Pm2workz

Computer-to-Plate (CTP)

pm2workz — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:58:12 GMT

In the Computer-to-Plate or CTP process the image of the page from a digital files recorded directly from the file to the printing plate instead of creating film and making the plate from the film. Although CTP is a printing process, in order to insure the best possible output it is important that the designer discuss CTP with their printer. The printer's familiarity with the process, their equipment, the type of plates, and file format and preparation all play a role in the success of the computer-to-plate process.

When you eliminate film in favor of bits and bytes, your digital infrastructure must be able to keep up with production. You'll need up-to-date hardware and software and an internal workflow designed to avoid production bottlenecks. Most printers will require one or more digital proofing devices, as well as upgraded desktop publishing workstations, networks, scanning capabilities and archiving procedures.

Until recently, printers implementing low-cost CTP solutions might have opted for dye-sublimation or phase-change proofing devices; today, nearly every new CTP installation features some form of inkjet proofing. While inkjet has won broad acceptance for its strong price/performance balance, remember that not all devices are equally adept at creating contract-quality color proofs and outputting press-sheet-size imposition proofs.

The direct-to-plate process, known as CTP (computer-to-plate), has eliminated the film output step of plate-making. Printing plates are now made directly from computer files with the use of lasers.

Eliminating the need for film means less cost to you

as well as a reduction in turnaround time.

In the CTP process, the computer file used to make hi-resolution colour proofs for your job is the same file used to produce the printing plates for the press. This generally eliminates problems such as font or image variations between proof approval and the printed job.

Another more important benefit of the CTP process is the quality of the “dot” that is achieved on new plate system. The direct-to-plate dots are now sharper and have less “dot-gain” than the traditional film-to-plate process.

Craigs Platesetter constantly delivers high quality plates for printing presses. The accuracy of the plates enables shorter make-readies and the enhanced dot definition results in superbly sharp print quality.

SPOT COLOURS INKS (sheet fed offset inks)

pm2workz — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:55:06 GMT

Matchings

Special shades matched against printed specimen or wet sample.
Matched and Manufactured at our various Mixing & Matching Centres which are equipped with with trained colour matchers and colour matching facilities.

Unitone

Universally accepted colour system developed by adapting the Pantone Colour Matching System (PMS) - 14 Basic Colour + Transparent White

Colorama
Standard range of High Quality Spot/Cut colours.Widely accepted by printers.
Some of the very popular Spot Colours Inks shades are:

Baby Offset
Standard Range of Economy Spot Colours Inks: Specially formulated for Small/Baby Offset Machines.

NOTE:
The colors shown above are only approximations of the ink colors available. Colors that you see via the World-Wide Web may differ based on a variety of factors - the amount of colors enabled by your display in your monitor's settings, your monitor's resolution, your operating system, the specific Web browser you are using, dithering color palettes, etc.

Color in the print publishing world works very differently. A color is not relative, it is absolute, and always prints in the same hue (although it may appear differently when printed on a variety of different media).

SPOT COLOURS INKS (sheet fed offset inks)

pm2workz — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:53:51 GMT

Matchings

Unitone

Universally accepted colour system developed by adapting the Pantone Colour Matching System (PMS) - 14 Basic Colour + Transparent White

SPOT COLOURS INKS (sheet fed offset inks)

pm2workz — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:51:20 GMT

Matchings

Unitone

Universally accepted colour system developed by adapting the Pantone Colour Matching System (PMS) - 14 Basic Colour + Transparent White

Multi Color Info

pm2workz — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:59:59 GMT

Important information for Multi-Unit presses from Pm2:Does this sound familiar?
At one time your press was brand new and printed with the consistent performance and dot value of a new press . . . over the years you observed problems with inconsistent dot value and experienced increased adjustments to achieve consistent dot value.

How does this happen?
Over time a roller becomes hard, pitted and worn creating hickeys. Eventually the durometer is too high, causing the rubber to shrink unevenly. Consequently, glazing occurs, as a result of excessive leaching of extractable oils. The result is a roller that is about 40 durometer and that will require 10X the amount of mechanical pressure as a 26 durometer to achieve the same stripe setting. With additional MECHANICAL PRESSURE - you get additional UNWANTED heat. Additional ENERGY creates additional HEAT - the law of science.

Consider this . . .
The roller train can only be as good as its weakest link. Consistency in rollers from unit to unit will deliver consistent water and ink balance, as well as, consistent dot value from unit to unit. Unfortunately, the accepted practice when time to change rollers has been to use "exchange” or used cores. Used cores lack concentricity to the detriment of press performance. Regrettably, the objective of replacing rollers in the press has never been to maintain consistency throughout the ink train. Therefore, the range of effectiveness of the individual printing units can go from excellent to very poor. When starting out with all new rollers in each of the units - meaning new core, cover and bearings - you have TOTAL CONCENTRICITY.

Why is consistency in rollers from unit to unit important?
The function of a roller is to transfer and split ink, as well as to work in cooperation with the vibrating roller to fold-blend ink and water together as to maintain water and ink balance. Therefore, the performance of the actual press is in the ink train: Water and ink balance.

How do you obtain and maintain water and ink balance?
Consistent pressure and new rubber.When you buy a new printing press then look at the press performance 3 to 4 years later, the only thing that has changed is the performance of the rollers and blankets. Rollers and blankets in poor condition lack the ability to provide optimum performance and this significantly affects print quality. The press still picks up and delivers sheets the same. The main difference is the - HEART OF THE PRESS - the printing unit: the INK TRAIN.What can be done to establish consistency from inking unit to inking unit?Pacesetter presents: A BETTER WAY TO DRESS YOUR PRESS A plan to RESTORE consistent press performance and maintain:

Consistent dot value
Less downtime
Reduced make-ready time

A program to install NEW ROLLERS in each of the inking units at one time:

Brand new steel core and rubber covering guaranteed for concentricity
A quality product supported by the manufacturers guarantee
Developed exclusively for the printing industry
The largest inventory of finished rollers in the U.S. to guarantee on time delivery

What could one year of TROUBLE-FREE printing do for you?With Pacesetter’s "A Better Way to Dress Your Press” Program YOUR DOWNTIME WILL DIMINISH AND SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WITHIN THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR. In a year you could spend $25,000 - $30,000 in down time. When we put all new cores, cover and bearings in ever unit of the press we are taking it back to the day you bought it. With the traditional method of changing rollers - one here - a few there - the downtime adds up. After a couple hours of downtime: for each change.

By changing all inking units at once the press is RESTORED to:

Consistent print quality in ALL the inking units
Consistent mechanical pressure
Same heat or temperature
Consistent water and ink balance

If you want your press to print like the day you bought it "BRAND NEW” try dressing it with ALL NEW CONCENTRIC ROLLERS - new cores, new cover and bearings.Doesn’t it make sense to install Brand New CONCENTRIC Rollers in each Inking Unit IT’S LIKE BUYING A NEW PRESS.

SPOT COLOURS INKS (sheet fed offset inks)

pm2workz — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:55:07 GMT

Matchings

Special shades matched against printed specimen or wet sample.Matched and Manufactured at our various Mixing & Matching Centres which are equipped with with trained colour matchers and colour matching facilities.

Unitone

Universally accepted colour system developed by adapting the Pantone Colour Matching System (PMS) - 14 Basic Colour + Transparent White

Color Separations

pm2workz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:42:16 GMT

In order to reproduce or prepare a full color image for printing using four process colors, the image must be divided into the the individual subtractive primary color components. The separation process can be accomplished photographically or electronically.

Photographic Separations: Using a large process camera, a full color image is converted into halftone negatives which contain a series of dots of various sizes to represent shades of gray. The dots are achieved with the use of special screens placed over the negative material during exposure. When printed, the smaller dots create the lighter areas of the image, with the lightest appearing white, and the larger dots make up the darker areas of the image, with the darkest appearing black. This system of using the halftone screens directly with the film is known as the Direct Screen Photographic Color Separation method. A halftone negative is made for each of the separate subtractive color components of the image (cyan, magenta, yellow) and black. The four halftone negatives are records, in varying shades of gray dots, for each of the separate color components and are known as "Color Separations".

Another photographic technique known as the Indirect Photographic Color Separation method is also used. The original image is separated into the individual primary color components and continuous tone films are made for each of the separations. From continuous tone films, the halftone negatives or positives are created. The advantage in first creating continuous tone separations before creating the halftones is that the continuous tone separations can be reduced or enlarged and corrected before the actual halftone films are produced.
Color separations created from photographic methods are used to prepare analog plates for traditional printing methods. Each plate corresponds to one of the four colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, or black. The plates are coated with the corresponding ink colors during the printing process and the inked image from the plates is transferred to the substrate. The varying sizes of the halftone dots on the plates determines the amount of ink that will be printed on the substrate. The dots from each of the different colored images overlap to produce the full color image.

Electronic Separations: The electronic separation of an image into its individual color components has become the most popular and labor saving method of producing color separations. The original image is placed in a scanner which stores the image as a digital record. The digital image can be imported into a software program such as Adobe PhotoShop™ where the color separations can be produced with the click of a mouse. The scanned image and/or the color separations can be quickly manipulated and edited in an infinite number of ways with the tools provided with the software. Color separations created electronically can be output to film to prepare analog plates or they can be used for Computer-to-Plate applications and digital printing.

Common problems encountered in Offset printing

pm2workz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:40:10 GMT

Here is a list of problems that need to be paid attention to during the process of offset printing:
Uneven colour: Always make sure that the colour is the same on both sides of the sheet by rolling the sheet up so that you can look at opposite edges of the sheet side by side.

Ghosts: These are either

Images formed in areas where they should not appear, or
Formation of lighter areas where there should be even inking.

Hickies (aka Fish-Eyes): These arenon-inked circles created by lint on the plate or blanket. They are generally something that can be cleaned up when appearing on several sheets in a row. However, chances are you will never be able to eliminate every single hickie, especially if you have large solids in your printing piece and have to print thousands of sheets.
Picking: These are the non-inked areas that look like snow created in areas where the ink and some of the paper has been lifted off the sheet when the ink is too tacky.

Note : Picking can occur due to a paper related problem.
Muddy or Uneven Screens: These occur as a result of dot gain (see SCREENS.) In the worst case scenario caused by a muddy or uneven screen, you may need to remake a plate using a coarser screen. However, some dot gain can be alleviated by

Running the ink a little lighter and
By ensuring that the gradients on your piece, if any, look even. (Refer to GRADIENTS to see how to avoid banding in the design and prepress stages of the job.)

Offsetting: This is the appearance created on the back of a sheet by an image present on the sheet touching it. Offsetting happens as a result of

Too much ink
Insufficient driers in the ink or
Irimming of the job done when the ink is too wet

Three Color Printing

pm2workz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:39:00 GMT

Theoretically it is possible to produce an adequate range of colours using just Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. However, three colour printing may also refer to the use of either.

Three special inks or
Black combined with two special inks

The Four Colour Printing Process, which is a system rarely used today, uses a black plate to add shade and depth reducing the amount of ink required.

Four Color Process Printing

pm2workz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:37:48 GMT

Four colour process printing is the most common system for producing full colour print. In fact, the vast majority of magazines and colour books are produced using the four-colour process.

Originally the artwork and originals had been separated using filters and four printing plates were produced.

The four colour process printing consists of four ink colours namely, Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow and Black and is often referred to as CMYK. The inks used for four colour process printing are translucent due to which they can be overprinted and combined in a variety of different proportions to produce a wide range of colours.