CTP 36" wide Plate Maker Advice

[Perdue]

Ive been tasked with finding a new CPT system for our company. We are Currently using an Agfa Acento but it is not wide enough for our recently acquired Web Press. Looking for something New or used.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

[Santa]

The Agfa Acento is a Re-badged Screen Plate-Rite.  Not sure of all the sizes they come in but you might want to start your search there.

[Ear]

I'm running a Fuji Javelin, thermal 8up platesetter (Screen 8600) with a 5-tray auto load and auto stack. If you're pushing plates to a web press, you better have automation or it will be a long day. 100+ plate days are normal and you don't want to be running less than 24 plates per hour or you will have long days keeping up and press guys standing around.

Most 8-up machines are bigger than 36". I run 36in, 38in and sheetfed... it will go bigger than 40inch, but I don't have anything bigger than that. The Screen units are pretty bulletproof too. I've had two of them. I've had one throw a clamp at 900rpm... was back running an hour later.

[Joe]

We have two Luschers running up to 58" plates. Stay as far away from them as possible.

[Ear]

They are cool to watch but seem overly complex. I mean, all platesetters are complex, but some take a more straightforward loading approach.

[Joe]

They are great when everything is working correctly. I remember it happened one time. It was glorious.

[David]

They are great when everything is working correctly. I remember it happened one time. It was glorious.

video or it didn't happen...   

[Ear]

 

[Farabomb]

I just watched one on YouTube. Do you have a clean room dedicated to it? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?

[Joe]

They are great when everything is working correctly. I remember it happened one time. It was glorious.

video or it didn't happen...   

Damn I forgot to video it! Though in my defense when it happened I didn't even own a cell phone let alone a smart phone that could record video.

[Joe]

I just watched one on YouTube. Do you have a clean room dedicated to it? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?

Well it has its own room and was clean at one time. But dirt isn't the problem. The worst thing is that autoloader has a lot of issues. You can't just queue up a bunch of stuff and walk away. Someone has to babysit it anytime plates are being output.

[Perdue]

Geez that Luschers looks like a Cat Scan! Pretty impressive machine compared to what we have here.

Auto Loader and Stacker for sure! We have trouble keeping up to our 4 colour sheet fed and now going to an 8 colour web. going to need that.

Thanks for the Info my first post I usually just read "Prepress Rage" 

[Farabomb]

I just watched one on YouTube. Do you have a clean room dedicated to it? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?

Well it has its own room and was clean at one time. But dirt isn't the problem. The worst thing is that autoloader has a lot of issues. You can't just queue up a bunch of stuff and walk away. Someone has to babysit it anytime plates are being output.

Before I watched the vid I was thinking it reminded me of the AGFA Galileo I used to run. The loading/imaging was a whole lot simpler though. It had a rack with our 2 plate sizes and it would just open the cassette, and would grab the plate and take it into the drum. A carriage with a laser went back and forth with a spinning mirror and image it. The machine took up a whole room but worked pretty good. It did like to eat slip sheets in the winter but I never met a autoload that didn't.

[Joe]

Not sure what video you watched but we have two imagers and one autoloader. It will open the drawer and pull the plate and take it over and put it in the first imager. While the imager is centering the plate the autoloader goes back and removes the slipsheet and disposes of it and then goes and opens the drawer for the other imager and picks up the plate and loads it into the 2nd imager. Then it goes back and removes the slipsheet from that drawer. By this time the first imager is already exposing the first plate. When it is done exposing it goes back and removes the plate from the first imager and brings it back and drops it into the drawer that feeds it into the processor and then starts loading the next plate. By the time the next plate is loaded the 2nd images is done exposing and is ready to have the plate removed and processed. It really is a thing of beauty when everything is working properly. Every now and then though it drops a plate midway through its travel though and that is an eye opener for anyone within ear shot. And of course there are always the slipsheet snafus as you mentioned. I shouldn't be talking about it right now because it has been working pretty good the last couple of weeks. (knock on wood) The only good thing about it is that I rarely have to output plates.

[Ear]

...
Thanks for the Info my first post I usually just read "Prepress Rage" 

A kindred prepress spirit, I see. Were you a squirrel in a past life? :wink: