Platemaking on various Xante printers

djnicholsusa

New member
I'm confused about the capabilities of various Xante printers vis-a-vis making laser plates. Can I make plates on an (older) Accel-a-Writer 3G? How about on a ScreenWriter 4? Or do I really need to buy a PlateMaker 5? These printers all look a lot alike to me.
 
Re: Platemaking on various Xante printers

The best and most affordable laser plate system is the HP 5000 or HP 5100. It works well with all laser plates. for more info, contact me at [email protected].
 
Re: Platemaking on various Xante printers

I 've heard the HP 5000 does make a good plate, but if you feel adventurous, watch for a used Xante Platemaker on a site like e-Bay. We found a Plate Maker 4 for half the price of a new 5 and it works just fine.
 
Re: Platemaking on various Xante printers

We've been using an HP5000N for making plates for the last seven years and for much of the time it has worked really well imaging lineart plates--grayscales are OK and screens not so good.

Well the HP5000N finally died and in looking for a reliable replacement we opted for the new Xante Platemaker 5. We Iooked at the HP5100N and although it's a great laser printer that will image laser pates, it is still a four year old machine that is no longer supported by HP; and Hurst, who makes the Smartplate laser plates, has not been able to get the latest HP5200 to image plates well.

Now as for the used stuff out there. Well after struggling the last six months with a dieing HP5000N, we were not going to buy someone else's problems from ebay--even if it's half the price of a new one . It's like Russian Roulette, there is that one chance in six you're going to get the bullet and I did not want to deal with the off chance of getting a bad one from ebay--not much recourse.

Xante makes a very sturdy laser printer and has been doing so for a while, so we chose to buy it new with a warranty, purchasing it through Kelly Paper Company. This we way have leverage should we have issues with Xante. Since we've installed the Platemaker 5 we've had no problems with the plates, they're working really well for imaging plates with lineart. Now grayscales are a little better, but large area screens are still an issue; however, we did NOT purchase it to image grayscales and screens. Xante is working with us to improve the screens, but even if we can't get better screens the Xante has made us much more productive imaging the less critical one and two color work; we have an imagesetter for those critical jobs and in God's timing we'll probably purchase a metal CTP next year to replace the imagesetter.

Now Xante has had a bad rap over the years and some of it deserved. But Xante has been great in customer support and installation with the two printers we purchased (we also got the Ilumina color printer). Some have complained about the phone based installation and support and how unprofessional it seems. People these machines are "hopped up" laser printers and not like the Presstek DPM , Mitsubishi DPX and even Xante's Speedsetters (formely RipIt) which need much more preparation and installation and does require a tech to install. Since they're new machines we have not had any service issues but when I have called about minor issues they have been resolved rather quickly.

Edited by: Jaime Zuniga on Oct 20, 2007 2:55 PM
 
Re: Platemaking on various Xante printers

We previously owned a Platemaker 2 and whenever we needed service or support it was a nightmare and we swore we would NEVER purchase another Xante product. A few years back after a sales person convinced us that Xante service had improved we purchased a Platemaker 4 which was suppose to eliminate 75% of our outside film work. (Trust me when I say that was NOT the case)Shortly after the Platemaker 4 was installed we started having problems with the plates breaking down after only a few impressions, the screens were terrible and even the paper printouts were inferior to our HP5000. We had purchased Xante's service contract which was a complete joke. We would place a call in the morning and if we were lucky someone MIGHT return our call by days end, which really does not help when you have a printing press waiting. On one occassion we waited an entire day for a call back and when the tech finally called, he told our desktop person to read the manual. We did not renew our service contract nor will we ever buy another Xante product. In my opinion, no one should ever buy a product that can not be serviced on site. NO one services Xante products, so you are at their mercy, and there is Absolutely NO urgency on their part to resolve your problem.
 
Laser CtP

Laser CtP

It is worth looking at the OKI 9650 printer using the TechNova Platinum polyester plate.
Cheaper than the Xante and produces an excellent image. Plus it can be used as a standard digital colour printer.
 
computer to plate

computer to plate

does anyone know how to set up hp5000n printer to vista having problems with postscript
 
The Xante platemaker is a dressed up HP5000 engine with a RIP plus some bells and whistles attached.
 
I'm using an HP5000N to make poly plates but the plates are breaking down after 1000 impressions. I used the Rough Paper setting in the print dialogue box to increase the heat in the fuser but it didn't help much! Anyone have an idea what it could be, plates, plate chemicals, toner, anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
HP 5000 setting

HP 5000 setting

1. set the Paper/Quality Media setting to Rough
2. click Advance button select under Graphic; Print Quality to ProRes 1200.

That should do it.

Good luck!

I'm using an HP5000N to make poly plates but the plates are breaking down after 1000 impressions. I used the Rough Paper setting in the print dialogue box to increase the heat in the fuser but it didn't help much! Anyone have an idea what it could be, plates, plate chemicals, toner, anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
OKI 9650 for laser plates

OKI 9650 for laser plates

Hi anyone has experience using OKI 9650 imaging plates wider than 11"? I need to replace my HP5000. The fuser is worn out and will not image wider than 10"... Thanks!

It is worth looking at the OKI 9650 printer using the TechNova Platinum polyester plate.
Cheaper than the Xante and produces an excellent image. Plus it can be used as a standard digital colour printer.
 
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