Printing Techniques Commercial methods Digital Printing Lithography and

Printing Techniques – Commercial methods Digital Printing Lithography and Off set Lithography Screen Printing Gravure Flexography

Printers rely on four basic colours; • Yellow • Cyan • Magenta • Black (type of blue) (type of red) This is also known as the CYMK process. The K in CYMK represents the colour black and stands for ‘key’

Lithography and Off set Lithography

Lithography and Off set Lithography 3. Ink is then applied to the printing plate but it is repelled from the watered surfaces which are the nonimage areas. 2. The printing plate is dampened with water but the water is repelled by the area with the printed image on. 1. The printing plate has the image to be printed, transferred to its surface via ultra violate light. The plate is then coated with a chemical which will allow ink to attach to the imaged area.

Lithography and Off set Lithography 4. As the printing cylinder rotates the ink is transferred to the rubber blanket cylinder which squeezes away the water. 5. The ink, now on the rubber blanket cylinder, is pressed onto the paper or card as it is pulled through the machine. The paper is trapped between the blanket cylinder and the impression cylinder - these pull the paper through the machine Lithography is used for large print runs of 1000 copies or more.

Lithography and Off set Lithography

Flexography

Flexography With flexography, you can print on almost any type of material, including plastic, metallic films, cellophane and paper. The image on the printing plate sticks out a bit. The process uses a printing plate made of flexible rubber. An inked roller called the “anilox roller” applies ink to the raised portions of the plate, which is then transferred to the material. The doctor blade removes excess ink from the anilox roller before inking the printing plate

Flexography With flexography, you can print on almost any type of material, including plastic, metallic films, cellophane and paper. Flexography is quicker than lithography and is used for large print runs (over 5000).

Gravure

Gravure is a high-quality process capable of producing printed images that have continuous tone effects similar to photographs. The process uses a brass gravure cylinder etched with images. Meaning the image is lower than the surface of the plate. And ink fills the etched bits. A doctor blade clears the ink from unwanted areas, leaving ink in the etched areas of the cylinder. The gravure cylinder revolves in an ink fountain where it is coated with low stickiness ink. The material passes between the gravure cylinder and a rubber coated impression cylinder, and the ink from the cells is deposited on the material.

Gravure is a high-quality process capable of producing printed images that have continuous tone effects similar to photographs. Because of cylinder expense, gravure is expensive to set up but it is a really fast method of printing and ideal for very large print runs.

Screen Printing

Screen Printing A stencil is produced either manually or photo-mechanically. Printing is done on a material under the screen by applying ink to the screen. Ink is forced through the fine mesh openings with a rubber squeegee. The stencil protects non-printing areas. The squeegee forces the ink through the stencil and onto the material.

Screen Printing Screen printing is a low cost process, ideal for short print runs, where fine detail isn’t needed.

Digital Printing

Digital Printing • The main differences between digital printing and lithography, flexography and gravure, is that no printing plates are used. • Digital printing is quicker and less expensive • The most popular methods include inkjet or laser printers • Think (pigment or toner) can be printed on to onto a wide variety of materials including paper, photo paper, canvas • In many of the processes the ink or toner does not filter through the material, but forms a thin layer on the surface.