Avalon LF violet silver

[razvan]

hi, we just aquired a 2007 Avalon LF Silver, wich does not have such long working hours / plates exposed, but i think the UV laser head is almost to his life end due to bad operating and lack of service. does anyone have/know somewhere a Avalon UV head for replacement and at what cost?
thank you

 

[NPS]

What is the symptom, why do you think it's the laser ?

 

[razvan]

at the printer where we bought the CTP from, the Avalon was used with LAP plates (silver) exposing them with the intensity value of 450. we tried to expose few violet plates (not violet silver) at different laser intensities (500, 550, 580 and 600) and they appear as if there is not enough laser power, although i exposed the plates with the maximum intensity (600) - vertical stripes on the plates. point is: we don't want to be tied to violet silver plates, but to use any violet plate, so i think we may have to change the laser head (this one being towards his end life).

 

[BillJ]

LAP plates use very low power (5mw) lasers. Most other violet plates use 30-60mw lasers. The Avalon may have a more powerful laser and be able to expose other violet plates but a technician would have to remove a filter from the optics. Otherwise you are looking at a very expensive upgrade.

 

[NPS]

I thought that was what was going on. It's set up to use LAP-V plates ( 5 mw)). You need to use those unless the Laser is a 30 MW or above and optics have the filter. The laser will last a very long time - years. If you can open the machine up and find where the laser is and check the label on it, or perhaps there is a laser warning sticker that might show the strength of the laser. ND filter removal shouldn't be too hard. Using the LAP-V or the plate I have is less expensive that changing laser heads. Changing to photopolymer Violet plates will require a different processor, unless you already have one.

 

[razvan]

those in the picture are the only labels i have found on the black box of the Avalon. the one sticked on the box says IOP 85,4 mA BIAS 41,0 mA. theother one on the black cable says VLM, lop 85,4 mA, Align@ 72.20 mA. should i search for other labels?