WHAT ARE PHOTOPOLYMER

PRINTING PLATES?

Photopolymer plates are used in letterpress for their reproductive durability & hardness. Giving you thousands of impressions & crisp printing. The plates are flexographic until mounted to type high (British) .918″ if used in a printing press.

This plate is perfect for all applications such as pottery, stamping, Signcraft Or creating Brail Text. Popular heights in letterpress are the KF95 & KF152. Both are used as their depth of bite differ

In order to make: A photo negative of a High Dmax rated film is laid upon the unexposed polymer. it is then subjected to uv waves. The plate is then placed in a washout booth, washing away the unexposed polymer. Not over scrubbing as not to damage the 0.5mm line that it can hold. The plate is then baked in an oven. Taken out when dry, it is then given a final blast with UV as to fully cure it. A Double sided adhesive tape is then applied for mounting.

This process is also used for

  • sun printing
  • photograveur
  • flexography
  • stamp making
  • etching plate

At the Tivoli press we make our printing plates in house, sizing all the way up to SRA2.  Using a high quality inkjet printer paired with A Rip (Raster Image Processor)