Many of my friends are still skeptical about whether the CTP technology has matured. This point can be seen from the sharp drop in the price of CTP plates in foreign countries and the current price of the traditional PS version. So why are many printing companies in the CTP in the country still have such problems? I think the key issue is not in the CTP device itself. Because the CTP system is a huge system, it is simple and simple. The principle is nothing more than a printer. It is complicated and complex, because it covers software, hardware, materials and so on. Process technology. The following is a brief discussion on the CTP equipment.
In the CTP market, photosensitive technology was once into the cold room. Lifting the light, many people's impression still stays in the traditional silver salt photosensitive technology. First of all, it needs to be clarified that the current mainstream photosensitive technology is not the silver salt photosensitive technology when CTP has just come out. Silver salt technology has gradually been eliminated by later thermal and emerging violet laser technologies due to the presence of heavy metal pollution. With the development of the past few years, thermal technology has occupied more than half of the domestic and foreign markets. However, with the rise of violet laser technology, this situation has changed a lot.
The violet laser generator was first developed by Japan's Nichia Corporation. The first application of this laser is that home appliances are not printed. In the home appliance industry, violet laser is also called blue laser. Nowadays DVD lasers in the market use this type of laser, which increases the 4.7GB capacity of traditional DVDs to 27GB. The earliest applied violet laser CTP equipment was introduced by Agfa and Fuji in DRUPA in 2000. At that time, the laser head power was only 5mW.
Since the wavelength of the violet laser is close to that of the conventional PS plate, some CTP equipment manufacturers also hope to transplant this technology into the printing industry. The company that first introduced purple laser CTP equipment is mainly Agfa and Fujitsu. At the Drupa exhibition in 2004, there were more than ten companies that introduced violet laser CTP equipment, and some other plate production companies have launched equipment Matching media. In addition, according to reports, in addition to Japan and Asia, Japan's Sony, Panasonic, Sanyo, Toshiba, and the Netherlands's Philips have also begun to get involved in the development of purple laser generators. Violet laser generator has also greatly improved in the past few years, the power of the violet laser generator has been developed from 5mW when it was just released to the current 60mW, Germany's Claus company has announced that it has launched the latest equipment based on 100mW laser. And this development is far from reaching the end. When the power of the laser head reaches 150mW or more, the heat-sensitive plate can be processed without treatment.
Purple Laser CTP is undoubtedly a very competitive technology. Although it is difficult to say that this technology will completely replace the thermal technology, its strong impact on the thermal technology is a positive one. We will wait and see.
As for printing quality, CTP is not necessarily a great improvement, of course, using CTP will certainly improve, but there is no exaggeration emphasized by some people, as if no heat-sensitive CTP will allow customers to run the same light! In Hong Kong and Taiwan and abroad, there are also high-end printing plants using the traditional version of 400lpi printing, the quality is quite beautiful. There is no difference between the thermal and violet laser CTP's quality within 300 lines. As for the printing of more than 300 lines, there is still a certain degree of difficulty in the printing of current domestic companies' printing conditions. Not every one can do it. When considering CTP, users should consider the overall service capabilities of some suppliers (software, hardware, media, and printing process services) not to be led to extremes by one-sided quality and network theory. At present, the application of several commercial CTPs in Hangzhou is specific. example!
About the use cost of CTP plate making and traditional plate making
According to the simple plate-making cost calculation: the current domestic production of Fujixingguang Violet Laser CTP plate is currently quoted at 70 yuan per square meter, and the cost price of a set of four-color four-color printing plate (730*605) is about 130 yuan. Left and right; and production of a traditional version, four-color four-screen film (30 yuan / square meter) + traditional PS version (32-34 yuan / square meter), the cost will be calculated to 120 yuan. Therefore, if it is used for short-run printing, the current price of CTP consumables has already been accepted by some people, and the price of the plates has room to continue to fall. However, the prices of the film and the PS version have almost reached the limit. As for the benefits CTP brings to the printing industry, there is no need to say more. It improves quality, saves time and simplifies operations...
Of course, if you encounter the situation of the supplement version is not the same, make up a version is also a CTP version of the price, and make up a PS version of the film can save the price of the film, so count is the cost of turning Times. In the printing of newspapers, many large-scale newspaper printing houses in China are often printing the same set of film and drying 2-4 sets of PS at the same time because they have to catch up with the limitation period. In this case, the cost of using the CTP version is quite high.
About thermal technology and violet laser technology
Regardless of the light valve technology represented by Creo or the multi-channel independent laser tube grouping technology represented by the screen, due to its thermal laser head power of up to 40W or even higher, the longer the working time, the greater the heat output. The shorter the service life, many customers will need to change one laser head for more than one year, or replace several to ten different laser tubes. Even if they have bought the after-sales service from the manufacturers, they will be close to one hundred thousand a year. Yuan, the cost of maintenance will be considerable for five years. If you are a boss, of course, you need to take into account the later costs in this area. Purple laser head is only 60mW, low heat, fast exposure, so the service life is relatively long, individual violet laser manufacturers have launched a laser head life commitment of up to five years, no doubt is a great thermal CTP users The temptation.
The heat-sensitive developer requires 2 weeks or 500 square meters, while the violet laser developer can be replaced by 2 months or 3,000 square meters. Frequent replacement cycles will increase operational intensity, quality cannot be guaranteed, and the third will always increase corresponding costs and pollution emissions.
In summary, the technology is continuously developing and progressing. The development trend of CTP as a printing technology has been unavoidable. The existing technical problems will become more and more mature with the popularization and promotion of CTP, and the use cost will also increase. The lower the CTP, the simpler and more practical production process will be like the DTP.
Author: Zhou Yang