It has also launched affordable automatic machines for the newspaper and B2 markets with the Newsmatic and Mako 4matic.

All three machines will cost less than 60,000.

It is a return to form for the firm, which made its name with affordable imagesetters, but lost its way with its earlier platesetters.

With our other 8pp machines we forgot everything we learned, but now were back on track, said European sales director Derek Sizer. Im happier than Ive been for a few years.

The Mako 8 is a manually loaded violet diode capstan machine that images across the shorter edge of the plate and includes a bridge directly to the processor. The maximum width plate handled is 824mm, which also allows it to use narrower 850mm plate processors, further cutting costs.

I think there are still a lot of printers out there who havent gone CTP yet, and the price will help, said Sizer.

To ensure image quality across the 824mm width, which is wider than previous capstan designs, the firm has developed the optics. We broke new ground optically, we did a lot of work to guarantee the quality of the dot, said Sizer.

Throughput for the Mako 8 is 13-15 B1 plates per hour.

The Mako 4matic produces up to 20 B2 plates an hour using 25 or 60 plate single cassettes. Its maximum image format if 635x927mm is large enough to handle oversize jobs such as 6pp gatefolds.

Sizer said interest in the Newsmatic had been phenomenal from smaller newspaper sites as the 80 plate per hour machine set a new price point.

The firm has now sold 300 Makos worldwide.

Story by Barney Cox