Thermal Highlight Consistancy

[Scope]

Any users of thermal plates???

How consistent are your highlights and how much drift do you see?

What is your min max dot held?

I am looking to find out how much + or- your 1,2,3,4,5,etc..
drift, and how much do you consider normal or to be a problem.

[steveagfa]

Scope:

Perhaps I can put these dot percentages in perspective.

A 1% dot at 240 lpi measures 10.6 microns,
or about one eight the thickness of a human hair.

A 2% dot at 175 lpi measures 21 microns.

Especially if you are using an advanced screening
solution such as FM or XM, any process variation
can indeed impact printed results.

Of course the imager must be in good shape...
focus, beam alignment, energy levels, etc...
but then you are also fighting the variables
of chemical processing. Perhaps this is why the
discussions on processless and chemistry-free
are so interesting.

(warning - the sales pitch is coming...)

Now, if you remove chemical development, and
then you add a unique and inherent wide exposure
latitude with Agfa's :Azura and :Amigo, you'll find,
especially with an FM or XM solution, that consistent
highlight dots are easy to attain and maintain...
even without a dot reader.

Regards,

[Scope]

I just want to get an idea of what the average is today with a processed thermal plate.

Have been around them enough to give me an example?

Basicly if a 1 2 3 etc exist in the file, what is the plate capable of holding,
more importantly what could it hold consistently day to day.