Q I am looking for a reliable supplier of secondhand 16-up CTF (computer-to-film) for the packaging industry. It may be a Barco Megasetter or Escher-Grad Cobalt. Installation will be in Korea and refurbished units with some warranty and supply of parts afterwards will be better.
Sunny Moon, via the PrintWeek group on LinkedIn

A The Megasetter was a filmsetter, but as far as I know the Cobalt was always a CTP device – I can’t find any info about it being able to run film too, but if anyone knows better, please correct me if I’m wrong on that. I’ve been in contact with Fenton Curley at used pre-press kit specialist FC Exports (tel: 01462 684388, www.fcexports.co.uk) and he says you may struggle to find computer-to-film kit in this format. I did some further searching and discovered that Graham Thompson at Matoria (tel: 01202 430733, www.ctp-computertoplate.co.uk) had a Megasetter Plus 300S for sale quite recently – this machine had a maximum film size of 1,350x1,612mm. Unfortunately for you, it has just been sold to an overseas buyer like yourself, and Graham tells me this type of machine is often snapped up for use as spares or as a back-up. But it does show they do come up on the market occasionally. Any model that becomes available, though, is likely to be pretty old, and the processors have often had it. I am also casting my mind back to the Barco Megasetter days of the 1990s (do you remember that advertising campaign they had with the little boy holding up the huge film imposition?) and wondering what the chances are of getting hold of spare parts since Barco was subsumed into Purup-Eskofot, which then became Esko-Graphics, and is now Esko Artwork. I suggest you keep your eye on PrintWeek’s sister site PressXchange (www.pressxchange.com) to see if anything comes up, and you can also post your requirement as a wanted machine via the site too which could turn something up. Good luck.

In a flap over folds #2
Direct Print International has been in touch following the query regarding a bespoke cardboard engineering job from a couple of weeks back (PrintWeek, 16 April). The requirement was a document that when you turned it 90° and folded it back on itself, it revealed more content. You do this two more times and you’re back where you started.. Direct Print has production plants in Bangladesh and China and specialises in complex, creative folding and finishing. Contact: 0208 143 9232, www.dpilimited.com. Many thanks for the information.