Due to the flexible, 3-D nature of photopolymer plates, the plate surface stretches as the plate is wrapped around a print cylinder/sleeve. This causes images and text to elongate (i.e. circles look like ovals). To compensate for this stretch the plate must be ripped with a distortion factor applied in the circumferential direction (how it wraps around the cylinder.)
Calculator 1 - Basic Plate Distortion Calculator
The Basic Plate Distortion Calculator can be used to determine the distorted repeat length and distortion percentage. The only information needed to calculate distortion is the print repeat length and plate thickness.
Click here for the Basic Plate Distortion Calculator.
Calculator 2 - Gear-Tooth-Based Print Repeat & Distortion Calculator
Sometimes the printed repeat length is not known. The Gear-Tooth-Based Print Repeat & Distortion Calculator can be used if the gear pitch and gear tooth count are known.
Click here for the Gear-Tooth-Based Print Repeat & Distortion Calculator.
Calculator 3 - Print Repeat Calculator & Comparison Tool
The Print Repeat Calculator & Comparison Tool helps to determine the resulting print repeat length based on the print cylinder build-up. The print cylinder build-up includes the bare cylinder diameter, sleeve caliper, mounting tape caliper, and plate caliper. Once the overall diameter of the print cylinder build is known, the print repeat length (i.e. circumference) can be calculated. This can then be used to determine the distorted repeat and distortion percentage.