While many have said that the digital era would unceremoniously be the end of the line for offset printing machines, that simply hasn’t been the case.
Offset presses are still the best choice if you’re looking for cost efficient, high quality, high volume printing.
While digital has it’s own set of advantages, offset has managed to hold it’s own in commercial print settings.
One reason printers like these machines is their cheaper to maintain than digital.
With offset printing you get a consistent high quality image and it’s still the cheapest method when dealing with commercial printing qualities.
While film was used in the past, these days most systems are plate based.
Types of commercial offset presses:
- Perfecting Press
- Offset Duplicators
- Sheetfed Offset
- Web Offset
- Blanket to Blanket
- Blanket To Steel
- Keyless Offset
- Variable Size Printing
Types of inks:
- Letterset inks
- Waterless inks
- Single fluid inks
- Ink / water balance
Top manufacturers
- Heidelberg
- Ryobi
- AB Dick
- Presstek
Top dealers
- PressXchange
- Sellpress
- Alliedgraphic
One popular sheet-fed press is the Heidelberg QM QMDI 46-4 4-Color. It can be found in used condition and purchased for about $20,000.
There are plenty of higher end systems available as well in used marketplaces like the 5 color Heidelberg 102 FPP+L speedmaster.
