Film/Negative Tips

Density of the film or the negative is one of the most important areas that should be consistently maintained in order to produce good quality flexographic photopolymer plates day in and day out. A density of at least 4.0 should always be the goal of any prepress department; this will eliminate the possibility of the dark or dense areas from being exposed by mistake.

In order to create an intimate contact between the plate surface and a negative during vacuum draw down, a heavy matte finish film is required for all flexographic photopolymer plates. The heavy emulsion will result in the air escaping from in between the negative and the polymer plate during the exposing process. If offset-type, less expensive film is utilized for the processing of the flexo photopolymer plates, often times the end result is air being trapped and the images of the plate coming out mottled looking instead of the crisp, sharp images we like to see.

Customers invest a lot of money in film and plates but too often they do very little to protect their investment with a good storage system that will minimize or prevent the negatives from being damaged, kinked or scratched. The poor maintenance of the negatives will contribute to poor quality polymer plates being produced, as the plates are sensitive enough to pick up all of the imperfections of the negative.

For more information on this product, please contact: info@teamflexo.com

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