- Commercial print processes are: /practical, /economical, /technical
- four main commericial printing processes are:
- Rotary printing
- Digital printing
- Screen printing
- Pad printing
Rotary printing:
A process which involves image printing plates that are based around a cylinder. This process is an automated one which means the material to be printed on can be fed through or on a roll.
- There are 3 types of rotary printing:
- Offset lithography: Etched aliminium plates that are wrapped around a cylinder, which then transfers ink to a rubber offset blanket roller before then printing onto the surface chosen. This process is vey fast and can also be known as DTP (direct to plate).
Web offset is another type of lithoprinting, it is often used for producing large amounts of print for example newspaper printing. They use a big roll of printing material. They are very fast and often have finishing and folding built into them.
- Rotogravure: This process uses copper plates which transfer ink directly to the print surface, usually on rolls. These are often long running printers due to the durability of the plates.
The gravure process would be used for things like printed laminate flooring and glossy magazines, gravure is very good quality.
- Flexography: A positive mirror image is made of a rubber plate which is then placed around a cylinder which then transfers sticky ink to the print surface, this is usually done using roll feed.
Flexi is often used for things like sweet wrappers and packaging, its not brilliant quality because its cheaper than other processes. Companies always look for best value printing and what your printing and its purpose will decide on what printing process would be most appropriate.
Key words:
- Planographic (litho)
- Intagio (gravure)
- Relif (flexo)
Another type of print that is commonly used is digital print. Digital print is the reproduction of images by translating the digital code direct from a computer to a material without an intermediate pyhsical process.
- Rip (raster image processor): This is something that takes the code of the digital design and sorts the file ready for print.
Digital print is often used for short runs as it can be quite pricey, the materials you can print on using the digital process ranges from paper to metal.
- Screen printing: A printmaking technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil. Screen printing can either involve a rotary screen press which is mechanical or people could operate it.
- Pad printing: This is a printing process where you can print a 2D image onto a 3D object. Things you could print on include pens, usb sticks, cups, golfballs etc.
