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Lithographic Printing
Lithographic printing uses the same process as that in lithographic printing. Text and images are transferred onto the paper using a lithographic techniques based on the repellences between water and oil. This process helps prevent ink smudges…
Modern Lithographic Printing
Using Computer-to-Plate Technology (CTP) is a common and simplifying process for modern printing companies in London. Using desktop publishing applications, available, an image is created and output on printing plates. CTP provides quality-produced prints with accuracy from getting the desired colour from the CMYK generated computer screens.
The Plates used in lithographic printing are faster and more affordable to produce, making CTP an ideal production process for bulk printing and hence why Sale Print FX offer this type of printer for cheap printing in London. It also helps in producing high-quality products through precise printing registration and image-to-edge repeatability.
How a Lithographic Printing Press Works
The modern lithographic printing press is equipped with metal plates, rubber blankets, lithographic, plate cylinders, and ink rollers. And how does it work, you wonder? The ink from the ink rollers is transferred to the metal plate then onto the rubber plate. The image on the rubber plate is directly pressed onto the paper. Once the print comes out of the press, it goes through drying process (printers call the oven). Subsequent to going through the oven, the paper is pressed by chill rollers to prevent the ink from smudging.
A regular lithographic press can hold up to 1000 kg of paper. Lithographic presses can also produce large quantity of prints at great speed. Both these facts make lithographic printing a viable solution for high-quantity and high volume printing.
Types of Commercial Lithographic Printing Presses
1. Perfecting Press. This type of printer can print on both sides. Perfecting press is ideal for producing prints with back-to-back designs like double sided-leaflets, postcards, brochures, menus and other similar materials produced in large quantities.
2. Sheet-fed Lithographic. Not all lithographic presses use rolled papers for printing. Sheet-fed lithographic presses print one sheet at a time. Feeding papers one by one ensures that all the text and images are positioned proportionally on every page. This is ideal for small- to medium-sized printing jobs.
3. Web offset Lithographic. Unlike a sheet-fed lithographic, this type of printer uses rolls of paper and produces prints at high speed. Web offset lithographic press works best for long-run printing jobs. It can make 10 to 20 thousand impressions, making it ideal for low-cost production.
4. Heat-set Web offset Lithographic. A heat-set lithographic press is the ideal machine to use for printing glossy or coated papers. It is a type of web lithographic that uses inks that are dryer-friendly. The ink stays on the surface of the prints while drying, resulting in glossy prints. It is ideal for producing mid – to high-volume prints like catalogues, inserts and magazines.
5. Coldset Web offset Lithographic. Newspapers are mostly printed through a coldest web lithographic press. This lithographic has two types of ink drying methods—one absorbs the ink into the underlying paper and the other uses UV-based inks that “cure” on the paper surface after printing. This printing method can produce a large quantity of printed materials.
6. Blanket-to-blanket. Most lithographic presses have three or more cylinders but blanket-to-blanket printers only have two. Like perfecting printers, this press can print on both sides at the same time. There is no impression cylinder since the rolls serve as impression rolls to each other.
The Various Types of Lithographic Pigments
1. Letterset. This ink type is called “dry lithographic” because no water is involved in the printing process. These are normally used for letterpress printing. The inks are transferred from a printing plate to an lithographic blanket before being pressed onto the substrate. The absence of water results to an unlimited variety of inks produced when printing on paper.
2. Waterless. These are designed to be used in waterless lithography, an lithographic printing method that uses silicone compounds to prevent the inks from getting into the non-image areas of your plate. Waterless printing is prone to toning, known as the transfer of inks to a non-image area of the plate, and is caused by the rise of the ink’s temperature. Therefore, waterless inks help minimize toning as these are resistant to the temperature changes undergone by the inks during the printing process.
3. Ink/water balance. It is very important for the ink and water to be balanced and proportioned to each other during lithographic printing. If the ink and water aren’t mixed properly, the ink may not dry on the substrate, making the faultily printed product to be unfit for delivery.
Benefits of Lithographic Printing
Businesses requiring high volume printed products in bulk rely on lithographic printing for a number of reasons. In fact, lithographic printing is ideal for commercial printing in London. With modern computer-to-plate printing technology available for lithographic printing, you can get your prints at a much faster printing turnaround time. Also, lithographic printing produces consistent, high-quality images by undergoing low production costs. This can be explained by the use of plates to transfer the design to a substrate. Since all pieces of an order will make use of the same plates for printing, the price per piece is much affordable. This is more cost-efficient compared to digital printing, which prints your orders using the same resources from start to finish. As a result, the price per quantity for bulk print runs is much more expensive. Therefore, all pieces produced using lithographic presses will be printed in excellent quality, even for orders beyond a thousand quantities, at affordable prices!
Lithographic Printing: Products and Uses
1. Posters. These great and very
visual marketing tools are commonly used as POP (point-of-purchase)
& POS (point-of-sale) displays and for advertisements to promote
products and services. There is a high demand for high-volume poster
printing; quantities of at least 250 posters are commonly printed
through an lithographic press.
2. Brochures. Almost all
businesses, from small independents – to large-scale corporate
enterprises, use brochures to inform clients and potential clients about
their company, products or services, especially elegantly showcasing
their latest offers. This type are of promotional media are ordered in
small-large print runs, to be handed out to customers.
3. Postcards. Direct
marketing still works well today, which still makes postcards effective
tools for reaching out to your target market, without over-stretching
budget. They are commonly produced in large quantities and are sent out
to prospective clients and customers who sign up to a company’s mailing
list. Postcards are printed using lithographic presses to accommodate
designs requiring back-to-back printing and offer a range of finishes
such as gloss, lamination and gloss-lamination.
4. Business cards. Being essential as the first point of contact; a business offers potential clients and partners an immediate impression of your services. Designing your business cards and having these printed helps to advertise your business to people who matter, at relatively low costs. Unlike other print products, business cards come in small sizes, which make them perfect to be handed out and easily kept in the recipients’ pockets or wallets. Business cards produced in low-high quantities using an lithographic press are affordable mediums to help instantly boost your business.
5. Folders. These medium-sized print materials such as folders are used to compile documents for business or promotional purposes. Through the lithographic printing process, folders are produced in high quality, regardless of the number of prints.
6. Flyers. Most flyers and leaflets are printed on both sides containing information about the product or service being promoted. Since these are handed out in places with high pedestrian traffic, these promotional tools are ideally produced using lithographic printers that makes them cost effective for their response rate. The cost is cheaper while providing high-quality output.
Growing Users of Lithographic Printing
• Printing companies. Printing caters to a variety of businesses with different printing needs. it’s a must for every printing company producing large printing quantities to have lithographic presses to offer client’s value for money. The production process is affordable and cost-effective.
• Medium- to large-scale businesses. Businesses using printed materials for advertising purposes will benefit from lithographic printing for regular marketing strategies. With a low budget, they can make bulk prints in excellent quality. Also, the different paper weight available, using lithographic presses help businesses to select which of the papers fits perfect for them.
• Campaigns. Electoral campaigns, product launches, night-clubs, fast food establishments, recruitment and business openings — need to promote their cause using print materials in large quantities. Postcards, leaflets, flyers, posters and brochures are the most popular marketing tools given out to people in high volume. Hence, it is important for companies to get their orders printed using lithographic presses of high-quality, which reduce print costs.
Conclusion
Lithographic printing is ultimately one of the best ways to produce the different print products in numerous quantities. While maintaining the quality of each piece from start to finish, not to mention, this printing type is reliable, fast and very economical. For owners of small businesses to large companies, lithographic printing in London is the ideal process to print your promotional materials.
Are you wondering why there is different types of print?? Follow here to read about Digital V Lithographic print..