Slip sheets in Fuji Plates.

[Fletch]

We have a Heidelberg Suprasetter 74, owned since 2008, and we've been running the PN plates. Everything ran like a dream. (All things considered) We recently switched to Fuji plates (Processor included) because Heidelberg rates went up very significantly. Ever since we made the switch we have had problems with the Suprasetter 74 picking up the slip sheets between the Fuji plates. Heidelberg has replaced all the suckers and made all possible adjustments. It seems to us that it's probably a 'Humidity' issue. (lack of) The Suprasetter's range for Humidity is a minimum of 40%. We've never been close to that. Most of the time, we're in the 20's, down in the teens in the dead of winter. The slip sheets between the Fuji plates deinately have more 'bulk' or 'body' than the sheets between the PN (Agfa) plates.

The Fuji plates seem to work best, but not as good as the Agfa, when the Humidity is in the 20's. If it drops down below 20, we literally have to remove the slip sheets. However, when it's raining a lot, which is has here in Cincinnati recently, the Humidity jumps into the 30's and the Suprasetter starts acting up again, so bad that we have to remove the slip sheets.

Is there anybody else that is having similar, if not the same issues? What are all the possibilities? I would think the closer we get to 40% Humidity, the better it would run. But, maybe the fluxuations in Humidity are working against us.

 

[RKS]

Put a humidifier in the plating room. We have a R/O Water System for the press that also has a humidification unit too. We keep our pressroom at 40% humidity & the plateroom at 35% humidity. The plateroom also has our two digital presses. This makes everything work very well.

 

[maxon]

Also bear in mind running a platesetter in such a low humidity environment is dangerous for the electronics inside, laser included, regardless of its type/manufacture. ESD events do cost money.

 

[chevalier]

Put a cheap (~$50) humidifier with a knob for humidity control in the CtP room immediately!

Static electric buildup could cause the machine to short and cost you tens of thousands of dollars. The slip sheets are a minor inconvenience that will also be corrected with a humidifier. I've been through a $25,000 repair because of static buildup frying boards inside an imagesetter due to extremely low humidity.

 

[airyk]

We could never get the humidity right with a humidifier, so we stuck a swamp cooler in the wall

 

[Gramann]

Humidity, humidity, humidity.
When selecting a humidifier, it is best to stay away from the ultrasonics. Most of these devices will emit a very fine powder (minerals in the water), this powder will get into even the most sealed areas of your platesetter and give you even more headaches than the low humidity.

 

[Armya Inc]

We have a Heidelberg Suprasetter 74, owned since 2008, and we've been running the PN plates. Everything ran like a dream. (All things considered) We recently switched to Fuji plates (Processor included) because Heidelberg rates went up very significantly. Ever since we made the switch we have had problems with the Suprasetter 74 picking up the slip sheets between the Fuji plates. Heidelberg has replaced all the suckers and made all possible adjustments. It seems to us that it's probably a 'Humidity' issue. (lack of) The Suprasetter's range for Humidity is a minimum of 40%. We've never been close to that. Most of the time, we're in the 20's, down in the teens in the dead of winter. The slip sheets between the Fuji plates deinately have more 'bulk' or 'body' than the sheets between the PN (Agfa) plates.

The Fuji plates seem to work best, but not as good as the Agfa, when the Humidity is in the 20's. If it drops down below 20, we literally have to remove the slip sheets. However, when it's raining a lot, which is has here in Cincinnati recently, the Humidity jumps into the 30's and the Suprasetter starts acting up again, so bad that we have to remove the slip sheets.

Is there anybody else that is having similar, if not the same issues? What are all the possibilities? I would think the closer we get to 40% Humidity, the better it would run. But, maybe the fluxuations in Humidity are working against us.

The problem isn't the Humidity, but the Slip sheets. Measure the Slip sheets and the plates. If the Slip sheets are bigger or smaller than the Plates (~+/-1cm), then the machine will have problem removing the Slipsheets automatically. I have seen this many times with different CTPs included a reliable CTP like Suprasetter 74. My customers were confused over this for months. You can't solve this problem and the problem isn't from the Suprasetter. You can return the plates to the supplier or remove the slip sheets Manually(Which you have been doing that).

You also mentioned Fuji Plates do not work as good as Agfa. The question is weather the Suprasetter 74 Laser has been Aligned for Fuji Plates. There might be Optic Head needs to be maintained and Aligned and the processor has to Optimized for Fuji Plates with the manufacturing recommended chemistry. Your Service Engineer has to check these out.

One Last advise: Do not pass different Plates from different manufacturer in the same chemistry. of-course, you knew this!

Good luck!

 

[VladCanada]

That's a combination of two issues: Fuji slip-sheets and the humidity (and some static as well).
Fudji slip-sheets look more roughly than AGFA ones and they are more porous.
When the humidity is lower than 20%, these pores became more "open", and that fact creates some problem with a paper suction.
AGFA knows that problem and changed the type of suction cups for some devices (yellow cups instead of blue ones in Galileo Plate manager, for instance) or recommended to increase the vacuum in the system.
The simplest solution instead of hardware modification is: to keep recommended value of the humidity in a plate-room.
I've spent 3 years in cold Manitoba (Winterpeg ) as AGFA field serviceman, and every winter that headache came back for many customers.
Cheap homestyle humidifier, installed somewhere inside of the Autoloader system, made that problem gone.

 

[Armya Inc]

That's a combination of two issues: Fuji slip-sheets and the humidity (and some static as well).
Fudji slip-sheets look more roughly than AGFA ones and they are more porous.
When the humidity is lower than 20%, these pores became more "open", and that fact creates some problem with a paper suction.
AGFA knows that problem and changed the type of suction cups for some devices (yellow cups instead of blue ones in Galileo Plate manager, for instance) or recommended to increase the vacuum in the system.
The simplest solution instead of hardware modification is: to keep recommended value of the humidity in a plate-room.
I've spent 3 years in cold Manitoba (Winterpeg ) as AGFA field serviceman, and every winter that headache came back for many customers.
Cheap homestyle humidifier, installed somewhere inside of the Autoloader system, made that problem gone.

<<Cheap homestyle humidifier, installed somewhere inside of the Autoloader system, made that problem gone>>

Good solution Vlad! At least the plate Manager doesn't catch a cold and the plates wouldn't need to take a Flu shot.

 

[VladCanada]

Yeah, Farshad!
And the most important point of the solution - to keep a reasonable value of the humidity to avoid a kind of cancer (a corrosion). So, the cheapest humidifiers without of humidity control system have to be avoided.

 

[Armya Inc]

Yeah, Farshad!
And the most important point of the solution - to keep a reasonable value of the humidity to avoid a kind of cancer (a corrosion). So, the cheapest humidifiers without of humidity control system have to be avoided.

Very good solution for Winnipeg! How about to have the Humidifier in a medium size room and keep the plates there 24 hours before using them.