AB dick plates one-color

[thew92]

We have an old AB offset press. And we are looking at new ways of getting plate for the press we only make about 4 plates a month. Is there a company out there that will make the plates for you if you send them a PDF file?

[UnlimitedBT]

Hi, It is really complicated to imagine justifying any kind of device to make 4 plates per month but...
Least expencive would be HP LaserJet 5000 or 5100 with any laser poly-plates. We had used this set-up for a really long time with good resaults. Printer/Cartridge must be kept at excellent to great condition (no room for OK) and properly set would give 3-5K implressions with halftones and 12K+ with just solids. We actually use Xante laser plates. Lately even with better resaults we use OKI ES-3640 machine which is same engine as C9800 and Xante Ilumina. But like I mentioned above, even nice HP 5100 will cost about $500-600 for 4 plates per month... Spending even this little, I am not sure it make sence.
If you deside to go for it anyway, let me know, I will share a couple of Must-do tips.

[sallak]

i print on trace paper then expose the metal plate, if i get any problem with my exposure unit, i just go to any other printshop in my area, they'll expose it with no problems

[Mel H]

To tell you the truth in my opinion, If you are only making 4 plates a month...I would get rid of the press. What type of work are you printing? Plus Poly plates are not that expensive...you will make the cost in a job as long as you charge a setup fee.

[dabob]

Where are you located? We make plates for a few of the smaller printers in our area. We image them on GTO 52 size plates on our prosetter and then cut them down and punch them for the abdick isn't too hard to figure out if you think about it.

[thew92]

We are located in the Dallas Tx area.
We have a few larger jobs that we run on the press. Since we only we a few every month we would prefer just to outsource the platemaking than get out all the chemicals and stuff necessary to make the plates.
We have a AB Dick 8820. With aluminum plates.

[dabob]

I would try some of the medium sized printers in your area that have gone direct to plate and work out a template for imaging your plates. Here is a link to some I found on the web

Prepress Services - Dallas

[ciara1987]

you can by a Kimosetter410.It is fit the POD one colour print.