OFFSET Printing

2AD-6 Members: Alfonso Budol Cajayon De Guzman De Mesa Gascon Geneta Kim Mendoza Sabado

What is Offset Printing?

GENERAL INFORMATION

Bertha

 Used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called "fountain solution"), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free. Development of the offset press came in two versions: in 1875 by Robert Barclay of England for printing on tin, and in 1903 by Ira Washington Rubel of the United States for printing on paper.

 The most common printing process in current use is offset printing. Todays businesses, including publishers and newspapers, depend on the consistent reliability of offset printing. This method is even more impressive when combined with new advances in lithog raphic techniques. The only real threat to its continued dominance in the printing industry is the development of digital technology. The process used in offset printing is simple.

 One of the impressive things about offset printing is that there are a variety of mediums onto which you can transfer images like paper, r ubber, fabric, and wood. Quality images can even be applied to leather and metal using offset printing.

History

Karel

 created to be a low cost method of reproducing artwork . limited to use on flat, porous surfaces because the printing plates were produced from limestone.

 the word 'lithog raph means "an image from stone." first rotary offset lithographic printing press was created in England and patented in 1875 by Robert Barclay. Richard March Hoes 1843 rotary printing pressa press that used a metal cylinder instead of a flat stone.

 The offset cylinder was covered with specially treated cardboard that transferred the printed image from the stone to the surface of the metal. Later, the cardboard covering of the offset cylinder was changed to rubber. 19th century closed and photography captured favor, many lithographic firms went out of business. (photo engravingprocess that used halftone technology instead of illustration.) Ira Washington Rubel of New Jersey, were using the lowcost lithograph process to produce copies of photographs and books. Rubel discovered in 1901by forgetting to load a sheet that when printing from the rubber roller, instead of the metal, the printed page was clearer and sharper

 the Potter Press printing Company in New York produced a press in 1903. By 1907 the Rubel offset press was in use in San Francisco. The Harris Automatic Press Company also created a similar press around the same time. Charles and Albert Harris modeled their press on a rotary letter press machine.

Printing Press in the Philippines

The first printing press in Southeast Asia was set up in the Philippines by the Spanish in 1593. The Rev. Jose Glover brought the first printing press to England's American colonies in 1638.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Cyrus

Advantages
Consistent high image quality. (Produces sharp and clean images and type more easily than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface.) Quick and easy production of printing plates. Longer printing plate life than on direct litho presses. (No direct contact between the plate and the printing surface. Properly developed plates running in conjunction with optimized inks and fountain solution may exceed run lengths of a million impressions.)

 Cost. cheapest method to produce high quality printing in commercial printing quantities. the possibility to adjust the amount of ink on the fountain roller with screw keys.

Disadvantages
Slightly inferior image quality compared to rotogravure or photogravure printing. Propensity for anodized aluminum printing plates to become sensitive (due to chemical oxidation) and print in non-image/background areas when developed plates are not cared for properly.

 Time and cost associated with producing plates and printing press setup. As a result, very small quantity printing jobs are now moving to digital offset machines.

The Process

Jael and Hannah

VIDEOS

 First, writers, editors and designers participate in the creative process. Printers take that creative work and turn it into the publications you read every day. Printing is a fascinating process involving huge high-speed machines, 2,000-pound rolls of paper, computers, metal plates, rubber blankets and sharp knives. Offset lithography, the most commonly used printing process, and detail the three production steps: pre-press, press r un and bindery.

 Workhorse of printing. But the quality of the final product is often due to the guidance, expertise and equipment provided by the printer. Offset lithography works on a very simple principle: ink and water don't mix. Images (words and art) are put on plates, which are dampened first by water, then ink. The ink adheres to the image area, the water to the nonimage area. Then the image is transferred to a rubber blanket, and from the rubber blanket to paper. That's why the process is called "offset" -- the image does not go directly to the paper from the plates, as it does in gravure printing.

Sample time machine concept drawing in pencil

The Creative Process

Every print piece starts with the creative process. Writers, editors, graphic designers and artists are the initial step in the creation of magazines, newspapers, brochures, flyers, catalogs and other print pieces. Once the text has been developed, graphics are created. Nearly every illustration is developed as original art exclusively for the magazine. Many "e-meetings" between the author, illustrator and director of design move the work from conceptual drawings to final art.

Final color drawing

 When each article is written, edited and approved with final art, the pieces are sent electronically to the director of graphic design for page layout. The director determines what page a story will appear on, where art will be in relation to words and, in some publications, where advertising will appear. Often, there are difficult decisions to make about how best to fit the pieces of art and text into very limited space. As in the making of a movie, some materials must be left on the "cutting room floor." Finally, after the layout of every page has been completed, edited and proofread, a digital "printer's file" is created for the entire document. This is usually done by burning a CD, but can also be done with Zip files or File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

The Printing Process

There are nine main types of printing processes: offset lithog raphy - what we are exploring in this article eng raving - think fine stationery thermog raphy - raised printing, used in stationery process (hardly done anymore) reprog raphics - copying and duplicating digital printing - limited now, but the technology is exploding letter press - the original Guttenberg screen - used for T-shirts and billboards f lexog raphy - usually used on packaging, such as can labels g ravure - used for huge runs of magazines and direct-mail catalogs

Color negatives are "stripped" together for each page.

Step One: Pre-press Production

Before the job can be printed, the document must be converted to film and "plates. Film negatives are created from digital files. Images from the negatives are transferred to printing plates in much the same way as photographs are developed. A measured amount of light is allowed to pass through the film negatives to expose the printing plate. When the plates are exposed to light, a chemical reaction occurs that allows an ink-receptive coating to be activated. This results in the transfer of the image from the negative to the plate.

A blue-line print is made from "stripped-up" negatives and is used to check image position before printing.

 There are different materials for plates, including paper (which produces a lower-quality product). The best plate material is aluminum, which is more costly. Each of the primary colors -- black, cyan (blue), magenta (red), and yellow -- has a separate plate. Even though you see many, many colors in the finished product, only these four colors are used (you'll also hear this called the four-color printing process -- it's a little like the three-color process used in television).

We'll talk more about this later as we explore color and registration control.

Festoons are a series of rollers used to adjust tension before and after the splice from a small, fast-turning roll of paper to a large, slow-turning roll of paper.

Step Two: The Press Run

The printing process used to print is called web offset lithography. The paper is fed through the press as one continuous stream pulled from rolls of paper. Each roll can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds (1 ton). The paper is cut to size after printing. Offset lithography can also be done with pre-cut paper in sheetfed presses. Web presses print at very high speeds and use very large sheets of paper. Press speeds can reach up to 50,000 impressions per hour. An impression is equal to one full press sheet (38 inches x 22 and three-fourths inches)

 Even when a 1-ton roll of paper runs out, the presses do not stop rolling. Rolls can be spliced together as the web press is running by using festoons. Festoons are a series of rollers that extend up into a tower. A few moments prior to the splice occurring, the festoons will move up into the tower, pulling in large amounts of paper. At the moment the splice occurs, the rolls of paper stop rotating for a split second, at which point the paper is taped together automatically. As the newly spliced roll begins to pick up speed, the festoons begin to drop out of the tower at a rate predetermined by the speed at which the press is operating. The press operator never has to adjust the press controls during this operation.

 The press has to maintain a constant balance between the force required to move the paper forward and the amount of backpressure (resistance) that allows the paper to remain tight and flat while traveling through the equipment. The Inking Process Ink and water do not mix -- this is the underlying principle of offset lithography. The ink is distributed to the plates through a series of rollers. On the press, the plates are dampened, first by water rollers, then ink rollers. The rollers distribute the ink from the ink fountain onto the plates.

Close-up of rollers. The top series of rollers transfers the yellow ink to the rubber "blanket" cylinder (bottom roller), and then to the paper that is passing horizontally under the "blanket."

The Offset Process

The image area of the plate picks up ink from the ink rollers. The water rollers keep the ink off of the nonimage areas of the plate. Each plate then transfers its image to a rubber blanket that in turn transfers the image to the paper. The plate itself does not actually touch the paper -- thus the term "offset" lithography. All of this occurs at an extremely high speed. The paper is left slightly wet by all of the ink and water being applied. Obviously, there is a risk of the ink smudging. The smudging is avoided by having the paper pass through an oven. The oven is gas fired, and the temperature inside runs at 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (176 to 206 degrees Celsius).

The paper is run through a long oven at about 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius). This dries (sets) the ink so it won't smudge.

 Immediately after leaving the oven, the paper is run through a short series of large metal rollers that have refrigerated water flowing through them. These chill rollerscool the paper down instantly and set the ink into the paper. If this were not done, the ink would rub off on your fingers.

Color and Registration Control

Color and registration control is a process that is aided by the use of computers. Registration is the alignment of the printing plates as they apply their respective color portion of the image that is being printed. If the plates do not line up perfectly, the image will appear out of focus and the color will be wrong. A computer takes a video image of registration marks that have been placed on the press sheet. Each plate has its own individual mark. The computer reads each of these marks and makes adjustments to the position of each plate in order to achieve perfect alignment. All of this occurs many times per second while the press is running at full speed.

The RCS (Register Control System) provides constant adjustment of the press. The computer works in concert with a strobe light and video camera to constantly process information about color registration. Incredibly small adjustments, measured in the 1,000ths of inches, are automatically made to the color rollers to ensure proper registration.

 Color control is a process that involves the way in which the ink blends together, and is tied closely to the plate registration. The amount of ink that is released into the units depends on how much ink is needed to achieve a desired look. The ink is adjusted via the control panel that is part of the overall control console. Prior to being placed on the press, the plates are scanned and the data is then transferred to a micro cassette. This serves as the "master" that directs the release of ink to pre-set values.

The web offset press that prints How Stuff Works Express is 115 feet long and weighs 500,000 lbs -- more than 150 Toyota Camrys! The process starts with a huge roll of paper that is fed through four banks of rollers. Each roller adds one color at a time, starting with black, then cyan (blue), magenta (red) and finally yellow.

Press speeds can run up to 50,000 impressions per hour.

Print quality is checked frequently by the press operator.

The "stitcher" gathers, assembles and staples the magazines (called books) before they are sent for final trimming. This bank of 14 units can process about 9,000 books per hour!

Step Three: Bindery

The bindery is where the printed product is completed. The huge rolls of now-printed paper are cut and put together so that the pages fall in the correct order. Pages are also bound together, by staples or glue, in this step of the process. a machine called a stitcher takes the folded printed paper (called press signatures) and collates them together. Then stitches (staples) are inserted into the signatures, binding them together.

 The final components in the stitcher machine are the knives, which trim the paper to the final delivered size. The product is then ready to be shipped to the end destination.

TYPES

Photo Offset

Jessica

 The most common kind of offset printing is derived from the photo offset process, which involves using lightsensitive chemicals and photographic techniques to transfer images and type from original materials to printing plates. In current use, original materials may be an actual photographic print and typeset text. Offset lithographic printing on to a web (reel) of paper is commonly used for printing of newspapers and magazines for high speed production.

Ink is transferred from the ink duct to the paper in several steps : 1. The ink duct roller delivers ink from the ink duct to the ink pyramid. Also called the 'Ink Train'. 2. The ductor roller, sometimes called a vibrator roller due to its rapid back and forth motion, transfers ink from the duct roller to the first distribution roller. It is never in contact with both rollers at the same time. 3. The distribution rollers evenly distribute the ink. The first distribution roller picks up the ink from driving rollers, and the last distribution rollers transfer the ink to the form rollers.

4. The transfer rollers transfer ink between the inkabsorbing and ink-delivering driving rollers. 5. Driving rollers roll against the distribution rollers and either absorb or deliver ink, depending on their placement. 6. Ink form rollers transfer ink from the last distribution rollers on to the printing plate. 7. The printing plate transfers the ink to the offset cylinder(typically called blanket cylinder) usually covered with a rubber 'blanket'. 8. The paper is then pressed against the blanket cylinder by the impression cylinder, transferring the ink onto the paper to form the printed image.

Types of paper feed

Louise

Sheet-fed litho
refers to individual sheets of paper or paperboard being fed into a press via a suction bar that lifts and drops each sheet onto place. A lithographic ("litho" for short) press uses principles of lithography to apply ink to a printing plate, as explained previously. Sheet-fed litho is commonly used for printing of short-run magazines, brochures, letter headings, and general commercial (jobbing) printing.

Web-fed litho
refers to the use of rolls (or "webs") of paper supplied to the printing press. Examples of web printing include newspapers, newspaper inserts/ads, magazines, catalogs, and books. Web-fed presses are divided into two general classes: "cold" or "non-heatset," and "heatset" offset web presses, the difference being how the inks that are used dry. Cold web offset printing dries through absorption into the paper, while heatset utilizes drying lamps or heaters to cure or "set" the inks. Heatset presses can print on both coated (slick) and uncoated papers, while coldset presses are restricted to uncoated paper stock, such as newsprint. Some coldset web presses can be fitted with heat dryers, or ultraviolet lamps (for use with UV-curing inks)

Web-fed versus sheet-fed (photo offset)

Sheet-fed presses offer several advantages. Because individual sheets are fed though, a large number of sheet sizes and format sizes can be run through the same press. Waste sheets can be used for make-ready which allows for lower cost makereadies, so that good paper is not wasted while setting up the press, for plates & inks (waste sheets do bring some disadvantages as often there are dust, offset powder particles that transfer on to the blankets and plate cylinders, thereby creating imperfections on the printed sheet in the form of "hickies"). Web-fed presses, on the other hand, are much faster than sheet-fed presses, with speeds in excess of 20,000 cut-offs per hour.

Types of commercial offset processes

Louise

Perfecting press
also known as a duplex press can print on both sides of the paper at the same time.Web and sheet-fed offset presses are similar in that many of them can also print on both sides of the paper in one pass, making it easier and faster to print duplex.

Offset duplicators
Small offset lithographic presses that are used for fast, good quality reproduction of one- and two-color copies in sizes up to 12 by 18. Popular models were made by A.B. Dick, Multilith, and the Chief and Davidson lines made by A.T.F./Davidson. They are able to print business forms, letterheads, labels, bulletins, postcards, envelopes, folders, reports, and sales literature.

Sheet-fed offset

Bertha

 popular method of printing and can be found in many small and large printing plants. Individual sheets of substrate are fed through the press and printed by the process of offset lithography. Lithography is a planographic process in which the printing surface is flat and not raised. It utilizes the principle that grease and water do not mix.

 Sheetfed presses can print from 4,000 to 18,000 sheets per hour. The printed products it produces are enormous and cover most items printed, with the exception of certain types of packaging and long runs of magazine publications. Presses can be grouped into three size ranges. The first is described as "small offset" and prints on paper up to 14x-17 inches.

 Capable of producing high-quality printed products on a range of light and heavy-weight stocks. Color variation is a common problem and is often caused by fluctuations in the ink and water balance. Sheet-to-sheet registration and overall image quality is usually superior to web offset printing. Modern sheetfed presses have sophisticated electronic controls for adjusting color and register. This technology will often shorten set-up time (makeready) and reduce printed waste, and, in a competitive market, the result is an economical product.

Web offset

Kim

 A high run, speed printing press that uses rolls of paper rather than individual sheets. beneficial in long run printing jobs, typically press runs that exceed ten or twenty thousand impressions. Speed is a huge factor when considering turn around time for press production; some web presses print at speeds of 3,000 feet per minute or faster.

Heatset web offset This subset of web offset printing uses inks which dry by evaporation in a dryer typically positioned just after the printing units. typically done on coated papers, where the ink stays largely on the surface, and gives a glossy high contrast print image after the drying. As the paper leaves the dryer too hot for the folding and cutting that are typically downstream procedures, a set of "chill rolls" positioned after the dryer lowers the paper temperature and sets the ink.

Coldset web offset This is also a subset of web offset printing, typically used for lower quality print outputA typical coldset configuration is often a series of vertically arranged print units and peripherals. As newspapers seek new markets, which often imply higher quality (more gloss, more contrast), they may add a heatset tower (with a dryer) or use UV (ultraviolet) based inks which "cure" on the surface by polymerisation rather than by evaporation or absorption.

 Blanket-to-blanket A printing method in which there are two blanket cylinders through which a sheet of paper is passed and printed on both sides. Blanket-to-blanket presses are considered a perfecting press because they print on both sides of the sheet at the same time. Since the blanket-to-blanket press has two blanket cylinders, making it possible to print on both sides of a sheet, there is no impression cylinder.

Blanket-to-steel A printing method similar to a sheet offset press; except that the plate and cylinder gaps are very narrow. Blanket-to-steel presses are considered one-color presses. In order to print the reverse side, the web is turned over between printing units by means of turning bars. The method can be used to print business forms, computer letters, and direct mail advertising.

Variable-size printing uses removable printing units, inserts, or cassettes for one-sided and blanket-to-blanket two-sided printing. Keyless offset printing process that is based on the concept of using fresh ink for each revolution by removing residual inks on the inking drum after each revolution. It is suitable for printing newspapers.

Types of platemaking

Julie

 Generally, the plates used in offset printing are thin, and are mostly made of aluminum, though sometimes can be made of multimetal, paper, or plastic. Polyester plates Polyester plates can be used in place of aluminum plates for smaller formats or medium quality jobs, as their dimensional stability is lower.

Computer-to-plate (CTP) / direct-to-plate (DTP) Computer-to-plate (CTP) is a newer technology that allows the imaging of metal or polyester plates without the use of film. Eliminating the stripping, compositing, and traditional plate making processes, CTP revolutionized the printing industry and led to reduced prepress times, lower costs of labor, and improved print quality. Most CTP systems used thermal CTP as opposed to violet CTP, though both systems are effective, depending on the needs of the printing job.

 Thermal CTP involves the use of thermal lasers to expose and/or remove areas of coating while the plate is being imaged. This depends on whether the plate is negative, or positive working. These lasers are generally at a wavelength of 830 nanometers, but vary in their energy usage depending on whether they are used to expose or ablate material. The general trend of platesetters has been to move toward coatings whose success on press is independent of post imaging chemical bath processing. Another process is CTCP (computer to conventional plate) system where you can use conventional offset ps plates to expose, which is very economical.

Types of chemicals used

Julie

Paste inks for offset litho

INKS- highly viscous. Typical inks have a dynamic viscosity of 40100 Pas. Heat-set inks are the most common variety and are "set" by applying heat and then rapid cooling to catalyze the curing process. They are used in magazines, catalogs, and inserts. Cold-set inks are set simply by absorption into non-coated stocks and are generally used for newspapers and books but are also found in insert printing and are the most costconscious option. Energy-curable inks are the highest-quality offset litho inks and are set by application of light energy. They require specialized equipment such as inter-station curing lamps, and are usually the most expensive type of offset litho ink.

Letterset

Inks

used with offset presses that do not have dampening systems and uses imaging plates that have a raised image. Waterless heat-resistant and are used to keep silicone-based plates from showing toning in non-image areas. These inks are typically used on waterless Direct Imaging presses. Single f luid newer ink that uses a process allowing lithographic plates on a lithographic press without using a dampening system during the process

Ink/water balance If ink and water are not properly balanced, the press operator may end up with many different problems affecting the quality of the finished product, such as emulsification (the water overpowering and mixing with the ink.) It leads to scumming, catchup, trapping problems, ink density issues and in extreme cases the ink not properly drying on the paper, resulting in the job being unfit for delivery to the client.

 With the proper balance, the job will have the correct ink density and should need little further adjustment except minor ones. Such as when the press heats up during normal operation, thus evaporating water at a faster rate. In this case the machinist will gradually increase the water as the press heats up to compensate for the increased evaporation of water.

Fountain solution

water-based (or "aqueous") component in the lithographic process that moistens the non image area of the plate in order to keep ink from depositing Historically, fountain solutions were acid-based and made with gum arabic, chromates and/or phosphates, and magnesium nitrate. Alcohol is added to the water to make the water wetter (as we say) and help cool the press a bit so the ink stays stable so it can set and dry fast.

Machines

Josh

END