Film printers Blast from the pass?

[3Deep]

Do any of you remember the first film printers back in the day like the imagesetter, oyo, xante etc. which I think were all laser/thermal printers? when I first got into screen printing I was doing my film with vellum on a laser printer and stacking for D-max, the nice printers were just out of my price range, until one day I was looking through a ScreenPrinter mag and saw the epson inkjet 3000.  It printed up to a whopping 17 x 22 film and was call the poor mans imagesetter at the time and they were using a film call Posjet, and the funny thing is I still could not afford that printer, I spoke with David the inventor of Posjet and he told me the epson 1450 was the next best printer but would only print 13x19 film.  Yep I bought that printer and a year later had me a 3000 I was in heaven, any of you still have or use one of those old imagesetters or has inkjet printers taking over all the film printing market.  My reason for this post is I was looking at a youtuber taking about film printing and talking about different inkjet printers to do seps and then he said I don't know why some company has not made a printer just for seps.  Well I laughed and told him you must be young they already have many years ago before inkjet became King of film.

[Orion]

For sure old school D. I remember stacking weak vellum. I also remember using that toxic "Toner Aide" aerosol spray to darken the toner on the vellum. Yuk! From that there was a big leap to an Oyo thermal imagesetter. I have worked with wet film systems that were awesome.

We have come a long way. Have been a CTS wax guy since 2010.

[Evo]

My reason for this post is I was looking at a youtuber taking about film printing and talking about different inkjet printers to do seps and then he said I don't know why some company has not made a printer just for seps.

Epson still offers screen print editions with bundled Accurip.

Ahh the 3000. I had 3 of them at any one time. 1 working, 2 for scavenging. In the mid 2010's you could go on Craig's List and find them in the free section fairly often.

[Evo]

Epson still offers screen print editions with bundled Accurip.

Or they *did*? Looks to be 100% discontinued.

[ebscreen]

Started with a 3000, went through more than a few of those. At some point got a hold of
an actual wet film imagesetter that would blow any imaging device out of the water but was a PITA
to process film dispose of chems etc.

I think the current Epson T series printers are the ones they are aiming at our market.
We're the backwater of the printing world and are treated as such.

[Frog]

Started with a real two room camera (along with halftone screens) before all of these new-fangled computers became the norm.

[Evo]

Started with a real two room camera (along with halftone screens) before all of these new-fangled computers became the norm.

Yep! I had Rubylith film, a swivel exacto knife, and ZERO patience for all of it.

[3Deep]

I bought a whole shop of equipment when we first started and in that equipment was a big ole camera and chems, didn't have a clue what or how to use it so the dumpster it went, inkjets have come a long way since I was using laser printers and copy machines to do seps.

[balloonguy]

Back in the 60's my parents had rubber plates made by the Miami Herald for offset printing on balloons. In the 80's they bought a plate maker and used film from a blueprint/lithograph company. They were the silver plate wet developed film. They were AWESOME and lasted forever. When I bought an oyo image setter they were blown away. I just bought an epson t3270 as the oyo is no longer in register. It is funny to go back to ink jet but I am really impressed with the quality.

[brandon]

For sure old school D. I remember stacking weak vellum. I also remember using that toxic "Toner Aide" aerosol spray to darken the toner on the vellum. Yuk! From that there was a big leap to an Oyo thermal imagesetter. I have worked with wet film systems that were awesome.

We have come a long way. Have been a CTS wax guy since 2010.

Oh man I hated that Toner Aide stuff. Super gross. I had to work with a Xante and always asked to get something better at the time. Working with Vellum was extremely PITA. Like film if I had to go back I would just leave.

[mk162]

I remember when my dad got our first stat camera.

We moved from that to the epson 3000 with a product called OpenRIP and it was insane how good that thing was. I ran 2 of them, one for job tickets and one for films. 

I bought ink by the gallon and had a bulk system hooked up to it.

I actually miss it.

[Sbrem]

Started with a real two room camera (along with halftone screens) before all of these new-fangled computers became the norm.

Same here, tray developing negatives, contact printing them in a contact vacuum frame to a positive, and tray developed that piece of film. Then Diffusion transfer came along eliminating the trays. We had a Xante LaserMaster for a while, then onto the inkjet printers. Making halftones with 3 exposures; highlight, shadow, and bump with a process camera was an art...

Steve

[Doug S]

Started with a real two room camera (along with halftone screens) before all of these new-fangled computers became the norm.

Yep! I had Rubylith film, a swivel exacto knife, and ZERO patience for all of it.

I remember watching my dad do this back in the 80's occasionally he would need halftones so he would go to the local publishing company and they would charge him $25 a film.  Alot of money at the time.

[Sbrem]

Started with a real two room camera (along with halftone screens) before all of these new-fangled computers became the norm.

Yep! I had Rubylith film, a swivel exacto knife, and ZERO patience for all of it.

I remember watching my dad do this back in the 80's occasionally he would need halftones so he would go to the local publishing company and they would charge him $25 a film.  Alot of money at the time.

Yes, that was pretty routine back then. I picked up a Kodak book on making halftones that really dug into it, and just followed the instructions, and tested, tested, tested...

Steve