Digital Printing

Sony has developed a digital gravure press which employs reusable cylinders.
Heidelberg GTO-DI press employs waterless plates from Presstek imaged on press.
Plates must be mounted by hand. Heidelberg Quickmaster-DI employs same plate material as GTO-DI, but uses a cartridge of plate material.
There are approximately 35 images per cartridge.
Presstek plate technology uses a 16 beam laser diode to image plate consisting of silicon bonded to polyester.
Laser breaks the bond enabling silicone to be removed.
The Heidelberg Speedmaster-DI is now available.
This direct imaging press is based on the current Speedmaster production press.
It makes use of Creo computer to plate units mounted on each print station.
It images a plate in about 3 minutes.
Another direct imaging press is the Omni-Adast DI system manufactured in the Czech Republic.
It employs a 32-diode laser system, which images Presstek plates in less than 7 minutes.
At Drupa 95, MAN-Roland demonstrated two prototype press systems.
Both used the name DICOweb (Digital Chang-Over).
DICOweb offset used erasable plate material created by thermal transfer.
DICOweb gravure used on-press image engraving on a reusable cylinder.