Daylight AQ Negative Film used for making photopolymer rubber stamps

In article .com,
stampmaker
says...
Thanks very much for the ideas so far

Perhaps I need to explain myself a bit more.

We have been in business for 6 years now, we long ago bought and paid
for the equipment.

I should have explained the process a bit more.

We lay down a thin layer of liquid resin (about the consistency of
honey) between 2 glass sheets. The negative goes on top of this
sandwich. The resin is cured any where UV light shines through. The
uncured resin is scrubbed off to make the stamp.

The resin will cure in sunlight, but much slower. The machine uses
UVB "burn your eyes out" industrial lamps, and cures the resin rock
hard in less than 45 seconds.

I don't suppose a liquid crystal panel would block the UV?

On 10/1/2007 5:51 PM Rob Morley spake thus:

In article .com,
stampmaker
says...
Thanks very much for the ideas so far

Perhaps I need to explain myself a bit more.

We have been in business for 6 years now, we long ago bought and paid
for the equipment.

I should have explained the process a bit more.

We lay down a thin layer of liquid resin (about the consistency of
honey) between 2 glass sheets. The negative goes on top of this
sandwich. The resin is cured any where UV light shines through. The
uncured resin is scrubbed off to make the stamp.

The resin will cure in sunlight, but much slower. The machine uses
UVB "burn your eyes out" industrial lamps, and cures the resin rock
hard in less than 45 seconds.

I don't suppose a liquid crystal panel would block the UV?

Not nearly high enough resolution even if it did, I'd guess.

On 10/1/2007 4:47 PM stampmaker spake thus:

I am going to Google film setter to see what I can learn, that idea
sounds interesting.

After that, try looking on eBay for one, or better yet on Craigslist if
your area is covered there. Bet you can find one really cheap.

stampmaker wrote:

Somewhere I got the idea that this was an AGFA product, but I can't
find anything like it on their website.

Try:
http://www.agfa.com/en/sp/solutions/phototooling/copyline-dl_3p/index.jsp

It looks like what you want.

Peter.
--

stampmaker wrote:
You guys are sharp. As you suggest, another method is use photo shop
to make a negative and laser print it on transparency film. The
problem as you guessed is that the black must be totally dark and
dense, and this just eats toner cartridges. Small hobby users do just
this.

That may not be as big a problem as you think. Canon, who made the first
laser printers PC's did not make their printer's toner refillable. The
"toner" cartridges they sold (and still sell AFAIK) contain toner, an
imaging drum and several other parts. The retail cost of the toner is
less than 15% the cost of a cartridge, possibly less.

If you can find a laser printer where the toner can be refilled, or find
a cartridge refiller that will work with you, you can do it for far less
money.

Don Lancaster, who wrote many electronics engineering books, used to
publish instructions on how to refill toner cartridges around 1990.
I don't know if his website still has that information, but I'm sure
you can find that easily.

Depending upon how careful you are when refilling it, you can get 3-4
and with some printers as many as 10 refills out of a cartridge before
the drum fails.

Another way to do it is to rent/buy a copier where you only add toner
to it. The per page cost of these is relatively low. You print out the
"artwork" a regular printer and then copy it using the copy machine.

The other possibility is an inkjet printer. My GUESS is that the ink
in regular cartridges is not opaque to UV light. IMHO an inkjet printer
would be better, because the ink spreads before it dries, covering any
gaps between the drops. A few emails or phone calls to people who sell
custom ink cartridges and refilling supplies may get you a source of
UV opaque ink.

There are also all sorts of computer controlled milling machines for doing
these type of things. The most common are for making signs using plastic
laminates. I have no idea if they would work or could be adapted.

To me, that would make the most sense, you just put the rubber blank
in the machine and it cuts away any material you don't want.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

In article , Geoffrey S.
Mendelson
says...

Another way to do it is to rent/buy a copier where you only add toner
to it. The per page cost of these is relatively low. You print out the
"artwork" a regular printer and then copy it using the copy machine.

If you have to print it before copying it rather defeats the purpose,
don't you think?

Rob Morley wrote:

If you have to print it before copying it rather defeats the purpose,
don't you think?

No. You can set the laser printer to use less toner and the copy machine
to use more. In the end you get the same toner rich negative, but
you've used the much cheaper copy machine toner.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

On Oct 1, 9:33 pm, Peter Irwin wrote:

Try:
http://www.agfa.com/en/sp/solutions/phototooling/copyline-dl_3p/index...

It looks like what you want.

Peter.

Peter

Woo Hoo, that looks like it. A million thanks to you and the group.
This is a demonstration of the best of the net.

Joe

stampmaker wrote:
On Oct 1, 9:33 pm, Peter Irwin wrote:

Try:
http://www.agfa.com/en/sp/solutions/phototooling/copyline-dl_3p/index...

It looks like what you want.


Woo Hoo, that looks like it. A million thanks to you and the group.
This is a demonstration of the best of the net.

Thanks,

Kodak appears to have a very similar product called
"Kodak Precision Line Contact Film UCA7"

See :
www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=3901&pq-locale=en_US

Kodak says their product can be devloped in regular lith
developers as well as the RA chemicals. I would expect
the same might be true of the Agfa product, though
Agfa doesn't say so on their site.

Peter.
--

"stampmaker" wrote

http://rubber-stamp.com/pdf/polymer.pdf

Hate to rain on the parade, but I don't think 'line film' is
what you are looking for. 'line film' is a lith film optimized
for printed circuit board applications. It is developed and
fixed just like any other black and white film.

OTOH, if you are willing to spring for a couple of trays,
some lith film developer and some fix you can use this to
prepare your negatives with not much worry. It won't be as
black/white as what you are used to and you are going to have to
spend some time messing about. Figure 50 sheets of film will
be sacrificed.

If you can work under red lights then a plain-ole-lith-film
is the easiest and cheapest approach, you expose it with any old
white light. See
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_sea...rfnc=406&&sp=d
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_sea...lith&rfnc=305&
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_search.php?rfnc=303
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_pro...t_id=&pid=1441
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_pro...t_id=&pid=6007

The stuff you were/are using is a pigmented gum-arabic-like emulsion
that hardens with UV light exposure.

The developer is most likely a 1% lye solution (does it feel soapy?)
that washes away the unhardened emulsion.

The result is a negative with only blacks and whites and _no_
greys. The same process is used for making printing plates - that's
what UV 'plate burners' are for.

This, or something very like it, was sold by 3M for do-it-yourself
signs - however they no longer make it.

My guess is that M&R Marking may indeed be the manufacturer
of the film and they sell it as 'Ideal AQ'.

I am not sure why you are looking for who makes it rather than
who sells it [and lots of people sell it]... if it is to 'cut out
the middle man' you will probably have to order a pallet-full
of the stuff from the factory. The stuff was pricey when 3M
made and sold it. It may be cheap as dirt to make but the market
isn't very big.

Any large user of black/white film will have a darkroom, vacuum
contacting frame, process camera etc. etc. and be using silver-based
film (freestyle/arista, above).

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.darkroomautomation.com/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com