A Comprehensive Guide to Offset Printing

Offset printing is the most popular method of printing today. Forty percent of mass printing done worldwide is using offset printing. What is offset printing? The workings of offset printing are simple. Using three cylinders the image is transferred to a substrate. The printing plates are mounted on the first cylinder. Image on the plate is written with the right side up. After which, ink is applied to the first cylinder and the image is offset to the second cylinder. The second cylinder is covered by a rubber blanket. The image on the rubber blanket becomes reversed or wrong reading. Finally, the image is shifted from the blanket to the third cylinder. The image once again regains the right side up before printing. 4-color offset printing is the most common form of printing as it offers a wide variety of color options. Different Types of Offset Presses There are two main types of offset printing presses – sheet-fed and web-fed. In the sheetfed type of press, the pr...