Printing service is used by most businesses for different reasons such as marketing and intra-company communications. Hence, it is important to have some fundamental knowledge of how printing works, particularly offset printing, which is one of the most widely used printing techniques.
The users and the printers like offset printing because of its cost effectiveness for the production of large number of prints. The clients giving bulk printing orders are recommended by the printers to choose offset printing because of this reason.
This printing technology uses oil-based ink, which is not soluble in water. In offset printing, rubber blankets act as intermediate for copying the image on the paper, which is originally on the plate.
The process starts by developing the designs. Earlier the images were prepared by creating film negatives and were then transmitted to printing plates made of aluminum. But, a modern printing company would now develop the plates directly by making use of an image setting system. The subsequent step is to transfer the plate on to a cylinder such that it is spot on. Then the water and ink are spread on the image plates, one after another. The image gets the ink while the rest of the area receives a thin layer of water, which makes sure that the ink does not spill past the images.
After painting it with ink, the image is put on a rubber blanket which is on a different cylinder, resulting in the image to be reversed. Subsequently, sheets of paper of desired proportions are put together and the rubber blankets transfer the image to the sheets on a third cylinder, where it comes out as the correct side.
Printed sheets are stapled, pasted, or assembled in any other way as needed and the printing company delivers them after giving some finishing touches.
The users and the printers like offset printing because of its cost effectiveness for the production of large number of prints. The clients giving bulk printing orders are recommended by the printers to choose offset printing because of this reason.
This printing technology uses oil-based ink, which is not soluble in water. In offset printing, rubber blankets act as intermediate for copying the image on the paper, which is originally on the plate.
The process starts by developing the designs. Earlier the images were prepared by creating film negatives and were then transmitted to printing plates made of aluminum. But, a modern printing company would now develop the plates directly by making use of an image setting system. The subsequent step is to transfer the plate on to a cylinder such that it is spot on. Then the water and ink are spread on the image plates, one after another. The image gets the ink while the rest of the area receives a thin layer of water, which makes sure that the ink does not spill past the images.
After painting it with ink, the image is put on a rubber blanket which is on a different cylinder, resulting in the image to be reversed. Subsequently, sheets of paper of desired proportions are put together and the rubber blankets transfer the image to the sheets on a third cylinder, where it comes out as the correct side.
Printed sheets are stapled, pasted, or assembled in any other way as needed and the printing company delivers them after giving some finishing touches.
