Imagesetter recommendations

[nwolf]

I am the art director/prepress supervisor for a 40+ employee screen print shop. We produce labels and tight tolerance polycarbonate overlays for machines. We image our films in house on an 18" ECRM capstan imagesetter with a scriptworks 1.5 Harlequin rip circa 1995. We have been experiencing distortion issues due to the age of the pinch roller. The film was slipping and tracking erratically. We stabilized the situation by wrapping rubber tape around the roller for better film contact and compensating for the changed roller diameter in the page setup. Our service tech said that the whole transport system needs to be replaced in order to replace the roller as they changed the design of the transport system. The offset industry has CTP and the screen print industry has CTS which is still expensive and in its infancy so we need to look for an imagesetter than can meet our film size and accuracy needs while we wait for CTS technology to catch up.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
We print mainly spot color separations out of illustrator. We print the occasional 4 color job but generally these go to our indigo.
Our film sizes range from 6x6" to 40". We just purchased two large screen presses with 40" plus image area so the obvious intent of management is to fill the format but we need to maintain good registration. Our rip needs are modest, we do mostly manual trapping in illustrator and just print spot separations. My main concerns are film size and dimensional tolerance.
My first instinct is to go with a used Dolev 800V but I am unsure of what we will do about smaller films or what rip fits our needs without paying for things we won't use.
I apologize for the length of this post or if it is in the wrong forum.
Thanks for your input.

 

[John W]

Re: Imagesetter recommendations

If you can be patient for a few months, I may be able to help you acquire a used 40" Luxel Sumo, probably the best model I've ever used and I have used plenty.
John W

 

[maxon]

Re: Imagesetter recommendations

Nwolf,

It all depends on what film size suits better your production requirements. If more than three quarters of your production volume consists of small job and manually stripping 18 inch wide films is not a concern in terms of labor and time spent it's safer to upgrade your VR45 machine. If you will print larger size jobs and can't afford losing time with stripping, a larger imagesetter is a better option.
Regarding the ECRM, yes you will need to replace the transport system- not so expensive as you might think. The precision drive mechanism is considerably more accurate as it relies on several independent pressure rollers which completely eliminate any sort of tracking/movement during exposure. Quite bulletproof as you well know... probably the most reliable imagesetter ever.
I would suggest you choose a one meter wide imagesetter based not on price but on quality of service and support in your area considering most models are infinitely more complicated than your ECRM and normally require a lot of maintenance especially if previously owned. Fuji Luxel (not Celix) machines would be the first option here, very good quality but overengineered in my opinion, if you have a competent Fuji field engineer in your area then it's ok. Heidelberg large format imagesetters are ok as well. With Scitex dolev you get decent quality and speed but maintenance is tricky, once you lose the software on the internal hard disk you can scrap it.
All large size imagesetters can accommodate smaller rolls into their input cassette, best thing is to have two cassettes at least to avoid replacing the roll inside all the time.

Just my 2c.

 

[nwolf]

Re: Imagesetter recommendations

Maxon,
thanks for the info. Your 2 cents is more valuable than you might think. I think we will need to have the accuracy over the larger image area that a larger format machine provides. We were quoted about 3,000 and change to replace the transport system in our current ECRM. My current thought is to keep the ECRM as is for small output, lets say 12"x18" and purchase a used drum system to provide the accurate registration we need in the larger press formats. We have a small hot stamp press that uses a 9"x9" film size to image the plates and 30 years worth of dies that are based on smaller formats. I would hate to waste a 12"x32 or 36" film for a rush 9x9 or worse yet a 6x6 because we can't wait to gang them up and maximize the yield. We get larger output from an offset printer in the area that has a Dolev. I will contact them about their issues and what they have found as far as service technicians.

 

[Mike Mierjeski]

Re: Imagesetter recommendations

I saw the postings for imagesetter recomendations and am pleased to see that your trustworthy ECRM device has served you well all these years. For those who do not realize it, ECRM is the last standing manufacturer in the USA, (maybe the World?) making imagesetters for the specialty market still needing film.

For sales of new or used, or for repair and support information on your existing ECRM device, you may visit our web site at www.ecrm.com ,or contact your ECRM dealer, or call our Technical Support Dept. at 1-800-537-ECRM.

Mike Mierjeski
Software Business Manager
ECRM Imaging Systems
www.ecrm.com

 

[GinSu]

Re: Imagesetter recommendations

John

I too have a Sumo, it's a great imagesetter. I have two cassettes, one with .004 film and one with .007 and both are 44" wide. With the significant reduction in film output (2001 was 200 feet a day, now is 20 feet a day) but reduced turn around (2001: film first thing tomorrow AM; 2008: Jon emailed a PDF and is on his way to pick up a single piece of 3x3 film), I'm looking for additional cassettes for loading smaller width rolls. It seems like I'm throwing away 10+ inches of unexposed film a couple of times a day. In the past, I switched out film manually (.004 and .004 matte-no longer used) because the money Fuji wanted for an additional cassette cost more than the film lost during the switch (over the course of the year I had to do it).

I haven't talk with the money people yet, but how much would you charge for a cassette? Where would you be shipping it from? Do you have the cassette ID stickers? I've lost mine and while I could fake something, the real deal is always better.

Nothing may come of this, but I doesn't hurt to ask.

Thanks for your time.
GinSu

 

[John W]

Re: Imagesetter recommendations

GinSu,

Of course I will not sell casettes that are needed with the device. If you need em that bad, pay the 4 grand otherwise keep wasting a bit of film. Film's still cheap.

John