LETTERPRESS

PRINTING

DJP6052 – PRINTING FOR

PACKAGING
PREPARED BY : GIHA BINTI
TARDAN
 APPLICATIONS
 Letterpress printing is the classic printing technique
that descends from the middle ages wooden block
printing and Gutenberg’s first printing press.

 The technique based on image carrier having printing

areas separated from from non-printing by a different in
elevation, just like the stamp.

 Today’s letterpress printing presses use in principle the

same technique as when the first printing press was
built.

 Typical products printed with letterpress printing

processes include business cards, letterhead, proofs,
billheads, forms, posters, announcements, imprinting,
embossing and hot-leaf Stamping.
PROCESS OVERVIEW
Letterpress is the oldest method of printing with equipment
and images printed by the "relief" type printing plates where
the image or printing areas are raised above the non-printing
areas.
The use of letterpresses is on the decline being replaced
with faster and more efficient printing presses such as the
offset lithographic press or the flexographic press.
The amount of setup required to prepare the equipment to
print a job is significant. For example, the image must be
metal cast prior to print versus offset printing plates which
are comparatively cheaper and require less time to make.
 The Letterpress Printing Technique

1. The substrate being printed travels between the rotating

plate cylinder and the impression cylinder.
2. The printing pressure is adjusted by increasing or
decreasing the plate cylinder pressure to the pressure.
3. There is very little’ give’ in the printing plate, so in order to
achieve a good ink film transfer and a sharp image.
4. The pressure between the printing plates and the
impression cylinder or flatbed requires a very careful
setting.
5. Careful balance of pressure between the plate and
impression roll is crucial as it determines the print quality.
6 Letterpress printing uses a paste ink held in an ink
duct and this is transferred to the surface of the
printing plate through a series of in distribution
rollers.
7. These distribution rollers rotate and oscillate from
side to side, breaking down the ink film and
ensuring that correct ink film weight ink is
deposited on the printing plates with each
revolution of the
Gutenberg
Printing Press
Letters
Letterpress Equipment Design

There are three different types of letterpress printing devices in use today:
 platen,
 flat-bed,
 and rotary presses.
The two most common types of letterpress presses,
 the unit-design perfecting rotary press
 And the rotary letterpress typically used for magazine printing.
3 types of letterpress printing
Letterpress a. Platen-type Letterpress Printing
Equipment Design
1) Made up of two flat surfaces; bed and the
platen.

2) The platen provides a smooth backing for

the paper to be printed.

3) The platen is raised to be locked onto a

flat surface.

4) The plate is inked, the substrate is placed

on bed and pressed against the inked
plate producing the impression.

5) The platen and bed carry both the paper

and the type form.

6) The press then opens and closes like a

clam shell.

7) The plate is inked with an inking roller

that transfers ink from an inking plate to
the image carrier.

8) Ink is placed on the inking plate by an ink

fountain roller.
 (b) Flat-Bed Cylinder Letterpress Printing
(1) use either vertical or horizontal beds.
(2) the plate is locked to a bed which
passes over an inking roller and then
against the substrate.
(3) The cylinder moves over the bed while
in vertical position so both the bed
holding the substrate and cylinder move
up and down in a reciprocating motion. A flatbed cylinder (letter)press like the one I
use is basically composed of four things:
(4) Ink is supplied to the plate cylinder by
(1) The feedboard, where you get your paper
an inking roller and an ink fountain.
ready to feed it into the press,
(5) The presses can print either one or (2) the bed, where your type, linoleum cut,
two-color impressions. printing plate or other inked surface lies
waiting,
(3) the rollers, which distribute the ink evenly
and put ink on your type/lino cut/plate, and
(4) the cylinder, which generally turns with a
crank, rolls over the type/lino cut/plate, and
presses your paper against the inked
surface.
(c) Rotary Letterpress Printing

1) There are two types of rotary

letterpresses; sheet-fed and web-fed.
i. In sheet-fed machines, single
sheet of paper are automatically
fed into the machine and printed
individually.
ii. In a web-fed machine, a
continuous roll of paper is fed
through the machine.
2) Both types of machines can print up to
four colours on both sides of the paper
at once. The paper goes through a
different set of plates for each colour.
Some machines can also cut up the
sheets and fold them into pages.
3) Modern printing machines , like the web-offset press, can print, trim
and fold sheets of paper automatically .

4) The type surface is linked by huge rollers and large rolls of paper are
fed into the press .

5) The fastest presses, rotary presses, cam print on the both side of of
the paper at the same time.
6) Like all rotary presses, rotary letterpress requires curved image
carrying plates.

7) The most popular types of plates used are stereotype, electrotype, and
molded plastic or rubber.

8) When printing on coated papers, rotary presses use heat-set inks and
are equipped with dryers, usually the high-velocity hot air type.

9) Web-fed rotary letterpress presses are used primarily for printing

newspapers.

10) These presses are designed to print both sides of the web
simultaneously.

11) Typically, they can print up to four pages across the web; however,
some of the new presses can print up to six pages across a 90-inch web.

12)Rotary letterpress is also used for long-run commercial, packaging,

book, and magazine printing.
Vandercook SP-20

In this press’s

first life it
probably pulled
proofs of pages
for a daily
newspaper.

Today, these
presses are
sought after for
their quality and
large printing size.
Polymer plates are produced using a
photographic process.

The digital design is output to a film as

a negative, and then exposed to a
polymer plate using UV light.
POLYMER PLATES
The polymer plate is made of a light-
sensitive, water-soluble plastic with a
clear backing.

The portion of the plate that are

exposed through the clear parts of the
film hardens, and what is not washes
away.

What remains is a raised surface in the

shape of the design.

A separate plate is produced for every

color being printed, and the paper is run
through the press at least once for each
color in the design.
The plate is
affixed to a
machined metal
base which is in
turn locked into
the press.
 The press is inked. Even the inking process has to be done
carefully.

 Too much ink will produce a sloppy print.

 Too little, and the color will not be solid.

Printing begins. This
plate prints an area
half size of the sheet.

The sheet of paper is

hand fed through the
press twice, once
from each end of the
paper.
The ink is allowed to
dry and the next day the
press is inked up in red.

Differences in
pressure and the
amount of ink can
dramatically affect the
printed color.

Adjustment are made

to produce the desired
color, and the print run
is checked periodically
to be sure the color is
consistent.
This design, has cross-hair
trim marks made into the
plate that serve not only as
cutting guides, but printing
guides as well.

After this print run dried, a

third printing run was made
on the reverse of the pages.
Printing Blocks and Type

Images carriers for letterpress consist;

set type or printings blocks or both.

When setting type you build a layout

using separate pieces of type, one piece
of type for every symbol, and placed
together, creating a printing mould.

The typeset printing mould can be

compliment with printing blocks that
cannot be set in with the other type.

When use printing blocks, it use

graphic film and a base material to build
the block on. The base material consist;
magnesium covered with light-sensitive
coating.
 Ink

The ink use for letterpress printing exactly like ink used in offset
printing, an oil-based ink consisting of pigment and a binding agent.
Today black offset ink and black letterpress ink are used
interchangeably in letterpress printing.
Differences characteristics between offset and letterpress inks.

Offset ink; does not have to be attracted to the printing form’s

printing surfaces the way offset ink should be attracted to the
printing surfaces of the offset plate.
Letterpress ink is more fluid, less sticky and doesn’t require the
same surface strength that offset paper does.
Letterpress ink dries exactly the way offset ink does in two stages.

i.When it sets and the oil in the ink is absorbed by the paper and the
ink forms a gel

ii.Through oxidation, when ink reacts to the oxygen in the air.

ADVANTAGES OF LETTERPRESS PRINTING

i. Good color density

ii. Extended plate life
iii. Good printing of type and solids and sharp edge
definition
iv. No ink and water balance problems
v. Suitable for sheet-fed and web-fed printing
vi. Good legibility of text even on uncoated papers.
 Disadvantages

i. Limited tonal reproduction

ii. Minimum printable dot(3-5%)
iii. Not suitable for thin filmic
iv. Relatively hig printing plate cost
v. Poor tonal reproduction when compared with
offset litho
vi. Relatively coarse screen rulings have to be used
for tonal reproduction
Today letterpress is used mainly for business cards,
correspondence cards, invitations, stationery, receipt forms,
numbered blank forms and etc so called commercial printing.
MACHINE USED FOR LETTERPRESS
1.
2.
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