DIGITAL PLATE TECHNOLOGY -- Platemaking Loses a Step
Shown at Drupa as a "technology demonstration" only, Creo calls its new Clarus PL product a "true processless" aluminum plate since it requires no gumming, processing or post-imaging treatment. Upon its commercialization, the switchable-polymer product is expected to handle runs of up to 50,000 impressions, support Creo's Staccato 20 FM screening and be compatible with 830nm thermal platesetters.
Creo characterized the product as pre-beta and says it expects to have a plan in place by the end of 2004 for its commercialization.
Fuji Photo Film simply claims to have a processless plate "under development." It reportedly will be based on the intelligent polymer technology used in the Fujifilm Brillia LH-NN thermal, negative plate for the news-paper market (set to be released in the fourth quarter of 2004) and uniformed grain technology used in the Brillia LH-PJ thermal, positive plate currently available in the Asian market. The product will also implement a new on-press development technology.
No time frame has been publicly announced for the technology's commercialization, but the vendor has said the final product should handle up to 50,000 impressions.
Konica Minolta has introduced a processless system for on- and off-line imaging applications. The off-line version uses a flexible, thermal plate material (TF-200) supplied in rolls for imaging by the SR-830 platesetter. A thermal sensitive, hydrophobic layer is exposed in a non-ablative process, with unexposed areas then removed on-press by the action of fountain solution and ink. The finished plate is said to be capable of 1-99 percent dot reproduction and supports stochastic screening. The platesetter outputs plate sizes from 12.8x15.6˝ up to 26x32.7˝.
Also taking a systems approach, but with an entirely different technology, is Glunz & Jensen. Its ink-jet computer-to-plate (iCTP) technology produces press-ready aluminum plates without chemical processing. The PlateWriter 4200 system (pictured on the left) jets a patented Liquid Dot solution onto a non-photosensitive aluminum printing plate. Imaged plates are then fed through a finishing unit that bonds the material to the plate's surface via a drying process. This unit, which is located just below the ink-jet engine, has a built-in gumming station to protect the plates from damage before going to press.
