I have just obtained a remanufactured HP Laserjet 5100 printer (11x17) for printing polyester litho plates. It worked well for the first 10 plates, but now there are major imaging problems: namely, the printer is leaving large (3" wide) marks that look like tractor tires all down one side of each sheet I print. The problem mostly disappears when I load "regular" paper.
HP's manual for this machine explicitly mentions the use of polyester media for offset platemaking, but no suggestions for dealing with output problems, should they occur.
I have been using a Xante Platemaker 5 for the past 2 years to make plates, but it is owned/housed in the printing services division at the university, and my little budget cannot afford to buy one for the visual arts-printmaking area. Plus, I just spent $500 on this guy.
Any thoughts? Similar experiences? Advice?
Thanks,
Rob Truszkowski
University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada)
robert.truszkowski@uregina.ca