Commercial Printing Options
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This document provides an overview of different printing technologies and processes. It discusses 9 main types of printing including offset lithography, engraving, thermography, reprographics, digital printing, letterpress, screen printing, flexography, and gravure. For each type, it provides 1-3 sentences describing the basic process. It then goes into more detail on offset printing, flexography, letterpress, engraving, thermography, and how a laser printer works.
Commercial Printing Options
- 2. Let’s Watch How It Works … • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gEEaFT5 z84&list=PL9EC96E5ADAC7FCF1 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUlBueqS tg4
- 3. 9 types of printing Offset lithography Engraving - think fine stationery Thermography - raised printing, used in stationery Reprographics - copying and duplicating Digital printing - limited now, but the technology is exploding Letterpress - the original guttenberg process (hardly done anymore) Screen - used for t- shirts and billboards Flexography - usually used on packaging, such as can labels Gravure - used for huge runs of magazines and direct-mail catalogs
- 4. Offset printing. • Also known as offset lithography. • Its relatively inexpensive and prints very well. • What is the off-set printer based on? • That water and oil repel each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss5soAuolks&list=PL9EC96E5ADAC7FCF1
- 5. Offset Printing • Plates are used to hold the ink and water prevents the ink from running onto the spaces where ink should not be. • It is transferred to a rubber blanket. • The image is then off-set from the blanket to the paper. • Why do they use a rubber blanket instead of just printing to the paper.
- 6. Flexography 1.Used to print on flexible material such as plastic bags, which would be torn apart in an off set printer. 2.Uses soft plate and prints plate to surface. 3.The ink is relatively thin and dries quickly on non-porous materials such as plastic and foil.
- 7. Letterpress 1.Originated in Asia using individual letters made of clay. 2.Gutenberg developed the process in Germany using characters molded from lead. (Where the leading came from) 3.Characters on the plate are higher than the material surrounding them. 4.Rubber stamps work on the same principle.
- 8. Engraving 1.Images are cut into the metal plate rather than raised above the plate like letterpress. 2.The surface of the plate is covered with ink, then wiped clean, leaving the engravings full of ink. 3.The press then forces paper into the inked recesses, transferring the image to the surface of the paper. 4.Engraved paper feels slightly indented behind its image areas.
- 9. Thermography or raised printing 1.Can be produced more quickly then engraving and to the untrained eye looks and feels similar. 2.Thermography is a four-stage process that begins with offset printing using inks that dry slowly. 3.Next the sheets are sprayed with a fine resin powder which sticks to the wet ink 4.Then a vacuum unit collects the powder that didn’t stick to the ink 5.Finally a heating unit melts the remaining powder into the ink. The powder swells as it melts, so the printing rises above the surface of the paper
- 10. Laser printer • Cleaning-The drum is cleaned of any residual toner and electrical charge. • Conditioning-The drum (which is as wide as a sheet of paper) is conditioned to contain a high electrical charge. • Writing-A laser beam discharges a lower charge to only those places where toner is to go. • Developing-Toner is placed on the drum where the charge has been reduced. • Transferring-A strong electrical charge draws the toner off the drum onto the paper. • Fusing- Heat and pressure fuse the toner to the paper.