MyPrintingTutorials.com-Printing Tutorials Offset Printing Digital Printing A Guide to Offset and Digital Printing

As far as India is concerned, I feel that the only true competitor to Autoprint or Swift companies would be Gallantic from Gujarat. In some ways the machines produced by Gallantic is superior to the other companies due to their inbuilt automatic dampening system. The price of the machines is also very competitive especially compared to Autoprint whose machines are known for their high price. Gallantic has recently developed their indigenous dampening system even further with the introduction of Galmatic dampening system which is a copy of the world renowned Crystalline Dampening system. This dampening system further enhances their machine capacity especially with regard to four color printing in single color machines. But there are news that Gallantic is also planning to come out with a two color and four color machine in the near future. Gallantic single color machines cost under Rs. 3,00,000/- for the 15×10 inches; under Rs. 3,50,000 for A3 size machine and under Rs. 4,50,000 for their 15×20 size machine. All machines come with inbuilt automatic dampening system. There are many advantages with the automatic dampening system as there is no possibility of scum appearing on the printed sheets. The prints are also glossier and there is minimum wastage of paper. Ink consumption also comes down as the sheets are printed with a thinner coating of ink. Problem of printing solids in small machines is also removed and there are less problems in printing which the machines of Autoprint or Swift or any other company in India cannot provide. There is an exception to this as Autoprint does provide automatic dampening system as an option in their machines but you would have to pay a hefty amount of around Rs.1,20,000 extra for that. The reason being that their Kompac automatic dampening system is imported from USA  and not indigenously manufactured like Gallantic. The downside of Gallantic machines is the machine structure which is quite light compared to Autoprint. But if you have prompt service available from Gallantic in your region then there is not much of a problem.

Posted under Offset Printing

Recently we placed an order for the Konica Minolta LD 6501 digital color printer. The samples that were shown were outstanding and as good as the best offset printing available. The printer can print on a wide variety of sheets including non tear-able paper. The wide variety of paper it can print on is due to the low heat generated by the printer compared to other laser printers. The speed of the printer is 65 pages per minute and the maximum size that can be printed is 13×19 inches. The company offers a policy where it charges around Rs.5.5 per page printed depending on the region where the machine is installed. The Rs. 5.5 covers all consumables including ink and parts such as belts and rollers. The life of the machine is 6 million copies or 5 years. Some special paper that it can print on are golden and silver sheets which are very suitable for invitation cards. The price of the machine comes around Rs. 20,00,000/- including tax. If you have a UV coating machine then the quality of the  finished prints can be enhanced even further. A small UV coating machine from www.jonaphoto.com will cost around Rs. 2,00,000/- including the curing machine.

Posted under Digital Printing

Epson has come out with an outstanding solvent printing machine. The printing process is completely odorless and environment friendly. The price of the machine which was launched in India around three months back is around Rs. 19 lakhs. The cost of printing at 720 dpi is Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 per square feet. The machine can print on various substrates such as flex, vinly, canvas and others. It offers excellent large format photo printing on paper and fine art printing on canvas. The maximum printing size is 64 inches. The maximum dpi of 1400 dpi is the highest in the world for a solvent printer. The machine requires no special ventilation or air filtration unit.

Posted under Solvent Printing

The c6501 replaces the older model c6500. The printer is built to run like a press and the life of the machine is 6 million prints. The cost of the machine is around Rs. 25 lakhs. The cost of printing per page is Rs. 5 irrespective of color coverage as you have to make this payment to the company. The print quality is comparable to the best of offset printing. The maximum printing size is 13 inches x 19 inches. The maximum speed of printing is 65 pages per minute. It is a good business option for those who don’t prefer to go for the higher priced machines like the Hp Indigo.

Posted under Digital Printing

Autoprint is reported to be planning on launching a 20 inches x 30 inches single color offset machine. This will help them move from being a munufaturer of only mini offset machines. The policy change is due to the falling demand of small size machines all over the world. There is a great shift from single color jobs to multicolor ones everywhere and hence the fall in demand. Moreover the success of digital printing is replacing many mini offset machines.

Posted under Offset Printing, Uncategorized

Below is the summary of the cost for a four color job of size 18″x 23″:

Film if you have an imagesetter – 18×23 = 414 square inch = Rs. 1.5 x 414 = Rs 621/- for film output
Plate – 4 plates x Rs. 110 approx. = Rs. 440/-
Plate Exposure and Developing = 4 x Rs.50 = Rs. 200/-
Ink for 3000 impressions – Rs.50 x 4 colors = Rs. 200/-

Total cost excluding labor cost, rent and machine depreciation = Rs.621 + Rs.440 +Rs.200 + Rs. 200 = Rs.1461/-

Salary for a typical machine operator will be around Rs. 16,000/- and around 3 or 4 helpers will be required whose salary might range between Rs. 3000/- to Rs. 4000/-.

Machine depreciation will depend on the type of machine that you want to use

Rent will be according to the rates prevailing in your area.

Posted under Offset Printing

A good site that I have found for purchasing ink cartridges is www.inkcartridges.com. The website offers  cartridges for all types of printers of all brands. Laser toner, ink cartridges and printer ink are available at wholesale prices. You can search their catalog for the ink that you require and alongside you will find all the printers that are compatible with it. Shipping is free for all orders of $50 or more within the continental US. Ordering is easy and online. Credit Card as well as Paypal is accepted. You will find cartridges, toners and ribbons of brands such as Hp, Apple, Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, IBM, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, NEC, Okidata, Panasonic, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Xerox and more. If you are not satisfied with the purchase there is a money back system where you can get refund for the purchase. InkCartridges.com is a one stop shop for all printing ink requirements.

Posted under Digital Printing

The internet is probably the quickest and easiest way to shop for printer ink, as well as being the place where you’ll find the cheapest prices. The way you go about finding the best deals is to use a search engine and be specific in your search criteria, this will give you more relevant result and make comparing the prices between the different retailers much quicker and easier. If you’re looking for ink cartridges for an Epson Stylus SX600FW an example of a specific search would be to search for “Epson Stylus SX600FW ink” instead of just searching for simply “Epson ink”. Searching for “Epson ink” will most probably find you the same websites as “Epson Stylus SX600FW ink” but the results will not be the specific pages on those sites where the ink cartridges for the Stylus SX600FW can be found. By being more detailed with your search criteria you will find the products you need just one click away and this makes deciding which retailers offer the product at the best value for money.

Posted under Printing Ink

It seems there is only one good ink coverage calculator on the internet which is Apfill Ink Coverage Calculator from www.avpsoft.com. If you are a professional printer then you need the pro version which calculates cmyk coverage. If you add the total percentage of cmyk, you get the total ink coverage in percentage with respect to the paper size. It is very easy and convenient. The pro version costs around 99 dollars. It is helpful when you have to give competitive rates without suffering loss.

Posted under Digital Printing

Ricoh’s color copier/printer machines seem to provide a high quality output even from their entry level machines. The newest color copier/printer machine that we bought was the Ricoh Aficio MP 2030. The machine cost around Rs. 2,80,000/-. It may cost less than that in some other places. The drawback of this machine is the high cost per copy. An average A4 size page costs around Rs. 2.5/- at 10 percent coverage. But the output is excellent considering its low price. The maximun printing size is 12″x18″. It can print on various papers such as offset art paper. The use of offset art paper makes the cost of paper very low as digital papers are quite expensive. The printing engine is laser based. Color copy quality is also quite high with close color reprodution of the original. The cost of the color toners comes to around Rs. 8500/- per piece. The black toner is cheaper at around Rs. 2400/-.

Posted under Digital Printing