Fuji Plates vs. Saphira Plates

[adamsg]

Hi,
We've used fuji plates for years, never a problem. We are considering a Heidelberg workflow. Anyone out there used Heidelberg Saphira plates for long periods of time? How do they stack up against the Fuji product.

[adamsg]

I should have said this in the original post, the Fuji plates we currently use are the LH-PJ.

[Mike Herndon]

We used the Fuji LH-PJ for years and years, in my opinion it is great plate and tough to beat. Last year we switched to the Heidelberg Saphira PN. They run almost identical from a print stand point, same characteristics roll up etc. They seem to carry a little more water than the Fuji. The only thing we adjusted was our alcohol sub, we went up 1 oz per gallon- that's it. If we start having problems with the plates 99.9% it can be traced back to the processor. These plates are much more sensitive to the processor chemistry than Fuji, at least in our shop. We can get around 200imp off the plates before we start having problems.

Mike

[Mike Herndon]

I'll add one more thing, Heidelberg was very helpful when we did the switch. The few issues we had we're resolved quickly by tech support. Just make sure your prepress stays on top of the routine processor maintenance. Whenever we've had plate issues it usually came back to the processor and no one cleaning it etc etc.

[csm20]

We have been using h-berg saphira plates for 5+years now, they run great, the plates and chem are actually agpha products.
We have a finger printed color management were 4 color process is almost exact to our color proof.
We used fuji back in the day and our head pressman has been here almost 20 years and prefers the saphira plate to the fuji by far.
Cleaning the processor is a dirty stinky job but if you clean it every 300 plate or so and keep the inline filter(s) from the waste tank to the drain changed the processor will last years.
The chem is not green but there has been talk about a chem free plate from h-berg but its just talk so far as I know.
The pro-setter is a great devise also but it does have some expensive parts (filter $350 change every year or so) so we pony up for the service contract the compressor is in the upper thousands to replace.
Hope this help you out.
CSM20

[adamsg]

CSM 20,

Hi. We are looking at Saphira thermal plates. Are you using violet or thermal plates? You had mentioned the Pro-setter, which I believe is the violet plate setter.
Thanks!

[csm20]

We us the violet plates.
CSM20

[RKS]

The Saphira plates are actually an Agfa plate distributed by Heidelberg. I know of six large shopsin the Southeast and the Midwest that went to the Saphira plates because Heidelberg was offering the package at a very low price. After 6 months or more of fighting with plates not rendering the same dot from plate to plate and even on the same plate due to inconsistent emulsion coating. Sometimes cheaper isn't better if it costs you more for re-runs, re-makes and lost press time.

[Mike Herndon]

The only one I can comment on is the saphira thermoplate PN. This is the only plate we've used, we image them on our Suprasetter 105 with a Raptor Pro 85 processor. When comparing them back to back with the Fuji LH-PJ from a print stand point in our press room they were equal. They have some slight difference in print characteristics than the Fuji, our waters went down slightly(only a few%) and we changed our press start up program to drop the waters on one less press revolution. That's it, it was pretty seemless. It almost seems like it's agfa's attempt to copy the LH-PJ. As mentioned before the big thing is to stay on top of the processor maintenance, the plate will NOT perform at all if this is neglected.

Mike

[Mike Herndon]

The Saphira plates are actually an Agfa plate distributed by Heidelberg. I know of six large shopsin the Southeast and the Midwest that went to the Saphira plates because Heidelberg was offering the package at a very low price. After 6 months or more of fighting with plates not rendering the same dot from plate to plate and even on the same plate due to inconsistent emulsion coating. Sometimes cheaper isn't better if it costs you more for re-runs, re-makes and lost press time.

I agree cheep is not better, we haven't seen anything like that with the PN in the last year we've been using them. However we never saw anything like that in the 10 years using the LH-PJ either. No denying LH-PJ is a good plate.

Mike