Printing service is used by most businesses for varied functions such as marketing and corporate communications. Therefore it is helpful to learn about the basic working of the commonly used printing process called offset printing.
Offset printing is so well known among printing service companies and clients because for large volumes, it turns out to be cheaper than alternative methods. The clients giving big printing orders are advised by the printers to opt for offset printing because of this reason.
Offset printing employs oil based ink, which does not mix with water. Its name comes from the fact that in this process, images are not transported directly from the plates to the paper but this is done through rubber blankets as a medium.
The process starts by developing the designs. Earlier the images were prepared by creating film negatives and were then transferred to printing plates made of aluminum. In the present times, the printers can use the image setting system for preparing the plates directly. After this, the plate is stuck to a cylinder with the right side facing upwards. Then the water and ink are dispersed on the image plates, in that order. The ink is poured over the image and to prevent it from spilling, a thin layer of water is put over the remaining part of the plate.
Next, the image is turned around when it is put on to a rubber blanket which is stuck to another cylinder. The image is now printed with its correct side looking up by cutting sheets of papers into appropriate size and putting them on a third cylinder.
The final steps of the printing job involve things such as stapling, pasting or organizing the printed sheets in line with the instructions of the client, and any printing company should easily manage these.
The most popular kind of offset printing uses light-sensitive chemicals and photographic techniques in transmitting images and typing from source materials to printing plates. The original materials may be the actual photographic print and typeset text. However, it is more common, with the prevalence of computers and digital images, that the source material exists only as data in a digital printing system.
Offset printing is so well known among printing service companies and clients because for large volumes, it turns out to be cheaper than alternative methods. The clients giving big printing orders are advised by the printers to opt for offset printing because of this reason.
Offset printing employs oil based ink, which does not mix with water. Its name comes from the fact that in this process, images are not transported directly from the plates to the paper but this is done through rubber blankets as a medium.
The process starts by developing the designs. Earlier the images were prepared by creating film negatives and were then transferred to printing plates made of aluminum. In the present times, the printers can use the image setting system for preparing the plates directly. After this, the plate is stuck to a cylinder with the right side facing upwards. Then the water and ink are dispersed on the image plates, in that order. The ink is poured over the image and to prevent it from spilling, a thin layer of water is put over the remaining part of the plate.
Next, the image is turned around when it is put on to a rubber blanket which is stuck to another cylinder. The image is now printed with its correct side looking up by cutting sheets of papers into appropriate size and putting them on a third cylinder.
The final steps of the printing job involve things such as stapling, pasting or organizing the printed sheets in line with the instructions of the client, and any printing company should easily manage these.
The most popular kind of offset printing uses light-sensitive chemicals and photographic techniques in transmitting images and typing from source materials to printing plates. The original materials may be the actual photographic print and typeset text. However, it is more common, with the prevalence of computers and digital images, that the source material exists only as data in a digital printing system.
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