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"Prepress Technician"
Job Description - Part 1 - Duties and Tasks

Basic Job Description:

Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.

Part 1
Duties / Tasks
Part 2
Activities
Part 3
Skills
Part 4
Abilities
Part 5
Knowledge

 

Job Duties and Tasks for: "Prepress Technician"

1) Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.

2) Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.

 

3) Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.

4) Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.

5) Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.


 

6) Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.

7) Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.

8) Monitor contact between cover glass and masks inside vacuum frames, in order to prevent flaws resulting from overexposure or light reflection.

9) Transfer images from master plates to unexposed plates, and immerse plates in developing solutions to develop images.

10) Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.

11) Lower vacuum frames onto plate-film assemblies, activate vacuums to establish contact between film and plates, and set timers to activate ultraviolet lights that expose plates.

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12) Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light-boxes and microscopes.

13) Perform close alignment or registration of double and single flats to sensitized plates prior to exposure, in order to produce composite images.

14) Remove plate-film assemblies from vacuum frames, and place exposed plates in automatic processors to develop images and dry plates.

 

15) Position and angle screens for proper exposure.

16) Inspect developed film for specified results and quality, using magnifying glasses and scopes; forward acceptable negatives or positives to other workers or to customers.

17) Punch holes in light-sensitive plates and insert pins in holes to prepare plates for contact with positive or negative film.

18) Unload exposed film from scanners, and place film in automatic processors to develop images.

19) Mix solutions such as developing solutions and colored coating solutions.

20) Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.

21) Correct minor film mask defects with litho tape or opaquing fluid.

22) Place masking paper on areas of plates not covered by positives or negatives, in order to prevent exposure.

23) Mount negatives and plates in cameras, set exposure controls, and expose plates to light through negatives in order to transfer images onto plates.

24) Operate and maintain a variety of cameras and equipment, such as process, line, halftone, and color separation cameras, enlargers, electronic scanners, and contact equipment.

25) Perform tests to determine lengths of exposures, by exposing plates, scanning line copy, and comparing exposures to tone range scales.

26) Activate scanners to produce positive or negative films for the black-and-white, cyan, yellow, and magenta separations from each original copy.

27) Reposition lamps and adjust aperture controls in order to provide high quality images.

28) Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color.

29) Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers.

30) Perform minor deletions, additions, or corrections to completed plates, on or off printing presses, using tusche, printing ink, erasers, and needles.

31) Position color transparencies, negatives, or reflection copies on scanning drums, and mount drums and heads on scanners.

32) Arrange and mount typeset material and illustrations into paste-ups for printing reproduction, based on artists' or editors' layouts.

Job Description for "Prepress Technician" continued here...

Part 1
Duties / Tasks
Part 2
Activities
Part 3
Skills
Part 4
Abilities
Part 5
Knowledge


"Prepress Technician"   Holland / RIASEC Career Code:  NA        SOC:  51-5111.00


 

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