CTcP features and application

1 The advantages of CTcP

CTcP has many advantages. The most obvious is to increase production efficiency, save time, and reduce production costs. However, CTcP in the end can reflect the degree of advantage, but also with the printing company's mastery of digital technology. From the traditional plate-making transition to computer-based plate making, there are many important influencing factors in terms of time and cost.

1) Regular PS plate can be used

The CTcP system uses a 360nm to 450nm UV light source to expose, which means that a conventional PS plate can be used in the direct plate making process. This is a printing plate that has been used by printers for many years, and is familiar with its performance and processing procedures. The technology is mature and the PS version is available. It is cheaper than thermal CTP plates and violet laser plates. At the same time, PS plate is the most used printing plate in the printing industry worldwide. If the printing company uses CTcP, it is no longer necessary to provide uniform training to the printing staff because they are already familiar with the performance of this type of plate. In the workshop, since CTcP uses a conventional PS plate, it does not need to add new equipment and purchase new chemicals, all work in accordance with the traditional PS plate making process. At the same time, CTcP's equipment maintenance costs are low because the CTcP system uses UV light for exposure imaging and can directly use the light source on a conventional stencil. In addition, all operations on the printing plate can be operated in a bright indoor environment, so that the staff can easily print out plates of various sizes.

2) No need to send out the film to improve the printing quality

The CTcP system inherits the advantages of the CTP - no need to export the film, also can achieve computer-to-plate. In this way, film materials and processing materials can be saved, saving manual imposition time. After the CTcP users did not come out of the film, the print quality of the printed matter was significantly improved because the images and dots were not affected by the mass attenuation in the traditional prepress process. After printing, the quality of the plate is better because the factors such as dust and scratches on the film no longer exist, and the positioning is more accurate.

3) Reduce print debugging time and material loss

The CTcP system does not require plate orientation, so the quality of the plate is better, and it is not necessary to re-plate due to inaccurate positioning, avoiding spending a lot of time to print on the machine. With more and more short-lived prints in the entire printing industry, change-overs and on-machine debugging have become regular tasks, reducing printing commissioning time, which can significantly save time and costs. CTcP plate making is more accurate than traditional analog plate making. Therefore, when the machine is commissioned, the waste of water, paper, ink and other consumables is reduced.

2 CTcP application

On Drupa2000, CTcP is still only a concept product. Its quality, speed, and price are far from other technologies. But after 4 years, this equipment has become more mature, the speed has been greatly improved, and the price is more reasonable.

At Drupa 2004, BasysPrint, a pioneer in the use of traditional plate CTP platesetters, has made even greater progress in imaging technology. At the conference, it exhibited several CTcP systems such as UV-Setter 1132, UV-Setter N546, UV-Setter 531, UV-Setter 736, and UV-Setter 731e. In addition, DSI2 technology has been introduced to make the fourth-generation UV-Setter series platesetter have higher imaging accuracy and speed. After the FOGRA test, it was found that the resolution of the output version of the Besin UV-Setter platesetter was very good. For example, the UV-Setter N546 plate type platemaking machine, which is specially developed for the newspaper industry, uses the DSI2 technology. Its hourly platemaking speed can reach 100 to 150 sheets, and the CTcP plate speed can be increased by 40% to 60%. The digital imaging technology has solved the need for higher speeds in newspaper making. In addition, the CTcP platesetter of Beisiyin is now more comprehensive in specifications, ranging from four-pronged and open to 1515mm x 3150mm (it is the world's largest CTP machine) format, and users have covered commercial printing, newspaper printing, and packaging and printing. For example, UV-Setter 731 is an entry-level model, and the price for starting is only about 130,000 Euros; it further reduces the threshold for users to enter CTcP; UV-Setter 736 is a fully automatic, not only automatic version, but also On-line punching to meet the demand for higher automation and production efficiency.

Mr. Friedrich Luellau, president of Bessie Corporation, stated that as of October 2003, it had installed approximately 380 UV-Setters around the world, of which about 30 were UV-Setter 57 newspaper CTcP. Of these 30, 14 are located in Europe and the rest in the United States. According to Beths India, nearly 10% of the 200 newspaper CTP installations in the United States are Bessie’s CTcP systems. The basic users of this UV-Setter 57Z are small and medium-sized newspapers. According to the ink coverage area of ​​the printing plate, the speed is 60 to 120 sheets/hour. At present, the global installed capacity of the CTcP system produced by Beth India has exceeded 500 units, which is growing rapidly. The famous solar media group in North America once ordered 16 sets of UV-Setter platesetters from Bethen India, all of which were used for the making of newspapers. In China, Yonghong Printing (Group) Company purchased nine sets of UV-Setter platesetters at a time, becoming the largest order for CTcP equipment in China.

In addition to Bessie's CTcP, Alfaquest also demonstrated its FasTrak CTP/C plate-making machine for the first time in Europe. There are 3 models available: C50 (50 plates/hour), C110 (110 plates/hour) and C160 (160 plates/hour). At present, it can only use a dedicated plate.

In addition, Esko-Graphics joined its ranks of direct platemaking on the traditional PS plate with its Espresso. Esko-Graphics Espresso with four open-width format can output 13 to 20 sheets of 4K (2400dpi) per hour. According to the president of Esko-Graphics, they plan to introduce a CTcP device with better quality and lower price, which will greatly enhance the competitiveness of CTcP.

Recently, in addition to CTcP equipment manufacturers continue to improve the technology to introduce CTcP systems to meet market demand, many plate manufacturers saw the potential of the CTcP market, have also invested in CTcP plate material development. According to Beth Printing, there are 50 different brands of traditional PS versions that apply to their CTcP platesetters. Fujifilm has provided CTcP with a special edition of UV NE, and has collaborated with companies such as Bessie, Manroland, SandyScreen and PPI Media in Europe and is expecting a new edition. In China, relevant scientific research institutions are developing new and applicable plates for the characteristics of CTcP, and will soon be put on the market. We believe that there will be more and more CTcP plates available to the printing manufacturers in the future.

Source: "Printing World" Author: Zou Chun Ren