Used Printing Machinery

Buying Used Printing Machinery from Roberts Graphics.

Here at Roberts Graphics we make the process of buying used printing machinery as simple as possible. Visit our main website to view our current stock or if you know what you want but can't find it or simply don't have the time to search then give us a call and we will be happy to source the printing machinery that matches your needs.

Our main categories of machinery include:

Used Web Offset Printing Machinery
Used Sheetfed Offset Machinery

Used Heidelberg Printing Machinery
Used Cutting and Creasing Machinery
Used Labels and Forms Machinery
Used Bindery and Finishing Machinery

What are the different types of printing machinery?

Offset Printing Machinery:

Offset printing replaced expensive and labour intensive raised metal type in the printing process with a photographic based system that uses a flat rubber mat to transfer an image onto paper. It was the predominant system for commercial printing from about 1960 into the beginning of the 21st century.

Offset printing works because of hydrophobia, oil and water don't mix. A photographic image in created on a flat metal printing plate that has a grainy surface that holds liquids well. The 'image area' on that plate has a coating that is receptive to oil-based printing inks while the uncoated areas tend to accept water and repel ink. Roller systems on an offset press supply measured amounts of ink and water to that plate allowing an image to form on it's flat surface. Other rollers transfer the image from the metal plate to a cylinder covered with a flat rubber mat called a 'blanket.' Finally, paper is delivered past the blanket cylinder and squeezed slightly against it by a third 'impression' cylinder. The ink transfers from the blanket to the paper and you have printed!

Web Offset Printing Machinery:

"Web-fed" refers to the use of rolls (or "webs") of paper supplied to the printing press. Offset web printing is generally used for runs in excess of 10 or 20 thousand impressions. Typical examples of web printing include newspapers, newspaper inserts/ads, magazines, catalogs, and books. Web-fed presses are divided into two general classes: "Cold" or "Non-Heatset," and "Heatset" offset web presses, the difference being how the inks that are used dry. Cold web offset printing is air dried, while heatset utilizes drying lamps or heaters to cure or "set" the inks. Heatset presses can print on both coated (slick) and uncoated papers, while coldset presses are restricted to uncoated paper stock, such as newsprint. Some coldset web presses can be fitted with heat dryers, or ultraviolet lamps (for use with uv-curing inks).

Sheet Fed Offset Printing Machinery:

"Sheet-fed" refers to individual sheets of paper or paperboard being fed into a press. A lithographic ("litho" for short) press uses principles of lithography to apply ink to a printing plate, as explained previously. Sheet-fed litho is commonly used for printing of short-run magazines, brochures, letter headings, and general commercial (jobbing) printing.

Some Usefull Links:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/printing/machine/

http://www.printweek.com/

http://www.drupa.de

Copywrite information:

Sections 'Sheet Fed Offset Printing Machinery' and 'Web Offset Printing Machinery': Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Section 'Offset Printing Machinery': Important notice: Some or all of this answer was written collaboratively by visitors to WikiAnswers. For reliable information of any sort, you must consult an officially qualified professional in your local area. You use this at your own risk. See the license and original question page for " http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_offset_printing?"

All other elements remain the Copyright © of Roberts Graphics

Firstly we would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. Here at Roberts Graphics we are all looking forward to an exciting year ahead and in particular our first exhibition of the year at Gulf Print 2009 in Dubai.

We will be exhibiting at Gulf Print from the 6th to the 9th of April so if you are in the area then why not come along and visit our stand UP102

Gulf Print 07 was a huge success, with a 137% growth in sold sqm, and the visitor numbers increased by 44%. Co located with its sister event, Gulf Pack over 12,000 decision makers passed through the doors in April 07, of which 7,920, specified that Gulf Print was their prime reason for attendance. With figures like these, it is clear that Gulf Print is the leading event for a vibrant market, and we look forward meeting customers both old and new!

Find out more here : http://www.gulfprint.info/exhibitor_list.php?id=R

Roberts Graphics are specialist suppliers of Used/Second Hand Printing Machinery. If you are curretly looking for printing equipment then we can help. We regularly source all types of printing machinery from bindery and finishing machines to cutting, creasing and labels equipment.
To find out our current stock then please visit our main web site. If you can't find what you are looking for then please let us know and we can use our extensive experiance in the industry to source and locate your ideall used printing machinery.

Used Printing Machines - http://www.robertsgraphics.co.uk/About.aspx