Further Comparison of Conventional vs. Waterless Lithography

A series of designed experiments involving four press runs were conducted at RIT using a four-color sheet-fed lithographic press. The press was retrofitted with a temperature control system and is suitable for conventional and waterless printing. The objective was to learn more about press performance differences, quantitatively and statistically, between conventional and waterless lithography. Specifically, we want to find out (1) whether waterless printing is more consistent (over time) in solid ink density, and (2) whether waterless printing produces less dot gain than its conventional counterpart. This research concludes that waterless printing is only as good as conventional lithography in achieving solid ink density consistency over time, but not better. Furthermore, the average of dot gain of waterless printing is the same as conventional lithography, but not less. Further research and testing in the area of temperature monitoring and regulation for improving the press performance are discussed.