The first direct imaging press (DI) sold in the world was GTO-DI in Heidelberg. This was in 1994. Now that this machine is no longer manufactured, it gives people a signal that printing jobs will become Shorter and shorter, and gave the offset printing press an opportunity to challenge digital printing. The main manufacturers of digital presses are Xeikon and Indigo. A questionnaire on the GTO-DI user manual indicates that about 54% of the jobs are between 500-10,000 sheets and 40% of the jobs are between 100-500. From there, it will feel the unstoppable development of the printing market towards the short version.
Heidelberg's Quickmaster DI 46-4 is the world's most successful and profitable (for both Heidelberg and customers) direct imaging presses. In recent years, many manufacturers have entered the direct imaging market.
Currently available system prices range from $350,000 to $1.5 million, and the format size ranges from 2 pages to 8 pages. Both traditional dampening and waterless offset printing are available, and the range of plates that they handle is also similar. Small format printers are generally targeted at the 500-5000 printed sheets market, while 4- and 8-page printers are mainly used for printing 1000-40000 sheets. For example: Komori's Project D has the ability to print 100-40000 sheets, and the company recommends that it be more economical to print 20,000 sheets.
As we have defined, direct imaging is a front-end system. It is mainly used to process prepress data, and these data are directly imaged on various units of the press. Direct imaging presses are shorter in print preparation time than traditional plate imaging and CTP system imaging. And the direct imaging registration accuracy is high, reducing waste.
Now that no printing plates are used, the technology of imaging directly on the rollers has entered the practical stage and should become very mature and widely used in the near future.
Listed below are the major manufacturers of direct imaging presses and some of the key parameters.
1. Manufacturer: Adast. Models: Dominant 705CDI, Model 745cDI, 745C PDI, 755CDI, 755CPDI/4-color and 5-color, double-sided or single-sided waterless printing. Web size: 19 1/16 x 6 inches/minute, paper size 12-14 x 13 inches in front, 13 x 13 inches on the opposite side. Imaging Head: Presstex's IR laser diode, with 32 diodes per plate, with a laser wavelength of 830 nm. Front End: PressteX Pearl Server/Harlequin RIP. Imaging speed / resolution: According to the different resolution, such as 1016dpi, 1270dpi, 2032dpi. 2540dpi, imaging time is between 5-15 minutes. Rated speed: 10000sph per hour. Plate/Ink: Presstex.
2. Manufacturer: Hmdelberg. Model: Qmckmaster DI46-4, 4-color and 5-color, double-sided or single-sided waterless printing. Web size: 181/8×13 3/8 inches. Imaging Head: Presstex's IR Laser Diode. Front End: Digital Alpha Workstation 2000, Harlequin Postscript RIP2, and PDF support. Imaging Speed/Resolution: Imaging time is 6 minutes for 1270 dpi and 2540 dpi. Rated speed: 10000sph per hour. Plates / Inks: Presstex PEARLdry Plate / Fast Dry Offset Ink.
3. Manufacturer: Heidelberg. Models: Speedmaster 74DI, 4-color, 5-color or 6-color, with or without in-line coating, double-sided printing, alcohol dampening system. Web size: 21 x 29.125 inches.
Imaging head: Creo/Scitex imaging unit, laser head 40 watts. Front end: Delta technology, CreoScitex Prinergy with Adobe Postscript3 and PDF. Imaging speed/resolution: 2400dpi every 3.5 minutes, using CreoScitex Squarespot, resolution up to 2001pi. Rated speed: 15,000 sph per hour. Plates/inks: Hot/offset inks from different manufacturers.
4. Manufacturer: Karat Dieital Press. Model: 74 Karat, 4-color single-sided printing. Web size: 29.1 x 20 inches. Imaging Head: Creo/Scitex 830 nm laser diode array with 32 beams. Front end: Creo/Scitex Brisque. Imaging Speed/Resolution: 1524-3556dpi imaging is done in 15 minutes with a dot size of 10 microns. Rated speed: 10000sph per hour. Plates/inks: Presstex PEARLdry plate/modified anhydrous ink.
5. Manufacturer: Komori. Model: Project D. Web size: 283/8n 40 9/16 inches. Imaging Head: Creo/Scitex 830 nm laser head. Front End: Creo/Scitex Prinergy workstation or system that can generate 1-bit TIFF data. Connect via Komori Do Net DigitalOpen Architecture Networrk. Imaging speed/resolution: The imaging speed is within 4 minutes and the resolution is 2400 dpi. Rated rate: 16,000 sph per hour. Plates/inks: Plates without development, Thermolite plates from Agfa.
6. Manufacturer: Ryobi. Model: 3404DI/4 color waterless printing, single-sided. Web size: 13.39 x 18.11 inches. Imaging Head: Presstex Profire. Front-end: RIP compatible with Postscript. Imaging speed/resolution: 1270 dpi. The speed was 2.5 minutes; at 2540 dpi, the imaging speed was 5.5 minutes. Rated speed: 1500-7000sph per hour. Plate/Ink: Presstex PEARLdry.
7. Manufacturer: Sakurai. Model: Oliver474EPIIDI, four-color printing can be DI or traditional printing press, next will introduce 5 color, 6 color model products. Web size: 29 inches. Imaging Recording Head: Presstex. Front end: Presstex. Imaging speed/resolution: TBA. Rated speed: TBA. Plate/Ink: Presstex PEARLgold.
8. Manufacturer: Screen. Model: TruePress 544 / four-color, single-sided, with a traditional dampening system. Web size: 18.1 x 14.3 inches. Imaging Head: Screen 633 nm laser diode. Front-end: HC-110 controller/Postscript3RIP under Windows NT; Postscript, PDF1.3 and 1-bit TIFF and CIP3PPF from TaigaSPACE and Trueflow are supported. Imaging speed/resolution: 1500-3000 dpi/1501pi and 1751 pi. Rated speed: 3200sph, can be floating up and down 1500sph for short live. Plate/ink: Flexible polyester printing plate.
9. Manufacturer: Screen. Model: TruePress 744 / four-color, optional two-sided, with a traditional dampening system. Web size: 28.7 x 20.4 inches. Imaging Recording Head: Screen. Front end: HC-210-P controller. Imaging speed/resolution: 1200dpi/2400dpi. Rated speed: 8000sph. Plate/ink: Flexible polyester printing plate.
1O. Manufacturer: Xerox. Models: DocuColor4000 DI-4; 400 DI-5 / 4 colors, 5 colors / waterless printing. Web size: 15 x 20.5 inches. Imaging Recording Head: Presstex. Front end: Presstex with Xerox DigiPath software. Imaging speed/resolution: 1270 dpi/2.5 minutes, 2540 dpi/5 minutes, up to 200 lpi. Rated speed: 12000sph. Plate/Ink: Presstex PEARLdry.
11. Manufacturer: Xerox. Model: DocuColor233DI-4; 4-color waterless printing, single-sided. Web size: 13.39 x 18.11 inches. Imaging Head: Presstex Profire. Front-end: RIP compatible with Postscript. Imaging speed/resolution: 1270 dpi/2.5 minutes, 2540 dpi/5.5 minutes, up to 200 lpi. Rated speed: 1500-7000sph. Plate/Ink: Presstex PEARLdry.