Electrographic Plates

Electrographic devices are the ultimate in simplicity. Similar to a laser printer, these devices deposit toner onto a substrate via a charged imaging drum. A special ink-receptive toner enables offset printing, but many devices can also serve as high-resolution laser printers. Manufacturers offering such devices include Printware (St. Paul, MN). The Printware 1440 can image both inexpensive “paper” plates as well as the more durable organic photoconductor (OPC) aluminum plates. In addition to being daylight safe, both options offer the advantage of being totally processless — when the plates emerge from the laser printer, they are ready to hang and run.

Xante's (Mobile, AL) recently introduced Platemaker 4 is its latest device for electrographic CTP, and extends the legacy of its workhorse Platemaker 3.

Xante users can choose between the Myriad 2 (a dry-toner plate with a polyester substrate) and the Myriad 4, which has a paper substrate.

“We made the decision to purchase the Platemaker 4 based on the positive experience we've had with Xante products,” says Floyd Black, president of Personalized Printing (Carrollton, TX). “In four years of operation, there's never been a moment of downtime on our Platemaker 3.”

Personalized Printing doesn't rely exclusively on paper plates. According to Black, it's easy for press operators to switch between aluminum plates and plates output from the Xante platemaker. “Our press operators print the jobs in the order they were received,” says the exec. “All day long, they go from Myriad 2 to metal and back, so they aren't forced to separate the paper-plate jobs from those running on metal plates.”

Posted in: CTP,Digital Printing,Electrographic Plates,Offset Printing,Pre Press tips