Linotronic 330 Film question

Hey there, I acquired a Linotronic 330 imagesetter (and a rip50) and I want to set it up so I can start doing every step in house.

I’m totally new to this process; I have someone that can help me set it up, but he wants me to get all the materials before he makes the trip out.

Can anyone tell me what kind of film I need for this? It looks to be a 12” roll, I would prefer a “daylight safe” film.

If anyone could help that would be great. Thanks!

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You need to know what light source the imagesetter uses (and apparently the orientation of the spool). A quick websearch suggests the Linotronic 330 has a Helium Neon lightsource, so look for HN imagesetting film. There are dual-spectrum films for HN/RLD (red laser diode), but one seller says theirs needs dark green safelight for handling. But note that other sellers have film that is daylight loading because of its packaging, not its emulsion.
Also, one site claims that Kodak is exiting the film market, and there were several Chinese sources in the web search.

We have a Lino 330 and get our film from prepresssuppliesonline.com

We use Colorlock brand chemistry from Xpedx.

I have over 15 years doing film output andI am not aware of any “daylight safe” imagesetter film.

Your rip50 is most likely a postscript level 2 rip, there might be some newer programs files that won’t work do to the creating program being “smarter” than the rip.

I have some manualls I could copy for you if you need them, send me an email if interested, also have spare cables and cassettes.

Good luck
Jim

Thanks much!

I had found it was a Helium Neon and guessed that HN stood for that. Thanks for clearing that up.

Thanks Jim, I will probably be contacting you after the Christmas fun has died down.

The film itself is not daylight safe. You can get the rolls so they are daylight loading. Basically they are wrapped a few times with a heavy black plastic. You load the roll into the feed cassette with the end of the plastic sticking out. Close the lid and pull until you get to the beginning of the film. You’ll also need a daylight load box for your processor, since the 330 has no option for inline processing that I know of. Basically you feed about 10” of extra film into the take up cassette. Cut the film. Then when you take it to the processor you set it inside of a light safe box, start feeding the end of the roll into the processor and close the box until it’s done.

Do you have access to a densitometer? I ran a 330 for a couple of years back in the early 90s and would hate to have to set up the exposure and calibrate it without.

Densitometer? Don’t think so, hopefully the person helping us out will and/or can do it some other way.

look for one on ebay. You’ll need to have it anyway as the laser is going to weaken over time, your film chemistry will change over time and every roll of film can be slightly different. You’ll want to run a calibration strip at least once a week, and always when switching rolls of film.

We’re up and running! Thanks for all the help!