NewsWay Press Register is a software solution that corrects for mis-registration on the printing press without the need to touch or modify the press. The application can scale, rotate, mirror and shift the image to be exposed on the plate. NewsWay Press Register greatly improves the final print registration and minimizes mechanical adjustment on the press. This is done by processing the 1 bit TIFF of each individual separation (C, M, Y or K) to the appropriate size to compensate for any web press mis-alignment. NewsWay Press Register can operate as a stand-alone server or can be easily implemented within the ProImage NewsWay workflow.
On a cylinder of web press, the paper travels a long distance between plates at a very high speed and tension. When ink and water are applied to it, the paper expends and stretches quite significantly, causing mis-registration of the image. This problem is further emphasized in tall towers where the distance between plates is significant and the paper can stretch, for example, from Cyan to Black by up to 2.5 mm (0. 1”). Traditionally, this problem is corrected by the use of tension wheels (also called Bustle Wheels), however, the corrections are not consistent , limited to a specific place on the paper and non linear.
Press Register overcomes those issues by performing precise digital scaling of the entire plate image for each separation at a very high degree of precision. Using a hot folder and an easy to use wizard, the operator defines the plate size, the required registration and angle deviations for each separation (mm or inches). NewsWay Press Register will automatically rescale, rotate and mirror the 1 bit TIFF image data of each plate (while preserving the punch registration marks) and make it ready for exposing on the output device (CtF or CtP). The scaled image will be placed on the plate either with left, right or center justification, to simulate paper stretch on a multiple plates cylinder. It improves the final print quality providing faster make ready while reducing waste.
Main Benefits
- Corrects web mis-alignment
- Compensates for paper stretch
- Completely Automated Solution for correcting consistent press errors
- Resizes rotates and mirrors individual separations
- Preserves positions of existing punch marks
- Supports up to eight color separations
The software is helpful for errors which are not uniform across the width of the press cylinder (especially in double width presses) and non-linear between the four colours. Precise localized corrections in a particular area of plate are possible. The software eliminates the register corrections in the punch and bend machine resulting in uniform punching and bending dimensions. This will be more critical in case of panorama printing where two adjacent plates are required to be fixed as close as possible. Separate registration corrections can be set according to paper variety (Newsprint, glazed, etc)
Press Register Pro has been installed and in use since Feb 2011 at The Hindu. We are quite happy with the Cadgraf Digitals team in prompt support and service.
R P Lakshmivenkatraman
AVP Graphics, The Hindu