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April & May 2020 Printweek
SPECIFICATIONS
The TP-U is a thermal plate developed by Lucky
HuaGuang Graphics. The company says the
plate is not only suitable for UV ink, but also for
printing with conventional inks. It is
compatible with all the leading platesetters
and processors in the market.
Plate type Positive thermal plate
Wave length 830nm
Sensitivity 120-140mJ/cm2
Resolution 1%-99% at 200lpi
Run length 50,000 impressions with UV ink;
300,000 impressions with ordinary ink;
500,000 impressions with baking
Price On application
Contact HuaGuang Germany +49 (0) 2154 95331 18
hgfilm.de
He adds that the most impressions the
company managed to get from an Agfa plate
was around 110,000, but the Lucky HuaGuang
plates have far exceeded this total. “Our highest
number of impressions so far off one set of
plates – and that’s purely because of the length
of the run, which was our maximum quantity
– was 273,000 impressions, which is nearly
three times more than Agfa. It could have been
even more, but that was the longest print run
we’ve ever had.
“Normally, if we had got that job out, it
would have required three plate changes and
on our eight station web press it takes about 15
to 20 minutes to changeover. So even if the
plates were costing us more, we would save on
that additional cost because of the time saving,
but we’re lucky to save on both fronts.”
Ironically, Lucky HuaGuang struck a deal
with Agfa in August 2018 that sees the latter
initially producing Lucky’s plates for the
Chinese market before expanding the agreement
globally – a strong seal of approval for the
company’s product offer from one of the leading
global plate makers.
But when you consider the glowing terms in
which Miller speaks about the Chinese com-
DAN MILLER
“I can’t recommend them enough and I’m
happy to speak to any printers about them”
pany, it hardly comes as a surprise to hear Agfa
was keen to enter into such a partnership.
“I can’t recommend them enough and I’m
more than happy to speak to any company or
any printers about them,” he says. “I’ve already
been speaking to Paragon about them and I’ve
forwarded their details to other printers in the
area and helped them get in the door – the rest
is then up to them Lucky. The trouble they’re
having at the moment is people are sceptical
and worried about the supply, but I think next
year Agfa is due to start supplying their plates
to the UK and, once that starts to happen, they
will start to grow.”
/hgfilm.de