What is an Impression Target? Impression targets are a great tool for process control and press setup. You may be familiar with the hexagonal target often called a slur target. Another common target used to assist with optimizing impression settings is the star or flower target. How does the Slur target work? Due to the nature … Read More...
When should I replace my viewing station lamps? Should I switch to LED? Most of us understand lights bulbs change with time. This is true for both fluorescent and LED lighting. Consider the time your viewing station lamps are on throughout each shift or over multiple shifts. Over the course of weeks and months, that … Read More...
Keep All Your Plates Spinning When I was growing up in the Chicago area, one of the most popular daytime kid shows was Bozo Circus (yes, I am old). On occasion, the guest act would be a plate spinner. You know the routine; as he added more and more spinning plates, the suspense would build … Read More...
You spoke and we listened! Introducing... All Printing Resources is excited to announce SpotOn Color!A completely new color management platform designedfor the pressroom and other areas of production. SpotOn Color includes all the best features our users have enjoyed with SpotOn! Flexo, but is now an even more powerful tool for job management, production setup, … Read More...
Are you still skeptical on the use of synthetic doctor blades in your flexographic printing process? While it may be natural to have doubts, the benefits of these blades may be too good to ignore. Today's technology in synthetic doctor blades is not like the "plastic blades" of the past. Esterlam's biaxially oriented polyester offers … Read More...
Cleaning flexographic printing plates after a press run and prior to storage can quickly become a bottleneck, eventually piling up and lead to a labor intensive and undesirable job to accomplish manually. Left uncleaned, plates can be damaged or offer poor print results in subsequent press runs. With APR's line of Automatic Plate Washers, this task … Read More...
Dirty print is something many flexographic printers may struggle with. An online search will reveal quite a few cause and effect diagrams or charts for possible solutions for the common issue. In some cases printers go through the gamut, making sure their ink is in spec, dryers are balanced, adding slower drying solvents to the … Read More...
Plateroom Process Control Video Series We all know that pressroom process control is important, but plateroom process control is equally important and sometimes gets overlooked. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how good your pressroom controls are if you are sending out subpar or irregular plates. Nothing in these videos is groundbreaking, just a friendly reminder of … Read More...
Flat-Top Dots Let’s start by stating what is meant by the term flat-top dot. A flat-top dot on a photopolymer plate is one that accepts the transfer of data from an imaging device to the finished plate at a 1:1 ratio. The 1:1 imaging ratio is measured in the file, post-CDI imaging, and ultimately on the … Read More...
Why should I expect plate quality to improve by bringing in platemaking in-house versus what I experience with professionals that focus solely on platemaking and prepress? An incentive to bring platemaking in-house is often cost savings and fear of a press going down if a plate is damaged, missing, or worn out. In short, what … Read More...