Offset Printing

Offset Printing Features

Offset Printing is a system derived from traditional lithography. It is called "Offset" and differs from the lithography in that it reproduces the image indirectly, since the image or text is not transferred to the surface to be printed directly.

Offset Printing Process

In this type of printing, an aluminum plate is partially wetted with water that repels ink in areas where there is no image (hydrophilic zone) and the rest of the plate takes ink in the other areas with the form of the motif to print previously recorded on it.

It is done using monochromatic plates, so that an iron must be created for each color to be printed.

Subsequently, it passes to a cylinder covered on its surface by a flexible material (blanket) that is usually made of rubber or silicone, which inks the offset cylinder, and subsequently transfers it, by pressure, to the surface to be printed (usually paper).

This type of printing has great quality since the rubber coating of the printing roller is able to impregnate with the ink surfaces that have irregular or rough, something that would not be possible with metal rollers.

At Pressing, we always incorporate the latest technologies to offer the best service and quality print to our customers.

That is why we have the machine Speedmaster CX 102 - which offers performance and productivity highand a wide range of print media.

Offset Printing Advantages

• The final image has a quality more clearly defined than with other printing systems. Details are reproduced in a 100% faithful manner.
• The speed printis very fast.
• The tweaks are very simple.
• It allows you to control the colors in detail, as well as the use of special inks, such as gold and silver.
• A good alignment, without fingerprints on the back of the print, or squash effect.
• It can be used on different surfaces and papers of different texture and thickness.
•  Aluminum plates are fast and easy production and its duration is high.
• In large production runs the price is lower than any other system.
• It is a mechanized process that offers great security.

Offset Printing vs Digital Printing

Don't worry if you don't know what technology to use, since our commercials will know how to advise you correctly. These are the questions that will define which technology to choose:

• Number of copies: If you need few copies of what you are going to print, it is appropriate to do it in digital. What do we mean by a few copies? If it is a book or catalog: from 4 copies up to 300 or 500 copies. If it is a flyer, poster, stapled brochure, leaflet, postcard, etc.: between 100 and 2,000 copies, depending on the size, number of pages, etc.
  From 500 catalogs or 2,000 brochures it is usually more appropriate to use offset printing because it is much cheaper and large runs can be made in less time.

• Urgency of work: The digital is very fast, the ink comes out dry and can be bound in the act. The offset printing process can take several days, you have to generate the plates, print, let the ink dry to avoid rubbing, and finally, bind. If you need to make 5,000 catalogs of 200 pages for tomorrow it is impossible in any of the systems, but surely we can make 50 or 100 copies in digital, use them for that important fair or meeting and then, with more time, do the rest of the run offset

• Print size: In our offset machines you can print sheets of 70 × 100 cm. Instead, the sheet size in digital is 50x70 cm. If you have to print a poster or a large magazine we will have to resort to offset even if they are few copies.

• Personalized printing with variable data: Numbered forms, with the name of the customer on the cover, with different types of cover or interiors, postcards with the printed address ... Anything you can think of can be done with digital printing with variable data, although they can combine both systems, such as printing the inside of the catalog in offset and the cover in digital.