Offset Printing Or Stationary Type Press
What exactly is offset printing? With offset printing or direct printing the artwork is transferred directly to solid materials, usually metal plates, and then from the solid plates onto the printing paper. Then the actual inked prints transfer onto the paper. This printing method can produce very high quality images with excellent color accuracy and high print speeds.
How does an offset printing service work? An offset printing company will take your high-quality art or logo design and develop it on a pressed sheet using their own custom printing press. The printing company will then utilize their own offset printing equipment and machinery to physically place your artwork on the paper.
How are offset and screen printing different? The main differences between offset and screen printing are speed and cost. In offset printing the design is actually applied to the substrate (the backing board) in a flat state. The printing company will apply heat to the substrate, which is then printed by the ink pads. Once printed, the design is removed from the substrate which leaves a smooth, glossy finish.
When comparing digital printing vs. offset printing, it is important to remember that digital printing is done directly to paper while offset printing requires extra steps. Digital printing uses a computer-guided printer that creates identical image prints as an offset printing process. The difference is that the computer-guided printers do not remove the substrate when printing. The images are printed directly to paper, which is then processed by the customer. The result is a higher quality image than an offset printing process would be able to create.
What types of materials are used in an offset press? While offset printing uses metal rods to apply ink to paper, a cylinder type printer creates a flat finish that is similar to offset printing. Each cylinder in the cylinder presses paper through a single sheet of metal. Each metal rod has only one hole to apply the ink, making the final product much more durable. In addition, it is possible to adjust the size and style of each hole to achieve different thicknesses of paper.
How are large quantities of printed materials handled in an offset printing shop? When using cylinders, it is possible to print a variety of different sizes without having to run out of paper or ink. This makes it possible to create thousands of pages with one machine, and as you may know, with large quantities of printed materials it can be much cheaper to use an offset printing shop to produce your projects rather than create them in-house. The machines are also capable of printing on both coated and uncoated materials. They can even print straight onto heavy stock.
What kind of materials can be printed on a press? Cylinder presses are commonly used to print on heavy materials such as wood, metal, cardboard and more. They can also easily transfer images from a digital source such as a computer to a physical medium such as handmade cards, photographs and more. In addition, a press can be designed to accommodate a wide range of printing jobs so that companies don’t have to keep changing their presses to fit the needs of their current printing tasks.
So which is better the traditional method of printing, offset printing or a stationary type of machine? The answer depends upon what you need to do. If you need to do a small amount of printing frequently, either as a part of the company’s normal business operations or for one-off projects, a stationary printer would probably be your best option. However, if you need to reproduce large amounts of material regularly, offset printing or lithography would probably be your best choice.