Good Alternative to the HP Laserjet 5000

[jpfulton248]

We are currently printing with an HP Laserjet 5000 at 85 lpi and then shooting plates on a camera.

We are sick of maintaining our (2nd) aging Laserjet and would like to replace with something new. Are there any alternatives that can print out of acrobat at 85lpi? We are using Windows 7 and the Crackerjack plugin for Acrobat which takes advantage of the 5000 specific PPD and the 5000 specific postscript driver. I think a model-specific postscript driver and model-specific ppd file are necessary for our setup.

Anybody have any knowledge/experience with replacing a 5000 but keeping the same workflow? Thanks.

 

[dabob]

Your HP5000 could be a direct to plate device if your running duplicators. . . we got one just for that it replaced our silver master plate maker camera . . . . better results all over . . .

 

[jpfulton248]

We are running a duplicator and we've made 2 attempts, 3 years apart from one another but never got the laser plates working. There's a thread about it on here somewhere but long story short our pressman who is our only pressman and has worked at my company for 25 years is either unwilling or unable to make them work. He has grown accustomed to using a plate inserter and the laser plates won't work with it so that means punching and manually hanging (like a million other press operators do). Once he gets them on he can't consistently get good image quality. Hard to remember exactly what the problems were. Eventually we gave up both times. It infuriates me but I got sick of pushing him to do it.
I want to get a used ctp platesetter but only want to pay $3k or less. Not sure if that's possible.
In the meantime we are just looking for a way to keep doing what we are doing but with a printer that isn't quite as long in the tooth.

 

[David Milisock]

We are currently printing with an HP Laserjet 5000 at 85 lpi and then shooting plates on a camera.

We are sick of maintaining our (2nd) aging Laserjet and would like to replace with something new. Are there any alternatives that can print out of acrobat at 85lpi? We are using Windows 7 and the Crackerjack plugin for Acrobat which takes advantage of the 5000 specific PPD and the 5000 specific postscript driver. I think a model-specific postscript driver and model-specific ppd file are necessary for our setup.

Anybody have any knowledge/experience with replacing a 5000 but keeping the same workflow? Thanks.

A​re you saying that you still want to use a laser output device and shoot with a camera?

 

[jpfulton248]

A​re you saying that you still want to use a laser output device and shoot with a camera?

When you put it that way it sounds a lot dumber but yes for now. Like I said before I'd really like to just like to get a platesetter that uses silvermaster plates.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

When you put it that way it sounds a lot dumber but yes for now. Like I said before I'd really like to just like to get a platesetter that uses silvermaster plates.

This is probably the best source for a speedsetter, which is IMO the way to go for duplicators (not a Xante Platemaker 4, 5 or 6 or a HP 3800 that is configured to image to metal plates).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RIP-it-Spee...805?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c6e9ca5a5

 

[jpfulton248]

I was thinking a used Mitsubishi DPM which I think works with our current plate material which is the paper backed MEGA Silver Master. Actually PricelineNegotiator I noticed a thread where you mention having a DPM 2340, any input on this?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I was thinking a used Mitsubishi DPM which I think works with our current plate material which is the paper backed MEGA Silver Master. Actually PricelineNegotiator I noticed a thread where you mention having a DPM 2340, any input on this?

It was a dud. We got our money back on the sale of the machine. I have no opinion on the plate maker other than it weighed a lot moving in and out of the shop. It's probably a pretty nice machine if you have the software to drive it, which I know nothing about. I do know that the Speedsetter 300E does a great job currently for our 3302.

 

[dabob]

Heres a PrintPlanet thread that addresses the HP5000 - polyester plate adventure . . . like I said it works for us:

http://printplanet.com/forum/prepre...discussion/14228-polyester-plates-and-printer