Nov 11, 2026, 11:08 PMWe also got an excellent tour of the plant. Even though I had been at Hemlock Printers two years ago, they have new equipment, but I also got to see the ink room! A man also named Matt mixes custom inks all day. They also have a new platesetter, which *finishes developing on press*!!!
@glennf finishes developing on press? That is wild. Does the ink harden the plate up or something? Crazy.
Nov 11, 2026, 11:20 PM@bucknam No, it’s wild. Previously, they had to do a chemical path to finish the cycle. Now, it comes out dry, goes on press, and something in the ink activates the final stage—about 15 sheets in, it’s ready. (Make ready is usually ~500 sheets.)
@glennf that’s pretty cool. Anything that cuts down makeready time and expense is great.
@glennf @bucknam Back around the turn of the century, in another lifetime, I was part of the firmware team for Creo’s direct imaging project that mounted platesetter engines directly to a press (initially a Heidelberg SM74).
Very nice, 0 registration needed since everything was imaged in place. Also very expensive (since you need an image engine for each colour) and cumbersome — the presses were, after all, not designed for this.
Nov 12, 2026, 1:12 AM@montyhayter @bucknam clever idea!
@glennf Man, it must be at least fifteen years since I've been at a printer.
I visited my first one in the early '90s and the amount of changes I saw in the subsequent 15-20 years was radical. I can't imagine how much more has changed since then.
Nov 11, 2026, 11:35 PM@SKleefeld if there are any around you, I find they are often happy to be asked because nobody cares about their work!
@glennf Oh, yeah, they've always been super-accommodating! I've probably visited more printers just on basic interest than to do active press checks.