Markem 553, Photopolymer Platemaker

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with the Markem 553 platemaker? Is this the kind of machine use to process metal backed photopolymer plates for letterpress? If not, what are others using?

Thanks,

Tina

Log in to reply   4 replies so far

Hi Tina,
I believe that is an offset platemaker. You’d be better off looking for something like an Anderson Vreeland Orbital VIII, Orbital X or one of the platemakers that Boxcar sell brand new.

Also avoid the flexo photopolymer units that have a drum washup unit. For high quality letterpress photopolymer platemaking you want an orbital wash.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Actually, it is indeed a water-washout relief plate processor; Markem makes pad printers, which use photpolymer plates to mark anything from golf balls to circuit boards.
How this compares to other processors is anybody’s guess.

Thank you both for your comments and advice!

I have several of the Markem 553 machines. They are used to wash out small (1” X1” and 1” x 2”) photopolymer plates for offset use in the top unit. The UV box can be used to expose the plate with artwork, but most customers (semiconductor manufactures) used the 552DE to do the exposure. There is a third part that is a dryer for drying the water out of the washed out plate. [email protected]