Suggested Certification for Printing

Press Operator Certification - Flexographic Technical Association

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Interview Questions and Answers

Environmental considerations include using recycled paper, soy-based inks, and energy-efficient printing equipment, as well as minimizing waste.

Preflighting is the process of checking digital files for errors before printing. It ensures that all elements are correctly formatted and ready for printing.

Binding refers to the process of assembling pages into a finished document, such as a book or magazine.

Common binding methods include saddle stitch, perfect binding, spiral binding, and case binding.

UV coating is a clear coating applied to printed materials to protect them from scratches and fading and to enhance their appearance.

Die cutting is a process that uses a sharp steel blade to cut specific shapes out of printed materials.

Bleed is the part of an image that extends beyond the trim edge of a printed piece. It ensures that no white edges appear after trimming.

Common paper types include bond, cover stock, gloss, matte, and recycled paper.

Paper weight refers to the thickness and density of the paper. Its measured in pounds (lbs) or grams per square meter (gsm).

Coated paper has a smooth surface that enhances image quality and provides a glossy or matte finish. Uncoated paper has a more porous surface and a more natural look.

A proof is a sample print that allows you to review the layout, colors, and overall appearance of a printed piece before the final production run.

Commercial printing is a system in which artwork is taken and transferred onto a sheet of paper or card. It is used to create a wide range of products: brochures, books, posters, invites, magazines, catalogues, and newsletters.

Yes, basic maintenance likeClean your print head, Clean the insides, Check under the hood, etc

Subscribe to journals, RSS feeds, etc.

Blanket Cylinder: The part of an offset lithographic printing press containing a rubber blanket to which the inked image is transferred from the plate, and which then transfers the inked image to the paper or other substrate.

Undercut: refers to the reduction of the size of an image due to light traveling beneath the film positive.

Gutter: The gutter is an extra margin intended to allow space for binding.

Gear: Gear marks in flexographic printing appear as alternating linear areas of light and dark running perpendicular to the web direction on your press.

Blanket: A synthetic rubber mat used in offset lithography to transfer—or \"offset\"—an image from a metal plate to the paper or other substrate. It is the use of a blanket that gives offset lithography its name.

Plate metals: Offset printing works by transferring an image onto a metal sheet known as printing plates through a photomechanical or photochemical process.

Skeleton Wheel: Alternate term for a delivery cylinder, used in an offset printing press, especially such a cylinder containing skeleton wheels.

Star Wheel: Star Wheels on an Epson inkjet printer. The sit at the end of the paper path, above where the paper exits the printer.

Gripper: The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press.

Oleophilic: A quality of certain papers, components of paper, or the image areas of lithographic printing plates that causes them to have an affinity for oils and oilbased inks.

The printing presses that deliver offset printing are either web presses or sheetfed presses. Rather than the continuous rolls of paper used by web presses, sheetfed presses print on individual sheets of paper.  Sheetfed presses print on coated and uncoated paper and cardstock.

PaperCut, Equitrac, UniFLOW, etc.

The basic printing unit of an offset press contains atleast three cylinders: a plate cylinder, to which the plate is attached, a blanket cylinder, to which the offset blanket is attached, and an impression cylinder, which carries the paper through the printing unit and provides a hard backing.