Is there a successor to the HP 5100?

[ginfay]

I use a HP5100 laserjet to run some very basic plates for easy jobs. Has there ever been a comparable inexpensive CTP made to replace the 5100?

Has anyone ever tried running polyester plates through a high end copier (km6500, xerox 700)? Would it work?

 

[InPlantDan]

I use Hurst Smart Plates through the HP 5100. I buy them by the tens of thousands and run on automated perfectors (Ryobi) as well as AB Dick 9870's/T-Heads. We tried making plates on Konica 7075's and Canon 7105's but had speckling and tracking issues. The Hurst Smart Printing Solution, a Division of Hurst Chemical Company website shows some Okidata printers the recommend but they are more expensive than the HP 5100.

One tip for the Smartplates that we have found invaluable is to "bake" the plates before using. We put them in our shrink wrap heat tunnel and "bake" them for 1-3 minutes depending on how long a run we intend to make and how fine the graphics are. Runs of 3-5,000 are not uncommon with halftones, and runs of 10-20,000 are possible if the copy is just line copy. I have a job of 32 sides of 8.5 x 11 for 7,000 copies and know that they will run just fine.

On the HP 5100's, we have replaced the fusers, feed rollers, and a couple times the electrostatic roller. We love the plates. We use generic toner. In high humidity conditions with both HP/generic cartridges we have to take the toner cartridge out and close it in heavy plastic bag to keep the humdity out or the cartridge does not last very long.

For quick copy for students, for runs of 115 and more, these plates with automated presses beat the socks off of copiers.

Feel free to contact me for further information.

 

[mightyandy]

We always ran our plates through a HP5000 until it eventually died. We were kind of stuck so decided to put a plate through our Xerox DC12 which achieved very pleasing results (so we never replaced the HP). We've been running polyester plates for years without any issue and because of the heat of the fuser we don't bother baking the plates for runs up to 4000 (seems to be alot hotter than our HP).

Although when printing we have to make sure that the plate is printed just with the Black toner by selecting greyscale or extracting any colour information using pitstop pro (the dc12 never seemed to be able to detect greyscale properly.

Since we've used it for years i couldn't see why other copiers couldn't do the same.

 

[Mstrkey]

Dc12

Dc12

How have you managed to get any true halftones out of your DC12? I've tried the same for years without success. Greyscale seems to be the best I can do so I've never used it for making plates. Greyscale comes out pretty crappy on the press.

 

[Massy]

We run TechNova plates on a Xerox DC242. it works only on very short runs (<1000) and only simple line artwork (text and lines). Big fat solid blacks or any other colour and halftones are impossible. Our pressman hates them so much and he wipes them with the same plate cleaner as the one he uses on metal plates, it just destroyes it. Is there any particular plate cleaner we should use for this type of plate and how about the fount solution? Any advice on this matter please? Kind Regards,

 

[Mstrkey]

fuser/toner

fuser/toner

The DC 242 uses the wax encapsulated toner if I remember correctly? Perhaps this is somehow affecting the ability of the toner to fuse properly on the plate? I've seen others run their plates on the lowest toner setting, with the highest stock setting to ensure a good fuse. Maybe that's your problem.

Go with extra heavyweight setting, lighten the toner up and make sure you're on the lowest gloss settings(or whatever it's called). Maybe that will help. I know none of the xerox machines will make true halftones which is a bit silly considering the price.

As for wiping the plates down during setup and such, I would assume just using fountain solution should work fine. Whichever kind your plates require.

 

[easiprint]

We run TechNova plates on our DC250 with good results. We get good run lengths (10,000+). Our DC250 gives much better results than our DC12. Must run on greyscale though or you get all those security dots showing up.

 

[Massy]

Thank you for the replies.

Easiprint, I understand that the 242 and 250 have the same engine. Would you mind me asking what settings do you do on the machine to get good run lengths?
Any success with halftones ?
About the security dots, they become very prominent as soon the ink gets on the plate. We didn't know about them only after a visit by a service engineer.

Regards,

 

[geoman]

I've heard of a guy running Poly plates on a Xerox 700 and getting excellent results. He feeds the plates through the bypass tray and then runs then on a GTO46 - 2 color. He claims registration is very tight. His run lenthsare below 10K, but claims that the plates still look good after removing them. Don't know about the security micro dots being a problem or not.

 

[Mstrkey]

security dots et al

security dots et al

I've heard of a guy running Poly plates on a Xerox 700 and getting excellent results. He feeds the plates through the bypass tray and then runs then on a GTO46 - 2 color. He claims registration is very tight. His run lenthsare below 10K, but claims that the plates still look good after removing them. Don't know about the security micro dots being a problem or not.

Hmm security dots too? Seems like I might just pick up a referbed HP5100 and just give that a shot. Less troublesome and true halftones are nice.

 

[kylejsmith]

We are currently attempting to use the Xerox 700 with the SmartPlates. Our firts test has resulted in a fine ghosting of our image about 4" down the plate. We have it set to uncoated and the thickest GSM. Any suggestions on how to eliminate the ghosting would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[OkiTech]

Hello everyone. Guys we have 2 of HP laserjet 5100 TN printers for sale with really low printcount, this tread being about platemaking on 5100 so please let me know if interested.
I have used HP5000 to make plates for years. if no halftones pumping over 10,000 impressions was never a problem. Being a copier/printer service engineer I figured that printer lays some background shade when i did a second run for baking. I took a new cartridge and never unseal it and used it when passing plate second time - no toner to the drum - not problem.
I am using a JetPlate system now in the manner Epson proposed their CTP - Installed 4880 HDR Ink ink in it and running Epson plates VIA Harleqin rip from Jetplate, utilizing processor as baking / gumming station. Next step - make G&J Platewriter wanna be out of it.