Digital Printing.

Mobius 1

Mobius 1

Mobius 1

Soldato
Joined
29 Oct 2005
Posts
16,478
Ok...so some guy just rang me up to offer me a chat and most probably a job in printing, thing is, it will be in a digital press. I've not got a clue what to expect, as i am used to running a heidelberg quickmaster which is conventional printing (im not really sure of the differences). Does anyone have any clue about the differences? Any info would be appreciated, maybe some of you are printers yourself, i'm not too sure. I hope this isn't considered spam. I just was wondering if there were any printers on the forums.
 
im not a printer but from a marketing point of view, digital print as i understand it means you can "customise and personalise" each piece of mail so addresses are fed directly from databases. that's how it was sold to me anyway! sorry to be useless!

nin9a
 
I was a printer for 20yrs, ran 5 colour Speedmasters & GTO's etc. don't miss a thing:)
Digital printing is quite similar to Litho in some ways but not in others if that makes sense. The machines are of a similar build ie. ink rollers & ducts, register systems & paper feeding etc. but there's no plates as such. The image is sent digitally from a geek on a Mac to a sort of plastic roll on the plate cylinder & etched on there automatically then when that job is run the roll just forwards to the next 'plate' for the next job, there's no fount system either so it's waterless (different inks) & jobs dry much quicker.
That's the basics of it but if you can run Litho, Digital is a doddle:)
 
JohnnyG said:
I was a printer for 20yrs, ran 5 colour Speedmasters & GTO's etc. don't miss a thing:)
Digital printing is quite similar to Litho in some ways but not in others if that makes sense. The machines are of a similar build ie. ink rollers & ducts, register systems & paper feeding etc. but there's no plates as such. The image is sent digitally from a geek on a Mac to a sort of plastic roll on the plate cylinder & etched on there automatically then when that job is run the roll just forwards to the next 'plate' for the next job, there's no fount system either so it's waterless (different inks) & jobs dry much quicker.
That's the basics of it but if you can run Litho, Digital is a doddle:)
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Thanks for the infomation, and thank god for digital being fountless, that caused me nothing but troubles on my last machine. And cool, so theres no need for metal plates? Hated making those and cleaning the bath, developer is dangerous stuff. I've only ever been on a two colour QM. I've had a blast on a 6 colour roland before, but it wasnt in the best of conditions. Lol.
 
I think you're mixing Dev with Fix, that stuff is evil;)
No film or metal plates at all so you won't have to clean, gum then store them after use as the image is just resent when you do a re-print. There's very little make ready either as the ducts should (depending what press you're running) be set digitally too. There is very little skill involved now, but that's probably the same in most industries:)
 
Really sad, one of my customers ran a printing business, it used to be real big but he didn't move with the times and was stuck with his massive manual machines while everyone else had gone digital. He went bust earlier this year, such a shame he couldn't see further ahead. He's a really nice bloke and it was a bit tear-jerking working in there for the last time, lost a bit of local business history.
 
I'm not really sure. The developer is the stuff that takes the green stuff off the metal fuji plates to reveal the lasered image right? That stuff burns. I considered it dangerous :p lol. The only thing i hated about a two colour quickmaster is the fact i had to wash up for every job for a new colour/s. I lost my old job due to liquidation and the company going bankrupt. The machines weren't serviced. :( Got a new chance now though. Man i miss the smell (of the inks and machinery). It sound wierd, but its something you'd never tend to forget.
 
-Tauren- said:
Yup, better solids, you cant beat a litho solid for quality. Oh, and i got the job :D Woot!
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Congratulations!

On the subject does anyone know any decent printers which will do short runs? Need to get some stuff printed for my portfolio, using pantone colours as well.
 
Universal said:
Congratulations!

On the subject does anyone know any decent printers which will do short runs? Need to get some stuff printed for my portfolio, using pantone colours as well.
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Hmm. What sort you looking for though? Like, desktop printer or proper printer?


Thanks :D The pay aint half bad either.
 
Good luck with it mate:) If you want to stay in print you have to join a digital firm as Litho is dying im afraid:(
 
JohnnyG said:
Good luck with it mate:) If you want to stay in print you have to join a digital firm as Litho is dying im afraid:(
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Thanks mate, im really gonna try my hardest and enjoy this job as much as possible! I can tell i will do. As for litho..yup.. it is dying out, it takes so long to get a job up and running, well i thought it did anyway, anything up to an hour to get a job spot on, with colour and everything. Thats including a solid. Which are difficult to get just right.
 
An hour makeready is ok if you're running a few hundred k, but it's extremely uneconomical for short runs, with Digital you can make ready in minutes & re-prints are even better as the data will be saved from the last run & you just load it:)
 
JohnnyG said:
An hour makeready is ok if you're running a few hundred k, but it's extremely uneconomical for short runs, with Digital you can make ready in minutes & re-prints are even better as the data will be saved from the last run & you just load it:)
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It took me about half hour to wash up two colours and get one new colour ready for a 500 SRA3 sheet run of say...letterheads. I did have a lot of waste though... They told me just to throw the ink away once i'd used it. Lol. Bad eh? The most sheets ive ever run in one go was 50,000 SRA3. Took me two days!


Thanks Johny69 :D :D
 
-Tauren- said:
Hmm. What sort you looking for though? Like, desktop printer or proper printer?


Thanks :D The pay aint half bad either.
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Proper, need some stuff printed for some small projects for my portfolio you see. Am a designer on third year of graphic design degree.

Need some posters, letterheads, business cards printed etc. Want them looking the best they can, good stock etc. However most places won't do such a small run. A couple of projects aren't even a real commercial project, but it's so much better actually having something printed out nicely to show people in interviews.

BTW, SRA3, is that that's similar to A3+ or super A3?
 
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