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New UV Lamps but Low Output? By Tim Reece We all understand that conventional ultraviolet lamps diminish energy over time. Therefore, we use UV light meters to continually monitor the performance of these lamps so that we may adjust main and back exposure times. Certainly, some could argue that they don't need a UV light … Read More...
Struggling with printing pleasing highlights? Using these tips, your highlight issues can fade to zero! Prepress & Software Your press can only print as good as the artwork it’s given, so it’s only fitting that prepress plays a key role in improving highlight quality. While there are some tricks to provide an illusion of smooth … Read More...
It's easy to overlook a small plate problem when it isn't causing a glaring issue later in the printing process. Catching these small signs early can save a lot of headaches down the road... Floor thickness is set by the washout, not the back exposure time. While the plate relief may be correct, the back exposure … Read More...
Making plates isn't necessarily rocket science, but it is, indeed, a science! It is beneficial to track and quantify platemaking conditions so that changes in the equipment or finished plates are found before they cause costly problems on press. Measuring the UVA light output of your plate exposure unit is a great place to start. Most plate … Read More...
The Problem Even when it seems you are doing everything you normally do during the platemaking process, sometimes defects surface in the UPC area. In order to avoid rejection by the customer or even fines that may be incurred at the retail location, it is critical that UPC's are reproduced at the highest level of … Read More...
Overview Many of today's award winning photopolymer platemakers and printers continue to embrace solvent washout technology for both conventional and digital photopolymer plates. Primary reasons include superior print results and print consistency resulting from gauge uniformity, equalized plate surface energy, more repeatable dot generation, and the ability to select from more photopolymer plate materials. Several … Read More...
Basic Procedures for Ensuring Photopolymer Plate Quality Verifying quality of a new photopolymer plate is obviously an essential step of any successful printed conversion process. Advancements in plate reading devices now allow a QC check of a photopolymer plate to include mapping software of topology, plate shoulder width and angle to determine proper exposure and … Read More...
One of the main causes of plate defects in the exposure process is pinholes. These pinholes appear in conventional platemaking when dust particles are trapped between the film negative and plate. The static charge apparent in the film negative attracts dust particles to both the film negative and the photopolymer material. Read More...
We are often asked for the formulas to determine plate distortions. Below are these formulas. The plate cylinder repeat must be known for both distortion formulas. If the K-Factor is known than you can determine both the distorted repeat and the distortion percentage. The distorted repeat is simply the plate cylinder repeat minus the K-Factor. … Read More...
(Part 4 of a 5 part series) Maintaining the perfect dot is not easy, and to do so we must control several factors, one of which is knowing when the photopolymer plate has become worn to the point that it will have adverse effects on the printed product. But how open have you replaced costly … Read More...