Problem with Creo Lotem

[TomPrint]

Hello colleagues:

Our small print shop bought a CTP used a few weeks ago, especially to deal with emergencies, because outsourcing the printing plates took us too long to arrive (24-48h).
It is a Creo Lotem 800 II of the year 2003. At first everything worked correctly but now it makes some vertical lines (see photo). The lines are about 2 mm thick (0.08 ")
The installation company did not connect us the aspiration of laser dust, said it was not important. We buy the air pipe and install it but the vacuum cleaner does not work. Where is the operation of the vacuum cleaner configured?
Is it normal that we can not access the "setup tables" menu?
Have we had bad luck with CTP? or was the problem caused by the absence of the vacuum cleaner?
We have no guarantee
Is there an economic solution? We have not talked to the installer yet.
Does anyone have a maintenance book for this machine?

Thanks in advance

 

[TomPrint]

Can someone help us? Please
We would appreciate knowing if this failure is due to the absence of the dust extractor or due to bad luck, since it was his turn to break the laser

Thank you

 

[gordo]

This is speculation, either a laser has failed or it needs beam balancing. I doubt that it has anything to do with dust removal. You need a tech to service it.

 

[PeterW]

It seems that your CtP Lotem 800 II uses a TH-2 laser head, as in oppose to a LDA (laser diodes). Please confirm.
It this is the case, the "setup tables" menu will be dimmed, because all the setup is done inside the TH-2 laser head.
The "aspiration" device called UDRC, has to be connected and configured via a special signal cable.
The vertical lines (banding) may be caused by the following:
1. fogged optics on the laser head, as some plates indeed create a lot of debris during the imaging process (to check if this the case, please consult with the plate manufacturer)
2. problem with your TH-2 laser head
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments.

 

[Towertech]

Hi everyone specially to Peter , Regard fro Puerto Rico

I agreed with Peter about this case using high ablative plates cause a lot of mechanical optical problem from recording head transport to mirror and imaging partial blind due to contamination I really recommend total Optic PM.

 

[Magnus59]

We had a problem almost identical to this on our Magnus 400 Quantum last year. After several attempts to re-calibrate the head with little improvement, Kodak replaced the laser head. We are on full service contract, I dread to think what the cost would be to replace it out of contract.

 

[Towertech]

Excellent.... you know how to do it , this all about the forum!!