Plain Printing CTP Technology (II)

The outer drum type is a more traditional type. The manufacture of the drum barrel body is also much easier than the inner drum body. It is very important to use the fashion version for reliability. Otherwise, when the drum rotates at a high speed, it will cause damage to the photosensitive recording head. The damage caused by film is several times higher. In addition, the thickness and size of the plate will cause gravitational imbalance when the drum rotates at high speed, and it will also affect the accuracy of the light. The distance between the external drum type light source recording system and the CTP plate material is only a few millimeters, and the light path is very short, so the sensitometric accuracy is relatively easy to guarantee, plus a maximum of 1000 rotations per minute, and each minute or two. The low-speed multi-beam laser diode light source can be used for tens to hundreds of light arrays without the need for expensive high-power laser light sources. Companies such as Creo, Sai Angel, DS, and CTP plate output machines in the 40-inch or so model mostly use this design. If the plates are used without developing thermal sublimation plates, the exhaust and exhaust problems of the outer cylinders will be solved. It's easier than any other way.
When the winch type is used for CTP plate output, because of the large tortuosity of the structure for the plate material, it is not suitable for aluminum except for the POLYESTER film type silver salt plate material (for light offset printing). Plate output. Sensitive recording can use multi-point light source segmentation or swing mirror mode, and the light source can be easily arranged. Due to limitations of the plate material, it can only be developed within the scope of the silver salt plate.
As the name implies, the CTP plate is placed on the platform, and then the light source is moved on the X-axis and Y-axis to complete the comprehensive sensitization. For high-efficiency sensitization, “dot” sensitization cannot be used, and small-area exposures need to be performed in a “face” manner, so the seamless integration of face and face is a technical problem. In Germany, there is a CTP machine that uses a hexagonal photosensitive method, such as a honeycomb, to form a photosensitive surface, which can reduce the difficulty of convergence and is the only device that uses a UV ultraviolet light source. Therefore, a plate with a conventional PS plate can have a slower photospeed. At present, there are also some equipment manufacturers, gradually moving to a platform-type CTP output machine, because it does not occupy the place, but also avoid the use of high-speed moving and rotating parts.
There is also a plate-type plate output machine. The platen moves in the X-axis direction, and the light source only performs the Y-axis linear movement for sensitization. The mode is similar to that of the winch type, and the speed of light is very high. However, like the CTP of the newspaper making industry requires higher light-sensing efficiency, there are octahedral mirrors used as laser mirrors, and high-speed rotation of the multi-faceted mirrors improves the efficiency of Congress. Platform-style plates are most photographicly light-free, with the least problems. The platform mode that does not move media at all is more suitable for manual operation and is not suitable for automatic operation.
Third, manual, semi-automatic, automatic evaluation of the efficiency of the printing industry for many years to popularize automated, mechanized equipment, to increase production efficiency and improve investment efficiency ratio, this normal in the development process of plain printing CTP seems to run counter to it. In the DRUPA'95 exhibition, we saw that Creo's CTP output machine is a giant, not only automatic punching, auto-loading and automatic punching, but also automatically after the whole package plate is put into the supply rack. Open the corrugated carton, remove the plastic bag inside the compartment, and remove the paper, and then take the hole in the paper before installing the outer drum. This is convenient and automatic, but the equipment investment is very high. After Crete was accepted by Heidelberg, Creo only produced the TRENDSETTER Plate Output Machine, because the manual type was the best-selling product, only semi-automatic type was introduced last year. Like the addition of CYMBOLIC's CTP plate output machine, it is completely manual, with no semi-automatic and fully automatic models available. The main reason is that the investment is low and the efficiency is high enough to pay more than two operators per day. If the full-automatic photosensitive time is 2.5 minutes and the printing plate comes in and out 1.5 minutes, which is counted as 4 minutes. Each time the machine stops for 1 minute, 12 plates can be produced in 1 hour and 120 plates in 10 days in 1 day. 1 year of work 280 days, can produce 33600 plates, if the 28 fold is 26880 version. The manual photosensitivity time is 2.5 minutes, change the version as long as half a minute, downtime 1 minute, 1 hour production of 15 editions, 1 day 150 editions, 1 year for 42000 editions, 80% for 22600 editions, In 1 year, it can produce 6720 plates. Each version of the factory price (excluding sales and profits) is calculated at US$20, which is an increase of US$134,400 in output value, and the cost of the US$10 per edition of the plate is deducted. The manual type can increase revenue by US$67,200 per year. In terms of depreciation, fully automatic equipment such as 400,000 US dollars, depreciation by 4 years, 100,000 US dollars per year, such as manual type is 250,000 US dollars, also depreciated by 4 years, only 62,500 US dollars per year. The operating staff takes 10 hours per day, and the manual type needs to bear 1.5 more people. The annual salary of each person is calculated as 15,000 US dollars, and the additional burden is 22,500 US dollars. In this way, the additional direct benefit is 67200+(100000-62500)-22500=82200 USD. In return, the manual type will amortize the depreciation of US$62,500 plus the off-site production benefit of US$82,200 per year, and the total benefit of US$144,700 will be obtained in one year. With an investment amount of US$250,000, the amount of investment can be increased as long as one year and nine months, which is much shorter than that of the fully automatic type for four years. Although the above figures are not absolute values, it must be seen whether the workload is sufficient or not. Given the shortage of workload, it is an indisputable fact that manual depreciation is less burdensome. Therefore, only in areas where personnel costs are higher, and it is ensured that the automatic supply of plates is as smooth as manual, fully automatic will be applied when no plate is available, and semi-automatic modes may also be considered.
Fourth, digital proofing support Proofing is an indispensable program in the printing process, because the proofs are printed "passes", and as a basis for checking the quality of printed products at the time of delivery, also as a basis for claims, returns. In the past, when the separation film was used, it was necessary to use proofing to print proofs, or to use chemical reactions without proofing. If the parties were successful, it would only take a longer period of time and consume more materials and costs. What is most afraid of is that after proofing comes out, the customer moves eastward and west and re-exports the film, so that he can print proofs again. Just try to replace the estimated profit of all the plates with two changes! How to print a digital color sample directly after completing a digital page file is very advantageous for shortening the construction period and controlling the cost. However, there are many nine-word printing, such as sublimation, inkjet, laser printing and color film transfer. To obtain color prints that match the printing effect, it will be an unavoidable issue for CTP investors. Some people may use the CTP output plate, first with the platform proofer proofing, if the OK through the official printing of that printing plate, such a wishful thinking is also facing the risk of customer change. In addition, if the silver salt version is used on a low-speed freezing proofer, there is a problem of poor inking.
V. Benefits are the main incentives for CTP technology. Filmless CTP technology provides faster time-to-market, reduces the use of film silver salt rinse solution to achieve waste reduction, environmental protection, and can provide better than the film The more accurate registration accuracy, the automation of work and the reduction of personnel, and the reliance on the stencil printing technology have also been reduced. Therefore, the promotion of CTP printing technology in the future is a development trend in the future. In particular, the delay in publishing press deadlines and the strong timeliness are important incentives for adopting new technologies. Despite these difficulties, as users increase, equipment and materials become more mature, and prices gradually decline, we must constantly collect information to analyze, calculate the most appropriate entry point, and make investment decisions. The trend of the times. (Finish)