Screen Printing Technology, Online Printing Quote, Printing Services, Printing jobs, Alabama Printing Services, Company flyer printing, Brochure Printing

Printing is done in a variety of ways - lithography, letterpress, flexography, gravure, screen printing etc. All these printing methods use simple techniques for rapidly applying colorants to substrates like paper or plastic to create multiple reproductions of original matter.

It is also possible to do in multiple colors in one stretch. Spot color printing uses custom mixed inks to reproduce specific colors and process color printing uses four transparent inks in different proportions—cyan (blue-green), magenta (red), yellow, and black. Color photographs and other artwork can be faithfully reproduced by this method.

Present day printing presses uses a methodology of transferring ink from a cylindrical printing surface to moving sheets or rolls of substrate. It is reported that presses that print on rolls or webs, can print at high speeds of 600–900 m per minute. Presses that print on sheets are slower than web presses but the advantage is they can print on thicker substrates, such as boards and sheet metal.

During the last fifty years, tremendous technological strides in photography and electronics have brought about a sea change in the use of printing surfaces. Computer-based systems make possible the rapid production of the films used to transfer images to printing surfaces. Some printing surfaces can even be prepared directly by machines employing computer-controlled laser beams or diamond styluses. Images generated on computer systems and stored in databases can be transferred directly to printing surfaces.

Modern color lithography uses only four inks for a wide range of natural colors. Lithographic plates are fairly low-priced printing surfaces available today, and this fact has contributed greatly to the success of the process.

It is good to know that latest offset lithographic presses are versatile and range from small sheet-fed duplicators for printing single-color brochures and newsletters-to massive web presses to print several thousands of copies of magazines, catalogs, mailing pieces etc in full color. Offset lithographic presses are unmatched by any other process when it comes to such wide range of applications.

We are now in the electronic age. The printing processes hitherto in vogue use a fixed printing surface that transfers the same pattern of ink during each cycle of the press. As the process constitutes simple physical ink-transfer, they are able to operate at high speeds. The fact remains that due to the high cost of making plates, mounting them on the press, and running the press until the printing is properly aligned and colors put in place - these processes necessitate long press runs. For small quantities of printing and for variable information, electronic processes are far more economical and cost-effective. Electronic processes do not use printing plates, and yet capable of fine without wasting paper.

Then we have the ink-jet printing. The process is done through a range of computer-controlled ink nozzles that can create images on a moving sheet or a web of paper. Simple ink-jet printers are mostly preferred for printing variable information such as labels and price tags. High quality color ink-jet printers are capable of producing near lithographic-quality reproductions for extremely short runs.

Microcapsule Printing is a technology that uses a type of paper impregnated with billions of microscopic capsules of liquid photopolymer-based dye. The paper is exposed to light reflected from an original image, facilitating the dyes inside the capsules to stiffen in proportion to the amount of light received. The exposed paper is then pressed through steel rollers against a receiver paper, and varying amounts of unhardened dye are deposited on the receiver to form an image. The process is ideally suited for high-quality color reproduction printing for small quantities.

The technique of digital printing has bridged the gap between the computers and the traditional press printing systems. Finally, it may be said, without fear of contradiction, that the present day electronic printing is more complementary to earlier forms of printing and it is unlikely to usurp the place of traditional forms of printing.