DIGITAL PLATES & PLATESETTERS -- Two Steps Forward

Powering Up Violet

"Our Prosetter violet diode platesetter was engineered to be field upgraded to the 30mW laser when it makes sense. It will make sense to do so when the plate technology is available," says Mark Tonkovich, CTP product manager for Heidelberg USA in Kennesaw, GA.

"In the lab, we have successfully operated a 30mW version of our PlateDriver platesetter," notes Kjeld Moselund, manager of commercial printing in the product marketing department of Esko-Graphics in Gent, Belgium. "Esko-Graphics is ready to supply printers with platesetters capable of imaging photopolymer. However, at this point, there are no plates released in the marketplace." (The PlateDriver features the OptoLink optical system that is designed to allow for swapping between a range of laser sources in the field.)