Questions on purchasing QM46-4 DI or DI+

[agmfan3]

I am trying to find information on the above machines, my company is thinking of getting and I am trying to get "ducks in a row", what are some of the issues I might have, I am Mac/Adobe CS3 - PC/Adobe CS. This is totally new to me, the DI, and scares me to death!

[rbailleu]

the differences between and di or di+ are as follows. plus 12 ink zones instead of 8 . faster imaging rpm. delivery and feeder disconnect during imaging. all good things for the plus but not must haves. rip options: you must get a new rip. do not use the original harlequin di rip. get a new metadimension or a xitron. we used xitron and it worked quite well. I am sure meta is problably just as good if not better. with a new rip it is like printing to any printer/image setter. dare I say like a copier. don't get some people started. the only difference to prepress should be any callibration issues which should be easy to overcome. and you don't have to make the plates or film or clean out a processor. the pressman does need more computer knowledge to run the machine than the average ryobi or qm 2 color pressman. but that is not hard to overcome with a little training and eager learner.

[WharfRat]

Actually ...
with modern RIPs, there is no printing.
PDFs (or .eps or.ps files) are registered into the RIP or into a pre-RIP workflow for processing and trapping.
I don't know that I have actually "printed" to a RIP since 1997 - except for a short "fill in" time at one shop.

MSD

[rbailleu]

I don't usually like to be contrary, but its saturday. I print to our ikon cpp550 with a fiery. its fairly modern. I printed to our xitron it was a version 6, but I would call it modern. and yes I could have saved it to a hot holder. our signastation is the lastest version, and it is not printing to the meta, but you click on the printer ikon and hit output.

But seriously I get the point. and the method of sending the image to the press is not a big deal. the important part is that a modern rip is used so they don't have issues with the old rip. the biggest trick with any di, is the learning curve on the press with how to image, how to avoid scratches, how to keep the chiller temp in the correct range, etc. the sending a file to the press is a minor part.