Current situation and future of the hottest direct

The current situation and future of direct plate making technology

normal> the United States GATF publishes a technical report every year. Mr. Frank Romano of Rochester Institute of technology once predicted that the installed capacity of computer direct plate making machine will double every year from 1998 to 2000

normal> characteristics and classification

normal> computer to plate technology (CTP or CTP for short) can be said to be the delayed realization of prepress automatic production started by electric extension and imagesetter on specific hardware under the core of postscript technology that began in the 1970s. The purpose is to simplify the production process, shorten the printing cycle, control the printing quality, and reduce the site and labor costs. It has become a new technological breakthrough and economic growth point in today's printing industry

in the general minimum sense, computer direct plate making technology is to control the direct generation of printing plates for machine printing from the computer

the performance of process improvement in the past is:

computer edition → rip interprets PS files as lattice information → Phototypesetter output → proofing → printing → PS edition machine printing

normal> computer direct plate making is:

normal> computer plate making → rip interprets PS file as lattice information → digital proofing → direct plate making machine generates printing plate → printing plate on machine

domestic direct plate making machines with relatively stable amplitude can be divided into three types: inner drum type, outer drum type and flat format. This will mainly affect the mode and speed of laser imaging, the service life of laser head, the accuracy of four-color registration, the way of printing and the simplicity of operation

normal> from the spectral characteristics of laser light sources, it can be divided into visible light sources, infrared light sources, ultraviolet light sources and so on

normal> according to the type of plate used and the imaging principle, there are thermal version, visible light silver salt version, ultraviolet version, polyester version and so on

normal> at present, the cost of direct plate making machine is only a one-time investment, and the cost ratio of plate material in specific production and operation further plays an important role in tariff adjustment, whether it is technological innovation, industrial integration and upgrading, import and export optimization trade, which is much greater than the consumables cost of film used in Phototypesetter, and the selection of different plates has a significant impact on the printing quality, So what plate material to use is the primary core factor to be considered when selecting the plate making machine at present

the attitude towards CTP DTP is the same as the attitude towards DTP electricity distribution at the beginning, and there are still academic and application disputes at present. However, the core issues of the transition to CTP process are still the issues of cost, efficiency and quality

at present, the debate mainly focuses on:

1) whether to use large format imagesetter or CTP

nowadays, most domestic prepress users still use large format imagesetters. This is because the average level of domestic prepress employees is low, prepress enterprises lack economies of scale, prepress output and printing plants are generally separate enterprises, the price of imported plates is high, and the printing quality and accuracy are still not connected with the international market