Looking for platesetter opinions from current owners

[geozinger]

Greetings All,

We are in a position to consider a different direct to plate machine.

We are looking at the Esko-Graphics 8-up platesetter or a Heidelberg Prosetter 102. Both are internal drum violet machines with internal punches. (Yes, I know the Esko 8 up machine is going out of production, I have a source for a brand new one.) We were specifically looking at semi-automatic units that had internal punches.

I'd like to hear from users of both machines, or other worthy units like the Fuji and Agfa users, too. We're currently looking at violet machines. If you have a good tip about a thermal unit, we'll consider it. Give me the good, bad and otherwise on these units.

Just installed a Fuji Saber 6000 about 6 months ago. It is a 4 page Violet Setter With single laser. You can also get the Saber 9000 for 8 page output. This system screams. The Fuji Celebrant RIP is awesome. InRip trapping is flawless. Handles everything I've thrown at it so far without a blip. The Setter itself does about 20 plates and hour. The brochure says it can do 23 but that is a little bit of a stretch. If you get the dual laser machine it will image twice as fast so figure about 35-40 paltes an hour. Accuracy is absolutely amazing. I would highly recomend it.

[Greg_AZLitho]

We are running a Fuji Luxel vx 9600 it is awesome very reliable and setup was a breeze up and running within a couple days... We have had support with Enovation and they have always been very responsive, Fuji plates are pretty sensitive but have never had a major problem once! If you stay on top of maintenance the processor will be just as reliable.

[David]

Originally Posted by geozinger

Greetings All,

We are in a position to consider a different direct to plate machine.

We are looking at the Esko-Graphics 8-up platesetter or a Heidelberg Prosetter 102. Both are internal drum violet machines with internal punches. (Yes, I know the Esko 8 up machine is going out of production, I have a source for a brand new one.) We were specifically looking at semi-automatic units that had internal punches.

I'd like to hear from users of both machines, or other worthy units like the Fuji and Agfa users, too. We're currently looking at violet machines. If you have a good tip about a thermal unit, we'll consider it. Give me the good, bad and otherwise on these units.

Have you looked at the Creo Lotems?
We have two Lotem 800's (for about a year + now) that we run the sh!t out of and they are workhorses.

My .02
David

[geozinger]

I guess I should post a follow up to this thread since it seems to have become active lately.

In April of this year we signed on a deal for a DS Screen PTR8100 MkII (among other things). It is the 8 up model that will make plates down to the Heidelberg Quickmaster size (approx 13X19). The PTR is sitting in our dealer's warehouse right now while arrangements are made for a crane and riggers to get it into our 2nd floor pre-press department. I understand photos of our installation is going in a newsletter somewhere because of the (lack of) space we have to work with.

We also chose the Kodak Sword Excel II plates and the Winner conventional plates. We have a lot of legacy film that we have to deal with and the combination of the Winner and Sword plates (that can use the same processor and devo) was a very convenient feature for us. We went with thermal for a number of reasons, one, because the technology is pretty mature. Two, the processor-less plates are here for thermal. Although we can't run the Pressteks in our Screen (without additional devices added to it), I hear a lot of good about the Agfa Azura and I'm sure that the Kodak processless plate is around the corner. Not to mention the Creo plates, and I can't imagine Fuji would sit this out, either. I think processor-less may be several years away for violet.

Our experience with violet was plainly a disaster. Fortunately we had not decommissioned the filmsetter, so we were able to continue production (like it was 1999!). Our experience was due to buying the least expensive product in every category, and it showed. However, management has learned a hard lesson and I think we are on the right path now.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have chosen different equipment and vendors for the violet installation, but that was not my call. I think with the right combination, our violet experience may have been much better. I'm not knocking the technology, but for us, we came to find out that it was not a good fit.

For all of the others who have responded to this post, thanks for your comments and insights. If I ever have to do this again, I will keep all of your advice handy so I can refer to it.