Platedriver 8 service manual

[nabeel]

Dear All,

since we can not find any support any more for Platedrive 8 (esko-graphics CTP) in our area or nearby (ME), and having some problems in focus calibration, so if anyone got the service manual or any advises about the procedures would by appreciated.

regards
Nabeel

[Slammer]

Dear All,

since we can not find any support any more for Platedrive 8 (esko-graphics CTP) in our area or nearby (ME), and having some problems in focus calibration, so if anyone got the service manual or any advises about the procedures would by appreciated.

regards
Nabeel

I have one somewhere, may need a bit to find it though, what seems to be the problem?

[eskopdl]

Here's the link to the contacts for EskoArtwork support. Give them a call. ------>EskoArtwork Support Services - EskoArtwork

[nabeel]

I have one somewhere, may need a bit to find it though, what seems to be the problem?

Dear Slammer,

The main problem is that they don’t got run-length not more than 60000.
We checked almost everything with processor and fountain and any other press chemicals.
And got some enhancement, but still too far of the good quality results and properly run-length.
here some informations about my customer situation:
1- They print AGFA polymer plates (N91), chemical PL10 also by AGFA.
sizes: 1- 676 X 740 2- 785 X 1030 3- 790 X 1030 .
2- The spinner mirror are cleaned frequently by the operator.
3- The operator confirmed that the please are quite fixed on the drum.
4- The filter is cleand.
6- The processor: is Polymer RAPTOR from G&J the brushes are fine I checked them all, also we checked by the Temp. strip test as well.
We also got the Ugra Plate Control Wedge 1982 to check the exposure power and found that it need some more power, but we didn’t increase it.
Do you think that we need to go through focus or plate calibration procedures?
if yes, so I need service manual for that.

regards

[Slammer]

Sorry for the late reply but I have been away at customers for a bit.
AGFA N91 would that be the N91V (violet) by any chance?
I am not familiar with the N91 series per se, but I remember that there was a issue with the Platedrivers laser and photopolymer plates. From 2004 onwards the Platedriver was supplied with a 40 mw laser but there was a earlier batch with a laser in the 15 to 20 mw range, designed for aluminium based plates, the low powered laser was a major reason for runtime problems on photopolymer plates the way you discribe.
Maybe check the devices laser output ratings first, should be on the yellow label on the laserunit.
For the focus, most Esko tech-weanies, myself included, tended to disable the focus after settung up the unit, that way the machine would always stay in focus after POST (power on self test) as the focus motor would sometimes jam when it cycled through initalization.
Reading that the customer cleans the mirror themselves always makes my skin crawl, the silver coating on the mirror is very, very and I can not state it enough, very fragile.
So fragile in fact that when spinnig the air molecules are enough to blind the mirror after a few years operation, or when operated in a dusty enviroment, a few months, this degrades the lasers output on plate by a hell of a lot.
Another thing to watch out for is the iris inside the optic housing, the blades tend to snarl, again some techs disabled the irises motor, resolution changes was a bitch though but with remote accesss the guys could intervene without problems.
A false setting or a jammed iris would also degrade the lasers power.
To check this you could take the cap of the optic house and unscrew the fiber (need I say wth utmost care) use a strip lamp inside the drum for illumianation and take a peek through the fiber connector you will see either a perfect iris, like in a camera lens or a jumbled set of blades also you will see if the spinner is uniform silvery or if it is blemished.
Focus was never too much of a problem if it had been set up correctly so that would be my second thing to check.

Hoped to have helped a bit. Have fun and may the force be with you.

[aluna_777]

For the experts on this machine, I need some help.
Our machine had some trouble with the encoders, after replacing them the cylinder moves but
doesn't recognize the plate size, it thinks it is a little bigger.
I mean, we select the correct plate size, introduce the plate but the system errors out saying it is bigger.

Any help or service manual would be greatly appreciated.