Epson redefines CTP printing with DirectPlate Aluminium

Significantly reducing capital investment and the total cost of making aluminium plates, a new Stylus Pro 7900CTP will be sold through selected Australian Epson dealers.

The inkjet system combines platemaking capability with normal inkjet printing. The unit comprises a 24-inch wide format Epson Stylus Pro 7900 printer with a heat-based plate curing unit and a small-plate guide attachment. It comes with 10 aluminium plates.

This completely water-based plate-making system enables true aluminium lithographic printing press plates to be created in a few minutes on the Epson printer with plate resolutions up to 175 lines per inch (lpi), producing sharp text and line art over press runs up to 20,000 impressions.

According to Epson's business unit manager, Craig Heckenberg, the hybrid system officially launches in Australia this week, giving printers the ability to produce aluminium plates primarily for one and two-colour presses. “For the past six months the overseas sales of this system have been fantastic.

“There has been a lot of interest from small printers wanting to produce plates inhouse and on aluminium. The fact that they can print proofs and posters is a bonus.

“We already have one site running the 7900CTP on a trial basis in Sydney, with great success. In some cases they’ve exceeded the 20,000 impressions the plates are rated for,” he says.


Epson claims its DirectPlate Aluminium technology has many advantages over polyester plates including producing sharper and better quality prints, being faster and more efficient from image separations to press. It is more affordable and more cost-effective to operate due to greater energy efficiency and virtually no maintenance costs.

The all-new high-resolution aluminium press plate is prepared using standard proprietary UltraChrome HDR Ink, and requires no chemical processing. This makes the production process much safer for operators with less local environmental impact than polyester plates.

Delivering cleaner solids and halftones than typical polyester plates, the Stylus Pro 7900CTP is suitable for one and two colour print jobs. As well as producing plates the system can also print colour proofs and posters up to 24-inches wide, offering a superior return on initial capital investment and more opportunities for income-generating output.