Anybody using Kodak Sword Excel plates? If so, how are they for you?
Yeah we use them. They are a negative plate so the imager has to image what does not print to clean it off. You have to be in a really clean environment or you'll get spots from dust and dirt. Vacuum needs to be almost perfect too or you'll get spots there if the plate isn't sucked down sufficiently. That's the bad news. The good news is they hold up well on the press, 200 K plus impressions. Processor maintenance/cleaning is a breese too.
Quote from: Joe on June 05, 2008, 10:17:09 AMYeah we use them. They are a negative plate so the imager has to image what does not print to clean it off. You have to be in a really clean environment or you'll get spots from dust and dirt. Vacuum needs to be almost perfect too or you'll get spots there if the plate isn't sucked down sufficiently. That's the bad news. The good news is they hold up well on the press, 200 K plus impressions. Processor maintenance/cleaning is a breese too.
yup never had a processor so easy to clean just rinse with warm water.
im using sword excel too. developer and finisher tho.
We're currently using Fuji plates with no issues, but are considering switching to Kodak plates if/when we upgrade to Prinergy to bundle it all together. I've been reading some horror stories about Kodak plates, though, so we're starting to second-guess ourselves.
Glad to know you all have no issues - hopefully we will have the same luck if we switch.
Quote from: DCurry on June 09, 2008, 06:42:07 PMWe're currently using Fuji plates with no issues, but are considering switching to Kodak plates if/when we upgrade to Prinergy to bundle it all together. I've been reading some horror stories about Kodak plates, though, so we're starting to second-guess ourselves.
Glad to know you all have no issues - hopefully we will have the same luck if we switch.
Let me temper my last statement with this, we liked the plates and the pressman liked them for the most part but in the end we switched to the fujis because the pressman claimed through the manager that it took a bit of time on startup on jobs for the plates to clean out good.
Now when we first switched as a 2 month long test to the kodaks the pressroom manager fought it (he "didn't like Kodak plates" although he hadn't used them since analog days) and in the end he won out and we switched to fuji Pi's or some such.
Fuji's worked very well on press, this from the pressman but the processor wasn't as easy to clean.
We use them and have a hell of a time w/ 20 micron stochastic. For some reason the highlight drops out intermittently and Kodak just keeps giving use free plates to fix it. They say the emulsion hasn't fully cured.