I'm planing of making my own ctp studio.
To begin, I will need one ctp machine.
As I read on this forum, violet ctp is no good, and only reliable solution is thermal ctp with external drum.
I need it for plates for up to B2 size.
Which ctp system do you recomend for up to $100000?

What size is "B2"?? Is this the largest that you will ever do??
How many plates do you expect to make a day?
Will there be a peak period during the day in which you will need "many" plates per hour? If so, how many plates do you need to produce during this peak?
Which plates do you intend to use? Positive, Negative ?
All these factors need to be considered to determine what to buy.

i guess that i will not be needing more than B2 plate size, but if i can get equipment for bigger plates it can be useful.
i'm planing of making 1500-2000 plates a month, everything over that is good
i don't know about a peak period, i guess that it will be used depending of customer demands.
which plates, positive, negative, hm, i don't know, could you help me with that?

If you are going to be making plates for a customers, you need to know what kind of plates they will be using, or want to use. I don't think they will leave that up to you, since each plate reacts different with each press, fountain solution, etc. This is something that you would need to discuss with them before purchase.

I'm guessing by B2 you're talking about 19.7" × 27.8" (500mm × 707mm). As has been pointed out, making plates for customers you'll need more 'n one size. Most web presses, for instance, can hande most plates as far as solutions, ink and stuff... but size does matter. As long as the plates are equal or smaller 'n the blankets it's ok. You'll have to know what the requirements of your customer's printer are before you produce any plates for them!
Here at the Athens Banner-Herald we've become very fond of our Creo (oops Kodak) "Trendsetters" 'cause we "burn" a large quantity of plates and they've proved practically "bullet-proof" over the long run as long as the PMs are done when they're supposed to be.
Something else to think about is plate delivery. You'll have to decide about pre-baked as opposed to bake your own (meaning an oven will have to be incorporated into your processing line). We opted for "bake-your-own" because it's hard to know how long pre-baked plates have been sitting around a warehouse floor before being shipped.
Whichever system you decide on consider maintenance. Our paper decided to pay for a week at the Vancouver training facility to learn what's under the hood and even more important, how to by-pass some sensors to keep the "burner" running long enough to finish a run before shutting down for repairs. Deadlines in the newspaper environment are more important then most other print jobs.
Best advice I can give is talk to the various company reps, get suggestions from them, then you can make a decision.

an update

i didn't know the prices of the equipment
and now i got some prices and stuff, so i found out that my budget could cover the RIPit SpeedSetter VM4. yep, the violet system.
is it any good? realiable?
what is the price of the plates?
which chemistry does it use, and price for chemistry?

It is an A1 (927 mm x 635 mm) system, so it means it can handle A1 plates and smaller, which is good

quote:

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If you are going to be making plates for a customers, you need to know what kind of plates they will be using, or want to use. I don't think they will leave that up to you, since each plate reacts different with each press, fountain solution, etc. This is something that you would need to discuss with them before purchase.

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btw guys, i don't have much knowledge of press, prepress, and ctp, so i probably talked some stuff that don't make much sense for experts
anyway, just wanted to say i am sorry about that.
so if i say something wrong feel free to give me an explanation.

still waiting

Hi

My name is maniraju and I am from Agfa. I have done more than a dozen projects for customers and newspapers on ctp and can help you. Pl. do contact me at india 00 91 99406 17230

If you want to have a CTP process house i.e make plates for other printers then you have no option than to go the thermal way.
Please find out the manufacturer / agent who gives you the best service in your area and buy from them.
I sell Kodak and in my opinion the present software and hardware configuration from Kodak is a winner. BUT as mentioned earlier choose the guy who will give you the best after sales service.

With the size and budget you specified if 33X39 inch max plate addressability with 43 plates per hour speed, a quantum squarespot head device having dynamic autofocus, automatic temperature compensation, automatic edge detection is called Trendsetter Quantam 400 III V. This is modular and can be upgraded to a 8 up if need arises. I feel since you want to set a service beuro... go fo rthis high speed, robust machine... but please do check serbie support and other vendor offerings... I say cos I work with Kodak. you can get info on this at www.graphics.kodak.com
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Regards
swaran