Plate loaders

[Ear]

Nice. I burned 86 plates today and only walked into the plate room four times... just to toggle the preload button so it would change cassettes on the fly.  :cool:

[t-pat]

Nice. I burned 86 plates today and only walked into the plate room four times... just to toggle the preload button so it would change cassettes on the fly.  :cool:

you need to tell it to do that?

[Ear]

 :laugh: :rolleyes: bazinga

Seriously... your platesetter will automatically switch preload on and off? That's very cool. What are you running?

[Joe]

I'm in java hell today. Screw you Apple, Oracle, and Kodak!

[t-pat]

:laugh: :rolleyes: bazinga

Seriously... your platesetter will automatically switch preload on and off? That's very cool. What are you running?

we leave preload on. Running a Magnus with a MCU. 3 cassettes, 2 with 90 40" plates each, one with 100 20" plates. It switches automagically. Only issues are with the slip sheets not ejecting sometimes. Keeping humidity up in that room and using the fancy (not) Kodak Anti Static Wand helps.

[Joe]

:laugh: :rolleyes: bazinga

Seriously... your platesetter will automatically switch preload on and off? That's very cool. What are you running?

We have Luscher machines and it has 5 different drawers of varying plate sizes. It knows which drawer to use by which queue the files land in at the imaging PC.

[Ear]

I hear that, but what happens if it has already loaded one plate and the next plate is for a different press?

I'm running a Screen 8600. 24, 8up plates per hour with a 5 cassette auto loader for 4 different plate sizes. Mine is fed by a Raster Blaster tiff catcher. The platesetter/MAL only know what plate is currently burning and can't see what is "on deck". So, if I'm running Merc plates, on preload, it will be burning one while the next loads. If the next plate is for the Hantscho, I would have to manual unload. So, I keep an eye on how many are in the queue... when it gets to the second to last plate, I turn auto-load off, it switches the cassette, then I turn auto load back on as soon as the first plate of the new size starts to load. This is done on the platesetter.

In other words, the MAL loads and punches a plate while the other is burning, which cuts a little more than a minute per plate out. How does the platesetter and auto loader know what the next plate in the queue is? It chooses the cassette and switches automatically, but having the wrong size plate preloaded would cause an error.

[frailer]

I feel like a small fry.

[Ear]

But you look like a big sexy man, so chin up, cap'n.  :grin:

[frailer]

But you look like a big sexy man, so chin up, cap'n.  :grin:

Shucks. You say the nicest things.   :cool:

[Ear]

Mine is big and fast, but tpat and Joe's must be more integrated with their workflow to know what the next plate in the queue is, in addition to the one currently burning. That would be nice. Not that it kills me to have to push a button a couple times per day.

[frailer]

We're at the simple end. B2, 2 presses, both Komori 730x600 mm. Embarrassed to admit it,really.

[Joe]

We have two imagers and one set of drawers. The queues for each press knows the plate size and it knows how to adjust on the fly. The only thing is that you can't release files from two different queues for the same imager at the same time. You have to wait for one queue to finish and then click the button on the PC to release the next size for a different press. And then the plate guy whines sometimes about having to click that button. Spoiled focker!

[frailer]

Why does that story not surprise me.

[t-pat]

our setup picks the correct plate based on the queue, and moves the drawers around on it's own. Stuff queues up and switches by itself. If we don't get a slipsheet jam the thing will run unattended all day or until it runs out of plates. Scary, because nobody even looks at them until they get to press. Whatevs. I'm getting paid. Brought to you by Carl's Jr.^®