Letterpress Printing
1. What is it?
- The oldest method of printing
- Uses rotary relief type printing plates. The printed image is achieved by means of semi rigid plate which contains the graphics and text to be printed as a raised image, much like a rubber stamp.
- One of the key label printing technologies
- High quality and efficient in-line process capability
- UV cured ink
2. How is the ink applied?
- Each colour of UV ink to be applied must have its own plate and ink unit
- The thick paste-like ink is passed from the tray to a 'fountain' cylinder, which then passes the ink to a 'transfer' cylinder, from which it then passes to a series of metering rollers. These thin the ink to an even layer just before transferring it on to the plate cylinder and finally the substrate.
- Levels of ink are controlled by the operator via a set of keys, enabling a varied ink flow across the label depending on the requirements of the design
3. Which kinds of labels are best suited to this method?
- Short to medium run length work
- Highly suitable for printing very good quality Process Illustration work and very clean text
4. What are the advantages & disadvantages?
Advantages
- Recommended for process illustration and clean text
- Robust technology
- Fast solvent-free plate-making process
Disadvantages
- Slow set-up
- Expensive on the small runs
- Old technology not being invested in development