Processing photopolymer diff. thickness and film

enriquevw
on 16 Jul 13 (13:47)
Updated 16 Jul 13 (13:47)

Hello folks!

Does anyone who processes their own photopolymer know if I can have the processor (e.g. A&V Orbital VIII A-3) set up to wash two thicknesses of plates? And to process my own film, what would you recommend?

Thanks a lot.

jhenry
on 16 Jul 13 (15:21)

Updated 16 Jul 13 (15:22)

I regularly process two different thicknesses of plates in my processor without any problems. The brushes are much more forgiving than rollers on the press. If one was grossly different than the other, you might have to make some adjustment, or put in a spacer of some kind, but I find a difference of .022” makes no difference. I switch from the Jet 94FL (.037”) plates to Jet 152SB (0.60”) plates without adjusting the brushes. Perhaps I just haven’t seen any problems, but I do a lot of very detailed images without noticeable problems.

Dos anyone else see this as unusual, or make adjustments for this small a thickness change?

John Henry
Cedar Creek Press

enriquevw
on 16 Jul 13 (17:50)

That makes sense, John Henry. Thanks for your input.
The more I get into letterpress the more expensive it gets.
The cheapest thing is probably the press.
Is there any affordable solution for small scale film setting?

dickg
on 16 Jul 13 (18:16)

set it in type, you will never buy film again.

Bielerpr
on 16 Jul 13 (20:52)

Yeah, you can process different thicknesses of plate together. You could washout a steel backed plate and a plastic backed plate at the same time, even if the plastic backed plate is on a carrier. Note though that different thickness of plates might require differing washout times

Gerald

enriquevw
on 16 Jul 13 (20:58)

Hi Gerald,

Thanks, I would ideally only process each type of plate at one time, and not mix them to expose or washout.
But it’s always good to know this.

Thanks a lot.

Dick, yeah, you are right about that! :)