processless violet plates

[rbailleu]

Any one have any insight on processless violet. heidelberg says they will be out this year.

[jcampbell76]

I know Fuji is working on them as well. What I've heard is that they will be available in Europe first. Probably not here for another year. Not sure why, but that's what I heard...

[Colin Gilham]

Fuji are about to go live in the UK (probably elsewhere too) with the Pro-V, their chemistry-free equivalent to the very successful LP-NV polymer plate.

It has the same sensitivity as LP-NV so will work with existing CTP units, and the image quality, run length and tonal range is on a par with LP-NV (i.e 1-99% @ 200lpi; 150-200k unbaked).

FUJIFILM UK - Graphic Systems

As a long standing LP-NV user I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Agfa showed a chemistry-free visible-light plate at IPEX some years back but nothing seems to have come of it. I heard they weren't achieving the results with it (only 2-98% etc). They seem to be throwing all their efforts into Azura, their chemistry-free thermal plate.

[Ritter]

rbailleu, I hear the same thing. Many vendors are already on the prowl trying to ear in sales of new violet CtP imagesetters in advance of the impending technology. From the bits and pieces I hear Agfa is having some problems ramping it up into reliable production.

As someone who has used toner polyester, chemical-laser poly, camera poly, film to violet, direct to violet, and direct to thermal with various vendors plates, chemicals, films (HDM/Agfa, Fuji, Kodak and some of the other less known brands) I really don't see why the vendors are not focussed more on improving the thermal impression length rather than on violet technology.

[k3kdj]

Are we talking True Processless or Chem Free Processing?
Agfa will be rolling out a Chem- Free plate in the US. currently in Europe but supposibly working well.
We looked into the Process less plate and deemed it not usable in our daily newspaper.
Not being able to see image and the short shelf life of plate after imaging were the biggest drawbacks to us.
We were looking for a GREEN solution and think we have found one in the Agfa N92 V Chem -Free Plate.
Please note: This plate is not yet in production in the US. only in Europe for now.

[J]

Are we talking True Processless or Chem Free Processing?
[SNIP]We were looking for a GREEN solution and think we have found one in the Agfa N92 V Chem -Free Plate.

Not to put too fine a point on it, however, it would help to keep issues clear if posters would use the same descriptions for plate technologies that their vendors use. It would certainly help reduce the confusion of terms.
Agfa refers to the :N92-V in their literature as:
"Fast Exposure and Proven Plate Processing
:N92-V combines fast, accurate and wide-latitude plate exposure with simple processing and robustness. :N92-V is designed for the proven photopolymer plate processors that deliver reliability to printers around the world.
The plate is processed in the standard way: pre-heat (image amplification) is followed by overcoat wash-off. Subsequently, the image is developed and the plate is washed and gummed."

They do not refer to it as "chem-free"

(my text emphasis in bold)

best, J

[mac310]

You quoted about N92-V plates which are conventional photopolymer plates indeed. Chem-free photopolymer plates version are called :N92-VCF for newspaper market or :Azura V for commercial market.
Some other info about Agfa Graphics Chem-free photopolymer plates.

[frailer]

Like Colin, a happy LP-NV(x) user 2+ years now. Am also looking forward to by-passing the alkaline dev bath and its 5-6 weekly major maintenances.
From what I can gather, there is still an "issue" with converting the online processors over...but they'll do that successfully, I guess.

[twooodogz]

As far as I know there are 2 almost process free plates out there, Fuji Ecomax and Kodak Thermal Direct. All others still require a processor. I have tried both and have been successful in getting them both to work. In my honest opinion Kodak was the easiest to work with on press, but the speed you have to burn those plates at will bring any short run printer to a halt. Fuji Ecomax is the way to go unless you are a long run printer.

[ajr]

As far as I know they go through the preheat pva is washed off into a bath of distilled water substance taht only needs to be changed every few months and then washed and gummed. This is the Fuji LPNV chem free plate. Image is visible just like a normal LP NV plate not like a Thermal process free plate where the image is just visible. Can't wait as these are very good plates, I don't see waht the problem is people seem to have with violet systems ( quality etc) they print well and we do alot of demanding work with them no problem.

AjR