JPH06270380A - Waterless lithographic plate making method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a waterless lithographic plate making method in which a plate material excellent in ink repulsion suitable as a waterless plate can be used. CONSTITUTION:Print information is generated as a plate-making raster image signal by a raster image signal generation process 12. Based on the plate-making raster image signal, a droplet jet drive signal is generated in a drive signal generation process 13. Based on the droplet jet drive signal, ultraviolet-curing resin 15 that becomes lipophilic when cured is jetted in the form of a pattern towards a printing-ink repulsive, surface-treated lithographic plate material 11 by the droplet jet process. Subsequently, by the ultraviolet irradiation process 16, ultraviolet rays are projected on the pattern formed on the surface of the lithographic plate material by the use of the ultraviolet-curing resin.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a waterless lithographic plate making apparatus which ejects oleophilic droplets in a pattern on a surface which becomes ink repellent.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an offset printing plate made by forming an oleophilic pattern on an ink-repellent background is known as a waterless planographic printing plate.

In normal offset printing, water called dampening water is replenished to the plate surface during the printing process so that ink does not adhere to the background image area. However, the printing density varies depending on the amount of water, and It has an unfavorable effect such as emulsifying the ink.

On the other hand, in the waterless offset printing described above, the plate material itself has a sufficient ink resilience and the dampening water as described above does not occur. In order to simplify the printing apparatus and adjustment, its practical application is strongly desired.

FIG. 18 is a printing engineering handbook (Gihodo Publishing) P
It is a figure which shows the structure of the waterless planographic printing plate described in 494, and the example of plate-making process. Here, FIG. 18A shows a plate material 1.
The cross-sectional structure of is shown. In the figure, 2 is a substrate,
It is made of 0.1 to 0.3 mm aluminum plate, plastic sheet, paper, etc. Then, a photosensitive layer 3 having a thickness of several microns is provided on the substrate 2, a silicone rubber layer 4 having a thickness of several microns is provided thereon, and the surface thereof is protected by a cover film 5.

FIG. 18B shows an exposure process using such a plate material 1, in which a positive film 6 having a pattern to be printed is brought into close contact with the plate material 1 and ultraviolet rays are uniformly applied from the film 6 side. Irradiate 7. During the exposure with the ultraviolet rays 7, the light passing through the light transmitting portion of the film 6 acts on the photosensitive layer 3 to enhance the adhesive force between the silicone rubber layer 4 and the photosensitive layer 3 which are in contact with the photosensitive layer 3.

FIG. 18C shows the developing process.
The film 6 and the cover film 5 are removed, and the plate surface is moistened with the developing solution 8. Then, the silicone rubber layer 4 in the non-layered light portion swells and rises up from the photosensitive layer 3 and is removed by a weak external force. However, in the exposed portion, the silicone rubber layer 4 strongly adheres to the photosensitive layer 3. Therefore, the silicone rubber layer 4 remains as it is.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 18D, in the non-image area 9, the ink-repellent silicone rubber is present on the surface,
In the image area 10, a printing plate having an exposed ink-receptive photosensitive layer is obtained.

At the time of printing shown in FIG. 18 (e),
Although the ink is brought into contact with the entire surface of the plate by the roller, the ink is repelled at the silicone rubber portion, and the ink 11 adheres only at the image area of the photosensitive material. It is transferred onto the surface and lithographic printing is performed.

[0010]

However, in the construction of such a waterless planographic printing plate, the silicone rubber layer 4 and the photosensitive layer 3 which have a special interaction are required, and for that reason, that amount is required. However, the plate material becomes complicated and expensive. In addition, it is difficult to apply a silicone rubber layer 4 having a sufficiently high ink resilience because the mutual materials are restricted.
With respect to the photosensitive layer 3 as well, there is a limitation in increasing the photosensitivity, which is an obstacle to making a plate that is easy to make and has excellent characteristics.

Further, in the plate making process, a pattern-exposed positive film is required because it requires a patternwise exposure with ultraviolet rays 7. Therefore, not only a large film forming apparatus is required but also a large amount of film is required. Processing liquid is also required, and the work-in-progress time becomes long.

Then, the developing step shown in FIG.
Since it is a wet process, special equipment is required.
Further, it is far from satisfying the demand for directly making a printing plate from a digitized image data signal.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a waterless planographic printing plate making method capable of applying a plate material having excellent ink resilience suitable for a waterless planographic printing plate. To do.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a raster image signal forming step of forming print information as a plate image raster image signal, and a droplet ejection drive signal based on the plate image raster image signal formed by this step. A step of forming a drive signal, and an ultraviolet curable resin liquid showing lipophilicity by the curing of the lithographic printing plate surface-treated with printing ink repellent based on the droplet ejection drive signal formed in this process. It comprises a droplet jetting step of jetting in a pattern and an ultraviolet ray irradiating step of irradiating the pattern formed by the ultraviolet curable resin liquid on the surface of the planographic printing plate with ultraviolet rays.

[0015]

As a result, according to the present invention, a lipophilic pattern can be created directly from the plate-making raster image signal on the plate material without interposing a film and without going through a wet processing step. It can be a printing plate. In addition, since the droplets that form the pattern are UV curable liquids, they can be strongly adhered to the ink-repellent plate material surface by polymerizing and curing by UV irradiation, and thus a plate material with high ink-repellent property is used. It is possible to obtain a pattern having excellent printing durability.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a process explanatory view of the planographic printing plate making method of the first embodiment. In this case, as shown in the figure, the lithographic printing plate 1 first subjected to a surface treatment for repelling printing ink 1
Prepare 1.

Then, a raster image signal forming step 1 for plate making
A print pattern signal which is laid out by page 2 and assembled on one plate is formed in the form of a raster image signal. This signal is sent to step 13 of forming the head drive signal,
It is converted as a head drive signal for operating the droplet ejection head. Then, in the droplet ejection step 14,
Droplets are ejected in a pattern from the droplet ejection head in response to the drive signal generated in the plate image raster image signal forming step 12. At this time, in the droplet ejection of the droplet ejection head,
An ultraviolet curable liquid 15 having lipophilicity is applied by the curing.

Thus, a predetermined printing pattern is formed on the ink-repellent surface of the planographic printing plate material 11 by jetting the ultraviolet curable liquid in a pattern corresponding to the plate-making image signal.

Finally, in the UV light irradiation step 16, the pattern made of the ultraviolet curable ink is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to polymerize and cure the ink to form a strong pattern on the plate material 11 to form a lithographic printing plate. To complete. Next, equipment and materials applied to such a process will be described.

First, the planographic printing plate material 11 which has been subjected to a surface treatment for repelling printing ink applied to the embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 shows a sectional structure of the plate material 11.
Is the base sheet, and 112 is the ink repellent surface treatment layer.

The base sheet 111 is made of various materials such as paper, plastic sheet and aluminum plate, and preferably has a thickness of 0.1 to 0.3 mm.
The ink-repellent surface treatment layer 112 is formed by coating a fluorine resin or forming a coating layer of a polyorganosiloxane compound. The coating layer of polyorganosiloxane is formed, for example, as follows.

Vinyltriacetoxysilane, dibutyltin diacetate, etc. are added to dimethylpolysiloxane as a polymerization catalyst, a solvent is added, and the base sheet 111 is coated. Then, the coating amount is adjusted so that the dry film thickness after evaporation of the solvent is about 5 μm, and the mixture is left standing indoors to proceed with polymerization.

Alternatively, a solution obtained by dissolving a linear polysiloxane commercially available as an uncured silicone rubber liquid (for example, RTV118 and RTV108 manufactured by General Electric Co.) in heptane is applied, and after evaporation of the solvent, 50 to 8 is applied.
Polymerize by leaving it in an oven at 0 ° C. for 10 to 20 minutes.

Alternatively, to the solution of the linear diorganosiloxane, tin, zinc and other polyvalent metal organic carboxylic acid salts are added as a polymerization accelerating catalyst, followed by coating and drying, followed by heat polymerization. The coating amount is 20 g / m ^{2 as} dry weight. Is targeted.
Next, the ultraviolet curable resin liquid 15 will be described.

An industrial ink jet printer is an example in which an ultraviolet curable liquid is ejected from a droplet ejection head. Also in the present application, the ultraviolet curable ink applied to the industrial inkjet printer can be diverted. However, the application of the present application is not intended to make a visual image, so the mixing ratio of coloring components such as pigments or paints is reduced, and the quick-drying property generally required in industrial applications is not required, so the type of solvent is changed. It is preferable to change the formulation so that the viscosity of the solution does not easily change. The following are typical prescriptions. Pigment or dye Appropriate amount Sensitizer (amino compound or ketones) 2-15 (weight ratio) Oligomer prepolymer (EA, acrylic urethane, etc.) 20-50 (〃) Reactive monomer (PETA, TMPTA, etc.) 10-20 (〃) Additives (stabilizer, surfactant, etc.) 0.1-5 (〃) Organic solvent Appropriate amount Next, the details of each step will be described.

First, a raster image signal forming step 12 for plate making
In regard to this, the raster image signal forming step 12 for platemaking is a step centered on image signal processing by a personal computer, a workstation or the like. in this case,
The original image is a raster image signal read by a scanner, a pattern image signal created by computer graphics, or a raster image created by editing a font pattern by collating codes specified by character editing. There are signals, etc. Then, these image signals are inset and edited at the designated positions on the page. In this case, the gradation image is converted into a binary signal which forms a halftone dot so as to be suitable for printing, and the color image signal is subjected to a masking process for removing the tingling of the color of the printing ink.

When a plurality of pages are accommodated on one printing plate, a signal is generated in which the pages are laid out according to the order and orientation of the pages designated by the bookbinding process. All of these are carried out as work using a computer.

As another method, it is possible to use a scanner to read a master plate made by laminating the above-mentioned photographs and characters of each part on one sheet and use it as a raster image signal for plate making. It should be noted that a mark for print registration of each color, a pattern for measuring and adjusting print density, and the like are combined outside the image area to form a signal for platemaking.

Next, in the liquid droplet ejecting step 14, as a jet head to which the droplet jetting process is applied, a system called a charge control type which will be described in detail later is preferable. In this case, the droplet ejection step 1
In step 4, as shown in FIG. 3, the droplet jet head 141 and the plate material 11 are relatively moved to perform scanning, and
As a result of ejecting the liquid droplets in accordance with the head drive signal formed in, the pattern 14 made of the uncured ultraviolet curable resin liquid
2 will be formed.

Then, the process proceeds to the next UV light irradiation step 16,
To the uncured pattern 142 on the plate material 11, ultraviolet rays are radiated using an ultraviolet light source 161 as shown in FIG. 4 to polymerize and cure the ultraviolet curing liquid to oleophilic print pattern 143.
To get.

This pattern 143 is different from the pattern formed by simply leaving the solid component in the ink dissolved in the solvent and solidifying, and the action of adhering the plate surface and the pattern occurs during curing. The pattern is strong and strongly adhered to the plate surface and has printing durability.

The ultraviolet irradiation from the ultraviolet light source 161 can be collectively performed after the pattern formation is completed, or can be cured in parallel with the operation of forming the pattern from the part where the pattern formation is completed. Is.

Therefore, in this way, a lipophilic pattern is created and printed without directly interposing a film on the plate material 11 from the plate-making image signal and without going through a wet processing step. Be able to make a plate. In this case, since the liquid droplets that form the pattern are UV curable liquids, by polymerizing and curing by UV irradiation, the pattern is strongly adhered to the ink-repellent plate surface even on the surface that normally does not generate adhesive force. Can do things,
This makes it extremely suitable as an image area of a lithographic printing plate.
As a result, it is possible to use a plate material having high ink resilience, and it is possible to obtain a formed pattern having excellent printing durability.

The UV-curing liquid is required to become lipophilic after curing. However, unless a special non-adhesive compound such as polyorganosiloxane or fluorocarbon is used, ordinary ink or adhesive is used. A lipophilic pattern is obtained according to the method of treating the agent.

The lithographic printing plate thus obtained is
Applicable printing includes direct printing and direct printing in which the plate surface is brought into contact with the paper surface (direct method) and offset printing. In either case, the ink supplied from the roller repels in the non-image area and The ink is retained, and finally, the ink retained in the image area is transferred to the paper surface to perform printing. (Second embodiment)

In the above-mentioned first embodiment, in order to satisfy the contradictory requirements of firmly adhering the pattern forming the image area on the ink repellent surface, the pattern is formed by the ultraviolet curable droplets in the uncured state. They are made and then irradiated with ultraviolet light to be polymerized and cured.

However, in order to obtain a stronger adhesive force, it is better to spray the ultraviolet curable ink when the organosiloxane which forms the ink repellent surface is also in the uncured state, and to cure the both after forming the pattern. Good. FIG. 5 is a process explanatory view of the planographic printing plate making method of the second embodiment.

In FIG. 5, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 described above are designated by the same reference numerals. In this case, the printing ink-repellent planographic printing plate shown by reference numeral 17 uses an ink-repellent surface-treated layer coated with an uncured heat-polymerizable organopolysiloxane. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, an ink-repellent surface treatment layer 172 obtained by adding a catalyst for polymerization to linear polysiloxane or coarsely crosslinked polysiloxane is applied on a base sheet 171, and then a solvent is applied. Is kept in a vaporized state. More preferably, the surface may be covered with a protective cover film for blocking the atmosphere, and the cover film may be removed immediately before plate making.

Then, in the droplet jetting step 14, the ultraviolet curable ink is jetted onto the uncured surface of the plate material 17 to form a pattern, and in the UV light irradiation step 16, the pattern is irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

Next, in the heating step 18, the whole plate is heated to polymerize and cure the organosiloxane. FIG. 6 shows a heating process, in which a lamp 181 for heating the entire plate is used.
It shows that it is being heated by. It should be noted that the heating and the irradiation with ultraviolet rays may be performed in any step first, or may be performed simultaneously.

The polymerization and curing by the heating step 18 as described above, when the molecules at the boundary between the ink-repellent surface treatment layer 172 of the plate material 17 and the printing pattern portion are polymerized, the molecules on the other side are partially taken in. Also, a so-called "anchor ring" effect occurs, in which the molecules of both cure when they are intertwined with each other, resulting in strong adhesiveness.

Therefore, in this way, the ultraviolet curable resin liquid 15 is sprayed in a pattern on the lithographic plate material 17 coated with the heat-curable uncured organopolysiloxane compound, and the ultraviolet curable resin liquid pattern is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. The organopolysiloxane is cured by heating, and by further heating and curing by heating in the heating step 18, a strong ink repellent surface is obtained in the non-image area and at the same time in the image area. Since the uncured organopolysiloxane and the UV curable resin are cured from the state of contact, extremely strong adhesive force is obtained,
It is possible to create a lithographic plate that has excellent ink resilience in the non-image area and has printing durability. (Third embodiment)

In the second embodiment, the plate material coated with the uncured UV-curable organosiloxane compound is used, and the organosiloxane is polymerized and cured after the pattern formation.

In this case, the liquid droplets that form the pattern are also an ultraviolet curable liquid, and since a light source for curing the liquid is also required, it is possible to cure the organosiloxane using this light source. Further, since it is an ultraviolet ray curable type, it is possible to prolong the shelf life of the plate material without causing the curing to proceed naturally after the plate material is prepared. FIG. 7 shows a process explanatory view of the planographic printing plate making method of the third embodiment.

In FIG. 7, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 described above are designated by the same reference numerals. In this case, the printing ink-repellent planographic printing plate denoted by reference numeral 19 has a base sheet 191 coated with an ink-repellent surface treatment layer 192 of an uncured UV-curing organosiloxane compound as shown in FIG. There is. The ultraviolet-curable organosiloxane compound herein is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 39-39200. Specifically, an organopolysiloxane compound having at least one hydroxyl group bonded to a silicon atom,

[0046]

[Chemical 1] It is made by reacting an unsaturated compound represented by.

A base material 191 coated with a predetermined thickness on the base sheet 191 is used as a plate material 19, and in a droplet jetting step 14, a pattern is formed by ultraviolet curing droplets and then UV is applied. Ultraviolet light is irradiated from the light irradiation step 20 to polymerize and cure the pattern and the ink repellent layer. In this case, FIG. 8 shows the curing step by ultraviolet light in the UV light irradiation step 20, but the light source 201 here is commonly used for pattern curing.

Here, when curing only the pattern, the irradiation area can be limited to the pattern forming area, but in the above case, the entire area of the plate material 19 which may come into contact with ink must be irradiated. I have to.

Therefore, by doing so, the lipophilic UV-curable resin liquid 15 is sprayed in a pattern on the planographic material 19 coated with the UV-curable uncured organopolysiloxane, and then the UV irradiation is performed. In the non-image portion of the planographic printing plate material 19, the ink repulsion is excellent, and in the image portion, a plate having a large printing durability can be obtained because of strong adhesion between the pattern and the printing plate material. Moreover, the plate material and the printing pattern can be cured by a common ultraviolet light source, which is economically advantageous. (Fourth Embodiment) Next, the construction of a plate making apparatus for making a plate by jetting droplets in a pattern from the droplet jetting head toward the lithographic printing plate surface will be described.

Usually, in plate making, there is a proofreading step for checking whether the contents of the plate making are correct, prior to plate making or before printing, and various printers and the like can be used for this purpose. Has been.

However, since the printing and the printing by the printer are different in the image forming means, the finishes are significantly inconsistent, and it is difficult to correctly predict the finish state. Further, since the plate-making device and the calibrating device are separate devices, a large area is required for installation, and the price of the device is expensive.

Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, in a lithographic plate making apparatus for forming a lipophilic pattern on a lithographic plate material by using a droplet jetting head, the lithographic plate is surface-treated so as to have a printing ink repellent surface. A drum for supporting the plate material and the ink jet recording paper on the outer peripheral surface, a drum for main scanning rotation, and a droplet jetting head for applying a liquid that becomes lipophilic after solidification and jets droplets to the surface of the plate material in response to a platemaking image signal. A, an inkjet print head B that applies colored jet ink and ejects the ink onto the inkjet recording paper surface in response to a plate-making image signal, and a sub-scanning unit that moves the heads A and B in a direction along the axis of the drum. And a circuit for transmitting a page-layout plate-making image signal, a destination of the plate-making image signal for selectively driving the head A or the head B, and / or operation and suspension of the head drive circuit. It is constituted by a command means for switching.

According to this structure, most of the scanning mechanism and the image signal processing circuit for plate making and the scanning mechanism and the image signal processing circuit for printing for calibration can be shared.
The device can be made compact and the price can be reduced, and the contents of the proof print and the plate-making result can be made very close to each other. 9 and 10 show the schematic configuration of the fourth embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 901 denotes a plate-making droplet ejecting head A, 902 denotes an ink jet print head B, and these heads A901 and B902 are the moving scanning table 9.
03 and 904, respectively.

Reference numeral 905 is a main scanning drum.
5 is a planographic printing plate material 906 and an inkjet recording paper 907.
Can be wound and held, and the main scanning motor 908 is rotated to perform main scanning rotation.

The head A 901 and the head B 902 are
The movable scanning bases 903 and 904 are arranged so as to face the drum 905, and can be sub-scanned in a direction parallel to the axis of the drum 905 by a guide rail 909 and a lead screw 910. The sub-scan in this case is performed by rotating the lead screw 910 by the sub-scanning motor 911. Incidentally, the head A 901 and the head B
902 are spaced apart so as to face the plate material 906 and the recording paper 907, respectively.

A plate-making image signal circuit 912 receives a pattern signal for plate-making or forms a pattern signal. The plate-making image signal circuit 912 outputs a signal as a raster image signal. Upon receipt of this raster signal, the head A drive circuit 913 or the head B drive circuit 914 operates to operate the head A 901 and the head B 90.
2 is driven. Reference numeral 915 is a sub-scanning motor driver, and 916 is a main scanning motor driver.

Then, these drive circuits 913-91
Control circuit 917 to interlock mechanical operation control for 6 and flow of pattern signal and timing control.
Is controlled by. FIG. 11 shows the arrangement of heads and related members for jetting of plate-making droplets and inkjet printing suitable for application to the fourth embodiment.

In the figure, 1101 is a nozzle having an inner diameter of about 10 microns. Reference numeral 1102 denotes a piezoelectric vibrator, and a high frequency voltage is applied to its electrodes from a power supply 1103. Reference numeral 1104 is a charging electrode, which is a pattern signal source 1
105, that is, the head driver circuit 91 shown in FIG.
3, 914 outputs are provided to control the charge of the droplets. Deflection electrodes 1106 and 1107 are
One is grounded and the bias voltage is applied to the other from the power supply 1108.

A gutter 1109 collects the liquid droplets deflected by the deflection electrodes. The collected liquid is stored in the container 111.
No. 0, and the nozzle 110 by the pressure pump 1111 again.
It is pumped to 2. The collected solution may not be reused in order to prevent clogging.

Thus, the liquid ejected from the nozzle 1101 in a string-like shape is divided into droplets by the vibration of the piezoelectric vibrator 1102. Then, at the moment of this division, the electrode 1104
If a voltage is applied from the pattern signal source 1105, the droplets are charged by electrostatic induction, and if the electrodes are at the ground potential, the droplets are not charged. The non-charged droplets go straight without being deflected and adhere to the surface of the planographic printing plate material to form a printing image area, and in the case of ink, they adhere to the recording paper surface to form an image.

In this case, when the nozzle 1101 having an inner diameter of about 10 microns is used, the plate-making droplets or ink forms dots of about 15 microns, and the signal response speed of the head is as high as 1 MHz. Therefore, an extremely high-definition print pattern or print image can be created at high speed.

Returning to FIGS. 9 and 10, the plate material 906 and the recording paper 907 are wound around the drum 905, and the head A 901 corresponding to them holds the plate-making liquid. Ink for inkjet printing is applied to the other head B902.

The signals for plate making and printing are output from the plate making image signal circuit 912 and supplied to the head A drive circuit 913 and the head B drive circuit 914, respectively. The control circuit 917 outputs a command to operate either one of the heads.

The plate-making droplets or ink ejected from the head A 901 and the head B 902 are respectively rotated by the main scanning rotation of the drum 905, so that the plate material 906 and the recording paper 9 are respectively discharged.
It is formed as one scanning line on 07, and the scanning area is expanded in a plane by the feeding in the sub-scanning direction by the rotation of the sub-scanning motor 911.

Therefore, in this way, the jetting of the plate-making liquid onto the planographic printing plate material 906 and the jetting of jet ink onto the recording paper 907 are operated by signals from the same signal source, and the main scanning and the sub-scanning are performed. Since the same feeding mechanism is used, the result of the plate making 906 and the result of printing on the recording paper 907 are in very good agreement, and a print that is well suited to the purpose of calibration is obtained. That is, according to the apparatus of the fourth embodiment, the plate making apparatus and the proof printing apparatus are both used, and the image signal circuit and the scanning mechanism are commonly used. Therefore, the apparatus is compact and low-priced as compared with the case where they are separately manufactured. Can be used as a device. Also, by sharing many parts of the scanning and image signal processing circuits,
Since the same pattern as the plate-making pattern is printed on the recording paper before the planographic printing plate is used for calibration, it is possible to prevent plate-making mistakes in advance. (Fifth Embodiment) In the case of an apparatus capable of producing a stencil and a proof print, the proof print is produced prior to the stencil making, so that it is not necessary to produce the stencil and the proof print at the same time.

Therefore, in the fifth embodiment, in comparison with the fourth embodiment described above, the lithographic printing plate material or ink jet recording paper can be selectively attached at substantially the same position on the main scanning drum.

According to such a configuration, the size of the main scanning drum and the size of the sub-scanning feed mechanism of the head are reduced, and the size of the device is the same as that of an apparatus for independently making a plate or a printing apparatus. It can be used for both plate making and proof printing. FIG. 12 shows a schematic configuration of the fifth embodiment.

In the figure, 1201 is a main scanning drum,
The main scanning drum 1201 has a holding means for winding and holding the planographic printing plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1203, but cannot hold the planographic printing plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1203 at the same time.

A moving scanning table 1204 holds a plate making droplet jetting head 1205 and an ink jet print head 1206 adjacent to the moving scanning table 1204. In addition, the movable scanning table 1204 is provided with the guide rail 12
It is supported by 07 and the lead screw 1208, and is movable in the sub-scanning direction.

The plate-making droplet jetting head 1205 and the ink jet print head 1206 are respectively the head A.
Drive circuit 1209 and head B drive circuit 121
0, and both are the same platemaking signal circuit 12
A print pattern and a proof print according to the signal from 11 are created.

The control circuit 1212 is used for the plate making droplet jetting head 1205 or the ink jet print head 12.
A command to operate either one of 06 is output.

In this case, even if the plate making droplet jetting head 1205 or the ink jet print head 1206 is arranged adjacent to each other, the writing position in the sub-scanning direction is different. Therefore, if the mounting positions of the plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1203 on the main scanning drum 1201 are displaced as shown in the figure, platemaking or printing can be performed at an appropriate position without special control for cueing. Can be out.

Therefore, by doing so, the lithographic printing plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1203 on the main scanning drum 1201.
Is wound at almost the same position, the length of the main scanning drum 1201 does not become so large. Correspondingly, the plate-making droplet jetting head 1205 or the inkjet print head 1206 is also adjacent to the one movable scanning table 1
As it can be placed on the 204, guide rails 1207
The lengths of the same, etc. can be made substantially equal to the length of the drum, and the overall structure is more compact than that of the device of the fourth embodiment. That is, according to the apparatus of the fifth embodiment, the apparatus supporting the planographic printing plate and the recording paper is shared, so that the apparatus can be made extremely compact. (Sixth embodiment)

By the way, if a compact structure like that of the above-mentioned fifth embodiment is adopted, a problem occurs in operation. For example, since the plate material and the recording paper are wound at substantially the same position on the drum, if the type is erroneously determined, the print ink may be jetted onto the plate material or the plate-making droplets may be formed on the recording paper. Will be sprayed.

Therefore, in the sixth embodiment, as compared with the fourth embodiment, a means for detecting the lithographic plate material sheet and the ink jet recording paper mounted on the drum and generating a discrimination signal,
A means for selecting the heads A and B and / or a means for determining the matching between the heads and the sheet type is provided.

According to such a configuration, the type of the sheet mounted on the main scanning drum is automatically discriminated, and it is discriminated whether the head is to be operated or not, or the head is automatically designated. Can be operated. FIG. 13 shows a schematic configuration of the sixth embodiment.

In FIG. 13, the same parts as those in FIG. 12 are designated by the same reference numerals. Further, a lithographic printing plate sensor 1301 and a recording paper sensor 1302 and a discrimination circuit 1303 are added as parts different from FIG.

In this case, the sensors 1301, 1302
Is, for example, using a photo sensor, the main scanning drum 12
01, the plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1203 are changed in reflectance.

As a result, the outputs from the sensors 1301 and 1302, which detect the reflected light from the surfaces of the main scanning drums 1201, the plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1203, are processed by the discrimination circuit 1303 to detect the sheets on the drums. Presence / absence and type of sheet can be discriminated.

Then, the result of this judgment is used as the control circuit 121.
If the head selection is previously designated by the control circuit 1212, it is possible to determine the suitability of the head selection. If they do not match, an alarm is generated, the operation of the device is stopped, or the designation is performed. To change. Or control circuit 1
When 212 is in an instruction waiting state, a head from the discrimination circuit 1303 can be automatically selected. Although two sensors are used in FIG. 13, it is also possible to detect with one sensor by utilizing the difference in reflectance or transmittance between the planographic printing plate material and the recording paper.

Therefore, in this way, the lithographic printing plate material 1202 and the recording paper 1 held on the main scanning drum 1201.
Since the discrepancy between the selection of 203 and the head to be operated can be known in advance, the planographic printing plate material 1202 and the recording paper 120
It is possible to prevent the mistaken combination of the ejection of the plate-making droplet and the ejection of the ink with respect to No. 3. (Seventh embodiment)

In the case of proofreading for a color separation plate for color printing, a proofing printer requires superposition printing of four colors, and for platemaking, a platemaking for each color is required. .

Therefore, in the seventh embodiment, the ink jet print head of the sixth embodiment is composed of a plurality of heads for ejecting inks of black, cyan, magenta and yellow. FIG. 14 shows a schematic configuration of the seventh embodiment.

In the figure, 1401 is a main scanning drum, and 1
Reference numerals 402 and 1403 are planographic printing plates or ink jet recording paper. Reference numeral 1404 denotes a liquid droplet jetting head for plate making,
Reference numerals 5A, 1405B, 1405C and 1405D are inkjet print heads to which inks of respective colors for color printing are applied. And 1406 is a movable scanning table,
Reference numeral 1407 denotes a guide rail, 1408 denotes a lead screw, and these members constitute a main / sub scanning mechanism.

Further, 1409 is a drive circuit for the head A. Furthermore, 1410A, 1410B, 1410C,
1410D is a drive circuit for each color of the color print head. These are 1410A for black, 1410B for cyan,
1410C corresponds to magenta, and 1410D corresponds to a yellow head.

Reference numeral 1412 is a color separation image signal circuit for forming or receiving image signals of each color of the color separation plate. This signal is sent through the plate image signal distribution circuit 1411 to the drive circuit 1409, drive circuits 1410A, 1410B, 14
It is distributed to 10C and 1410D. Then, these controls are performed by the control circuit 1413.

However, when performing full-color printing for calibration, the recording paper 1403 is placed on the drum 1401.
To wind. Then, in response to a command from the control circuit 1413, the plate-making image distribution circuit outputs image signals of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow plates to 1410A, 1410B, and 1410.
C, 1410D to the color inkjet printhead driver. At this time, since the nozzle positions of the heads of the respective colors are displaced in the sub-scanning direction, the timings of the image signals of the respective colors are adjusted and transmitted.

On the other hand, in the case of performing monochromatic printing for proofreading, the recording paper 1403 is wound around the drum 1401, but as the color separation print signal, a signal of one designated color is controlled by the distribution circuit 1411. Is sent to the drive circuit specified by.

In the case of lithographic printing plate, one of the color-separated lithographic signals is sent to the head A drive circuit 1409, and the lithographic printing plate 1402 wound on the drum 1401 is jetted with the plate-making liquid.

Therefore, in this way, the plate-making head 1404, the heads 1405A to 1405D to which inks of respective colors for color printing are applied, the color separation image signal circuit 1412 and the plate-making image signal distribution circuit 1411 are provided. By doing so, it is possible to freely perform full-color printing, single-color printing and lithographic printing for proofing, and it is possible to obtain proof printing in the state of a full-color image in which each color is overlaid, and to carry out plate making from the same signal. It is possible to improve the degree of agreement between proofing and plate making. (Eighth Example)

The advantage of performing the lithographic plate making and the proof printing with the same apparatus is that the image quality of the plate making and the image quality of the proof match well. However, in the case of color printing calibration, a difference in color reproduction occurs due to the fact that the spectral characteristics of the printing ink do not match the spectral characteristics of the ink of the printer, which causes inaccuracy in the calibration.

Therefore, in the eighth embodiment, a color separation image signal circuit for forming or receiving a color separation image signal for plate making and a color separation image signal for color printing are formed or received for the apparatus of the seventh embodiment. A color separation image signal circuit for color printing is provided.

With this arrangement, the color of the printing ink and the color of the ink of the color printer are different from each other so that the color reproduction that is the same as or close to the color reproduction obtained as a result of the color printing with the printing ink can be obtained. A corrected print signal is produced and the print color can be corrected. Figure 15
Shows a schematic configuration of the eighth embodiment. FIG. 15 shows FIG.
The same parts as those in 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals. And in FIG.
The color separation signal circuit 150 for printing is different from
1 is provided.

This color separation signal circuit for printing 1501
Is a color correction calculation for the print image signal so that the part where the print color does not match the color of the print image is corrected because the spectral characteristics of the color material of the printer ink differ from the spectral characteristics of the print ink. To form a color separation signal for printing, or to receive a signal thus produced.

When a full-color print for proofreading is produced, a signal from the print color separation signal circuit 1501 is distributed to the head drive circuits of respective colors by the image signal distribution circuit 1411 to produce a print. Further, in the case of performing planographic plate making, the signal from the color separation plate image signal circuit 1412 is supplied to the head A drive circuit 1 via the image signal distribution circuit 1411.
409 to drive the head 1404 to drive the drum 1
The plate-making droplets are jetted onto the plate material 1402 wound around 401.

Accordingly, in this way, an image signal processing system is provided which has a common scanning mechanism and image signal processing portion as the plate making device and the calibration printing device, and which corrects the spectral characteristic difference between printing and printing ink. Since the proof print is obtained via the proof print, the proof print extremely close to the printing result can be obtained. That is, according to the apparatus of the eighth embodiment, the color difference between the printing ink and the ink for color inkjet printing is corrected, so that the quality of the proof color print is more consistent with the finished color of the printing. You can let me do it. (Ninth embodiment)

Next, an apparatus configuration for speeding up planographic printing will be described. In the case of a plate making device that ejects droplets to form a print pattern, there is a limit to the response speed of the head,
When the head is operated at the limit speed, the plate making time becomes long in proportion to the plate area. For applications such as color printing plates that require four plates for one printing, shortening the plate making time is an important requirement.

Therefore, in the ninth embodiment, in a lithographic plate making apparatus which forms a lipophilic pattern on a lithographic plate material by using a droplet jet head, a lithographic plate surface-treated so as to be repulsive to printing ink is used. A plurality of materials are held in the axial direction on the outer peripheral surface, a drum that rotates in the main scanning direction and a liquid that becomes lipophilic after solidification are applied, and droplets are ejected onto the plate material surface in response to a platemaking image signal. ,
A plurality of droplet ejecting heads arranged at positions corresponding to the plurality of plate materials, a sub-scanning unit for moving each droplet ejecting head in a direction along the drum axis, and a plurality of driving each droplet ejecting head. Of the drum circuit and a plate-making signal circuit for feeding different plate-making signals to the drive circuit.

According to such a structure, the drum for supporting the plate material, the rotation driving means, the sub-scanning moving mechanism of the liquid droplet ejecting head, and the like are commonly used and commonly used, and a plurality of plates are simultaneously processed. It is possible to reduce the time required for plate making without making the apparatus too large and expensive.
FIG. 16 shows a schematic configuration of the ninth embodiment.

In the figure, 1601 is a main scanning drum,
The lithographic printing plate materials 1602 and 1603 are wound and held. 16
Reference numerals 04 and 1605 are heads for ejecting the plate-making liquid, and reference numerals 1606 and 1607 are moving scanning bases for supporting the heads and moving them in the sub-scanning direction.

The movable scanning bases 1606 and 1607 are moved by a guide rail 1608 and a lead screw 1609 in a direction parallel to the axis of the drum 1601. 1610 is a main scanning motor that rotates the drum 1601, and 1611 is a sub-scanning motor that rotates the lead screw 1609.

Reference numeral 1612 denotes a head A drive circuit for driving the head 1604, which operates in response to a signal from the plate-making image signal circuit A 1614, and 1613 denotes the head 16.
The head B drive circuit for driving the No. 05 is operated in response to a signal from the plate-making image signal circuit B1415. Reference numeral 1618 denotes a control circuit which controls the operation of the scanning means such as the sub-scanning motor drive circuit 1616 and the main scanning motor drive circuit 1617 and the operation of each of the above image signal circuits.

Then, the plate-making image signal circuits 1614 and 1
When signals of different contents such as image signals of respective colors for color separation plates are sent from 615, different plates can be simultaneously and simultaneously made, and for example, plate making for color separation can be carried out in a short time. I can do things. Further, by sending image signals having the same contents from the plate-making image signal circuits 1614 and 1615, a plurality of the same plates can be simultaneously produced, and the breeding plate can be efficiently performed.

Therefore, in this manner, a plurality of plates can be simultaneously and simultaneously produced by the same apparatus, so that plate making efficiency in a situation where a plurality of plates are required for one printing such as color plate making. Can be increased. (Tenth Embodiment) In the ninth embodiment described above, an apparatus capable of simultaneously executing a plurality of plate making by sharing the main part of the scanning mechanism is realized.

By the way, it is important to shorten the printing time also when making a proof print, and in particular, it is often the case that the number of prints needs to be several to ten or more. Even if the print time is not a problem if it is created, it takes a long time to create all the prints.

Therefore, in the tenth embodiment, a drum which holds the ink jet recording paper and rotates in the main scanning direction, a print head which is arranged so as to face the drum and ejects printing ink, and the print head are arranged in the drum axial direction. In an inkjet printer including a sub-scanning unit for moving and a drive circuit for driving a print head, a plurality of inkjet recording papers, a drum capable of holding the inkjet recording paper in the axial direction of the drum, and a plurality of the above-mentioned drums are provided. A plurality of inkjet print heads arranged at positions corresponding to the recording paper holding position, sub-scanning means for simultaneously moving the print heads in the direction along the drum axis, and driving by supplying the same image signal to each print head The image signal circuit and the drive circuit are provided.

According to this structure, a plurality of prints can be simultaneously produced by sharing the main scanning drum, the scanning means for the main scanning drum, the sub-scanning moving mechanism, etc., and the apparatus becomes large and expensive. It can be prevented. FIG. 17 shows a schematic configuration of the tenth embodiment.

In the figure, 1701 is a main scanning drum,
A plurality of inkjet recording papers 1702 are arranged in the axial direction.
It is made so as to be able to hold 1703, and is designed to rotate in the main scanning by receiving the rotational force of a main scanning motor (not shown). Reference numerals 1704 and 1705 denote color print heads, which are a unit in which print heads to which inks of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are applied are integrated.
Reference numerals 1706 and 1707 denote moving scanning bases, and the main scanning drum 17
No. 01 is supported so as to be opposed to No. 01, and is spaced apart so as to be aligned with the positions of the recording paper distributed in the drum axial direction.
Reference numerals 1708 and 1709 denote a guide rail and a lead screw that support and convey the movable scanning table.
Reference numeral 709 is connected to a sub-scanning motor (not shown).

Reference numerals 1710 and 1711 denote drive circuits for driving the respective print head units, which are constructed so that the print heads 1704, 1705 for the respective colors can be independently moved. A print color separation image signal circuit 1712 sends out print image signals of each color of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

In this way, the signal from the common print image signal circuit 1712 is sent to the plurality of print head drive circuits, the plurality of print heads are simultaneously driven, and the plurality of calibration prints are simultaneously produced. become. This makes it possible to simultaneously produce a plurality of prints by sharing the main scanning drum, its scanning means, the sub-scanning moving mechanism, etc., which prevents the apparatus from becoming large and expensive.

Therefore, in such a case, it is usually desired to print out the same pattern on a plurality of sheets for the purpose of calibration, which requires a long time. According to this, it is possible to realize an apparatus that shares a scanning unit and an image signal circuit and efficiently creates a plurality of prints while preventing the apparatus from becoming complicated and large.

[0113]

According to the present invention, a lipophilic pattern is directly formed on a plate material directly from a raster image signal for plate making without interposing a film and without making an intermediate film for plate making. Thus, simplified waterless plate making can be realized. In this case, waterless lithographic printing plate making can be performed without interposing a wet treatment process.
In addition, since the droplets that create the pattern are UV curable liquids, they can be strongly adhered to the ink-repellent plate material surface by polymerizing and curing by UV irradiation, which makes it possible to obtain a plate material with high ink-repellent property. By using these simple and inexpensive materials, it is possible to obtain a pattern which is less likely to cause scumming and has excellent printing durability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating steps of a planographic printing plate making method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a plate material.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a droplet jetting process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a UV light irradiation step.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating steps of a planographic printing plate manufacturing method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a droplet jetting process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating steps of a planographic printing plate making method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a UV light irradiation step.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an arrangement of a head and related members for jetting plate-making droplets and inkjet printing applied to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an eighth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a ninth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a tenth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a view showing a structure of a conventional waterless planographic printing plate and an example of a plate making process.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Plate material for lithographic plate, 12 ... Raster image signal forming step for plate making, 13 ... Head drive signal forming step, 14 ... Droplet ejecting step, 15 ... UV curable liquid, 16, 20 ... UV light irradiating step, 17, 19 ... Plate material for lithographic plate, 18 ... Heating step, 90
1 ... Plate making droplet jetting head A, 902 ... Inkjet print head B, 903, 904 ... Moving scanning table, 90
5 ... Drum, 906 ... Planographic printing plate material, 907 ... Ink jet recording paper, 908 ... Main scanning motor, 909 ... Guide rail, 910 ... Lead screw, 911 ... Sub-scanning motor, 912 ... Plate making signal circuit, 913 ... Head A drive Circuit, 914 ... Head B drive circuit, 915 ... Sub-scanning motor driver, 916 ... Main scanning motor driver, 917 ... Control circuit, 1101 ... Nozzle, 1102 ...
Piezoelectric vibrator 1103 ... Power source, 1104 ... Charging electrode, 1105 ... Pattern signal source, 1106, 1107 ...
Deflection electrodes, 1108 ... Power source, 1109 ... Garter, 111
0 ... container, 1111 ... pressurizing pump.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A raster image signal forming step of forming print information as a plate image raster image signal, and a drive signal forming step of forming a droplet ejection drive signal based on the plate image raster image signal formed by this step. , Droplet ejection that ejects UV curable resin liquid that is oleophilic by patterning onto the planographic printing plate material that has been subjected to surface treatment with printing ink repulsion based on the droplet ejection drive signal formed in this step A waterless planographic printing plate making method comprising: a step of irradiating a pattern formed by an ultraviolet curable resin liquid on the surface of the planographic printing plate with ultraviolet rays.