suppliers."

Ms. Kathy May, Sales Manager of Western Lithotech Corp. of Lastr Group, St. Louis, said, “The Diamonplate LV-1 violet laser photopolymer sheet continues beta tests in 2002. It is expected to be officially launched in the market in 2003.”

Purple laser power

Mark Tonkovich, Product Manager of CTP, Heidelberg USA, said: "The Prosetter violet laser platemaking machine we have introduced can be upgraded with a 30mW laser. As long as the media technology meets this standard, it can be upgraded at any time." Product Sales, Esko-Graphics, Belgium Commercial printing manager Kjeld Moselund said: “In the laboratory we successfully run our own 30mW PlateDriver platesetter. Esko-Graphics is preparing to provide printers with plate-making equipment with imaging capabilities of photosensitive media. The corresponding plate has not yet been introduced to the market.”

Peter Vanderlaan, manager of electronic imaging and hardware product development at Fujifilm, explained that Fujitsu plans to officially sell the fully automated Saber Luxel V-9600 and Luxel Vx-9600 computer-to-plate systems in September 2002. In the fourth quarter of 2002, the manual and semi-automatic Saber Luxtl Vx-9600 CTP system and the four-page Luxel Vx-9600 CTP system will be officially sold. According to Ms. Susan Wittner of Agfa Graphics Systems, Agfa continues to develop a series of new technologies while still focusing on the development of violet laser imaging silver salt plates and supporting platemaking equipment. The main reason for this is that the above technologies are mature and very successful in the market. Ms. Susan Wittner said: “We will introduce a new Lithostar Ultra violet laser imaging silver salt plate, but the exact time has not yet been announced.”

As far as Heidelberg is concerned, although the company has already entered the product development field as early as more than two years ago, it is understandable if the supplier that people first think of is not Heidelberger in printing consumables. Heidelberg is mainly engaged in bundled sales, associating a long-term consumables purchase contract with equipment purchases, and offering price concessions. Many Heidelberger brands meet Heidelberg equipment standards, but sometimes Heidelberg also sells existing products from other manufacturers.

Silver salt plates are worthless

Heidelberg's recently introduced Saphira violet laser imaging silver salt plate belongs to the latter case, but the company also provides non-burning thermal plates for on-line imaging for the Speedmaster 74 DI direct imaging printer. He said: "We are constantly striving to increase the supply of consumables and provide customers with flush-free non-ablative thermal plates, violet-laser imaging plates and other plates. In the fourth quarter of this year, the flush-free plates will be officially launched. To the market, the violet laser imaging photosensitive resin plate will be introduced to the market in the first quarter of 2003.

According to Mr. Tonkovich from Heidelberg, it is not entirely clear whether the photosensitive resin plate can be replaced immediately after it is brought to the market. The silver salt plate has a higher resolution than the photosensitive resin plate, and the latter is more suitable for printing jobs such as UV ink printing, and can also be post-processed to enhance durability.

Mitsubishi Imaging is another manufacturer of violet laser imaging silver salt plates. Its plate brand is Silver Digiplate Alpha.

Save one or two steps

Presstek, based in Hudson, New Hampshire, uses water-wash technology, and it is therefore not yet possible to name the Anthem cauterizing plates currently available on the market as completely flush-free plates. However, Presstek has announced the launch of the Applause wash-free plate, and is expected to beta test this plate in the first quarter of 2003. Applause plates are based on a polyester substrate (which can be pressed onto an aluminum substrate for added strength) and are coated with a vacuum-deposited ceramic coating. It is reported that the thermal laser will completely evaporate and evaporate the ceramic material at the imaging site during imaging, so no flushing is needed at all.

John O'Rourke, Digital Product Sales Manager at Presstek, said that the company is developing new products for Anthem, and people in the industry will learn more about it in October this year, the Graph Expo & Converting Expo in Chicago. More about the situation. Earlier this year, the currently sold Anthem plate was successfully tested on Creo's Trendsetter Quantum thermal platesetter. Previously, Anthem plates can only be used on the Presstek company's own line of Dimension plates.

Creo (Burnaby, Canada) continues to express its commitment to the development of thermal imaging technology. Image quality is one of the advantages that Creo Company takes great pride in, and it uses its SQUAREspot (Square Dot) thermal imaging head to further improve. According to Creo, SQUAREspot technology is suitable for FM FM screening processing, with minimal network points. The company announced support for 10-micron outlets with its Staccato FM screening software. The advantages of SQUAREspot technology include improved color stability, reduced use of spot colors, disappearance of half-tone color patterns and screen moiré patterns.

Other media manufacturers agree that non-coagulative technology has a greater advantage in the processing of flush-free plates. Agfa had previously managed to sell a batch of Mistral cauterized plates before deciding not to continue developing cautery technology. Ms. Susan Wittner said: “We have been developing a variety of flush-free plates and found that the non-chamfered wash-free technology is the best solution on the market. It was held at the IPEX International Printing Exhibition in April this year in Birmingham, UK. ) We announced plans to develop a rinse-free plate. This new plate uses Thermolite on-line imaging technology."

Similarly, Fujifilm also officially announced the release of the Brillia LD-NS flush-free plate; this plate is used for online imaging operations. Brillia LD-NS is currently undergoing beta testing. Mr. Crawford believes that rinse-free plate technology should continue to develop.

New progress in R&D

Kodak Poly Lighting, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, exhibited a variety of flush-free technologies at the IPEX International Printing Exhibition. The company also plans to exhibit the same flush-free technology at the Graph Expo printing exhibition. Mr. Bruce Davidson, manager of the company’s plate business in the United States and Canada, said: “We continue to develop rinse-free plates, but we are very conservative in bringing this technology to market.”

We hope to develop a cauterizing plate so that it is not necessary to specifically remove the remaining sludge on the platesetter. Non-sparking media will be used in on-line and off-line imaging operations, so we hope that the media will not be imaged onboard without any problems. I believe that beta testing can begin this fall and be introduced to the market in 2003. In addition, Kodak Poly Lighting Co., Ltd. has recently reached an agreement with ECRM Imaging Technology Co., Ltd. to start planning the sales of thermal platesetters. The major sales areas of Kodak Poly Lighting are the United States and Canada; the products sold are ECRM's DesertCat 4-page and 8-page CTP thermal imaging systems.

Print technology development company, headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin, has introduced a unique new type of thermal plate Bimetal. Bimetal plates are made of stainless steel-based copper and are suitable for use under harsh printing conditions, especially for iron-plating applications. This non-burning plate is said to be currently receiving professional technical certifications for other Cres platesetters.

BasysPrint (Fairburn, Georgia) focuses on another type of processless plate technology. According to the company, its computer-to-conventional (PC)-to-conventional (CTO) devices are capable of performing exposure imaging of DirectPrint high-speed UV-imaging common plates produced by Kodak PolyLight. According to Mr. Davidson of Kodak Horie, DirectPrint media has been sold in limited quantities in the United States and can be used for any printing job. The amount of printing depends on the amount of exposure energy applied to the plate.

BasysPrint's latest upgrade technology may help solve the above problems. The new-generation imaging technology, called "??F", uses a relatively powerful UV lamp (850 watts). "F" stands for "fast," because it is said that the imaging speed is almost doubled after using a powerful UV lamp. The imaging apparatus used in the new generation of imaging systems has increased the number of mirrors (nearly 1.3 million) on the digital micromirror device and reflected the light on the surface of the plate.

There are a large number of platemakers that digitally expose traditional plates. Plate maker Citiplate Inc. (NY) announced that it has reached an agreement with Descher Grad Technologies to sell the Cobalt 8 version of the internal drum plate maker from Escher Grad Technologies, Inc., which can be used on high-speed Citiplate Aqua LHP UV-sensitized plates. Material imaging. According to reports, Citiplate is currently working hard to carry out the same business cooperation with other printing equipment manufacturers. Escher Grad, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, also announced the launch of a 30-millimeter violet laser platesetter.

Another supplier with growth potential is Esko-Graphics. The company was invited to exhibit its own design of the Dicon platform plate-making system at the IPEX International Printing Exhibition. This system uses an imaging head to perform exposure imaging processing on common UV photosensitive media, and is officially produced.