Distortion on printing plates?

Started by G_Town, July 16, 2019, 02:39:17 PM

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G_Town

So this comes up about once a year when the pressroom prints long for some reason and they always bring up "why don't we distort our printing plates" to which I reply because that's an asinine idea.

Is anyone doing this on a regular basis?


born2print

I assume you're not printing flexo.
That is indeed insane. Distort how much? Which stock? which day? which operator? :ohno:
How will I laugh tomorrow...
when I can't even smile today?

pabney

We have done it. But not on a regular basis. Our 40 inch press can sometimes have paper stretch where the gripper side is on side to side, but the tail side is wide.
I think we have done it maybe 5 times in the last 3 years. Not an easy thing to do, so it has to be a pretty important customer.

Joe

We do web growth compensation on all of our web press plates if that is what you mean.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

Slappy

A little diddie 'bout black 'n cyan...two reflective colors doin' the best they can.

G_Town

Quote from: Joe on July 16, 2019, 04:01:16 PM
We do web growth compensation on all of our web press plates if that is what you mean.

Offset sheetfed. Just had a random job print to long and everyone is like we need distortion!! I I'm all you need to fix the issue!

I think pressman are slowly losing the ability to troubleshoot.


Joe

Sounds different than what web growth compensation is used for. It is used to help with registration between the colors due to the paper size changing through the different units of the press.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

David

Quote from: G_Town on July 24, 2019, 11:04:12 AM
Quote from: Joe on July 16, 2019, 04:01:16 PM
We do web growth compensation on all of our web press plates if that is what you mean.

Offset sheetfed. Just had a random job print to long and everyone is like we need distortion!! I I'm all you need to fix the issue!

I think pressman are slowly losing the ability to troubleshoot.

they need to check their blankets and packing.
If they have the packing wrong, they can print either long or short.
It's on them, not you.
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca

andyfest

Quote from: G_Town on July 16, 2019, 02:39:17 PM
So this comes up about once a year when the pressroom prints long for some reason and they always bring up "why don't we distort our printing plates" to which I reply because that's an asinine idea.

Is anyone doing this on a regular basis?
Shouldn't require it for offset sheetfed printing ever. Only really required in flexo where the plates are raised "rubber"-type plates. Then you need a calculated distortion factor to make up for the raised plate face. Your pressman needs to take a pill.
Retired - CS6 on my 2012 gen MacBook Pro

G_Town

Quote from: andyfest on July 27, 2019, 08:04:03 AM
Quote from: G_Town on July 16, 2019, 02:39:17 PM
So this comes up about once a year when the pressroom prints long for some reason and they always bring up "why don't we distort our printing plates" to which I reply because that's an asinine idea.

Is anyone doing this on a regular basis?
Shouldn't require it for offset sheetfed printing ever. Only really required in flexo where the plates are raised "rubber"-type plates. Then you need a calculated distortion factor to make up for the raised plate face. Your pressman needs to take a pill.

Oh it's more than just the pressman. We have a new crop of people in management and "sort of" management with zero printing experience. It makes the day quite challenging.

Anyway at least you guys are on the same page.