Looking for Metal CTP

[rbailleu]

we have a prosetter 74 ( it will be for sale soon) it is all manuall load you can easily hit the button to unload, go grab a plate, take the old plate out and flop in processor. load new plate. takes less than 60 seconds. this is for the 52 and 46 sizes. the 74 the same is possibly but takes a firm hand to get everything done properly. you can still get 10 plates an hour even if your slow. I don't know about the supra setter, but I would bet it is similar. as far as cost per plate you are going to go through more chemistry than a standard plate setter. but you will get rid of the film chemistry. also you will get much better registration on the press than your current system. that aloan will pay for a little bit of the cost. I figure we gained 2 hours a day getting rid of film. no stripping, no masking sheets, no film. one processor. new rips. I would compare costs. on all of your consumables. then ask why should I go violet versus thermal. processless is nice. violet processors are messy. but thermal lasers don't last as long and you have some dust to deal with. run length. good luck

[tcparham]

We just went from the Prosetter violet plates to the suprasetter chemfree. It is nice to have the inline processor on the Suprasetter but was not necessary for us to get the autoloader either. I have noticed the chemfree takes a little longer to make plates but the you have to worry about replacing the gum and an auto rinse cycle. Other than that there is very little maintenance compared to the prosetters violet plates and clean up of the processor. We probably run the same amount of plates as you were referring to and still hand feed.

[rbailleu]

how many impressions to you see from the thermal plates? Do they store well for a week or so.? I heard some process free plates don't store well.

[discountprinting]

If I were you I would look at the Glunz-Jensen Plateriter, the Jetplate CTP or the Polijet or Metijet systems by Technova. All of these systems are inkjet technology based CTP systems and the quality rivals that of conventional CTP, unnoticeable to the naked eye. Some pushing 175 LPI stochastic screening. I am a huge fan of stochastic screening. The best thing about these systems is the price which is a fraction of the cost of conventional CTP, and with the economy in a recession this might be a smart move for you. Not to mention these systems are more environmentally friendly if you are looking at going Green.

[InkjetCTP_waste_of_money]

Another 2-up not yet mentioned is Printware PlateStream Violet, 30 plates per hour max.

This is a very good machine...