Recent content by criccidisk

Having had a DPB 500 and now a BQ 270...Horizon all day. They share a ton of similarities, but there's something significantly nicer about Horizon's workflow. In our area, Horizon has a much broader support network as well.

To my understanding, with a true evaporative humidifier, there shouldn't be any steam or mist coming out of the unit since the water is blown across a wick instead of being heated, steamed, or stirred. They're significantly louder than other style humidifiers since they use a fan to propel the...

Given the recent cold/dry spell in the Washington DC area, I figured I'd add my two cents to this if it helps any other shops in our position. We're a KM toner press shop. Surprisingly, their devices seem resilient to run at just about any humidity without shutting down, but over these last few...

For sale in Fairfax, Virginia: Duplo DPB-500 EVA Perfect Binder. 220V / 3 Phase / 20A. S/N 080100184 (2008 model). Meter reads 205,407 bound books through the unit (around 100,000 of those were from our ownership). Asking $4000 for local pickup only. I'd encourage bringing a pallet jack...

We had a 2000-era DocuPunch that served us well for a very long time. The 2023 unit that replaced it is a lot better. Usually we let ours chug along at the default speed of 60 cycles per minute (around 240 pages per minute), but depending on your project you can also increase it to 72 cycles per...

Whatever KM did with their toner post-factory-fire absolutely refuses to bond with any UV coating I've tried. I tried two Tec Lighting units, two Duplo units, two Graphic Whizard units, and two outside vendors with top-of-the-line coating equipment (and of course various brands of coating along...

You totally do not have to laminate a book cover--in fact, most of our customers choose not to. However, the corners are more likely to chip out during the final three-sided trim and if the environment is hot enough, there is a chance that the toner can slightly rub off the book when being read...

I'd stick with Nylon laminates for perfect bound book covers. OPP films exist for single sided applications, but in my experience they are too wonky (curling, delamination, etc) when exposed to varying climates and digital toner output.

I can't speak for the Henkel product, but our shop uses an EVA glue very similar to your Henkel spec sheet called "iGlue" from Spiel in New Jersey, US. (It's probably the same thing). It works best with an application temperature around 160 Celsius and honestly works pretty darn good for a...

Hi @jwheeler , I can't speak for any newer generation Ricohs, but the Ricoh 8120 was just outright unreliable and there weren't any technicians local to the DC area who could reliably make it run for more than a day or two at a time. And we're not really talking high volume; we've always...

We use Skandacor's line of sleeking foils on our Graphic Whizard with pretty solid results. Certain foils like silver are hit or miss, but I've gotten pretty good with darker or mid tone colors such as gold, red, and green that can hide blemishes a tiny bit better. Graphic Whizard's advice...

11" x 17" boxes filled front-to-rear with job tickets sorted by an incrementing job number from our pricing software. Each job has the job ticket, any production notes scribbled in, the client email approval, at least one sample, and any other paperwork that would cover our butts in a worst case...

We had a 6120 for three years and ran the snot out of it. It's a super reliable machine, kicked the snot out of the Ricoh 8120 we had prior to it. Only major quality issues we encountered were that: * Our lightweight stocks (60# Husky, 24# Navigator, 20# Report) reaaaally liked to develop a...

There are several manufacturers of UV coating equipment who offer textured rollers that can mimic the finish of a playing card. I know for sure that Tec offers it, and I believe Duplo and Graphic Whizard also offer it. One thing I'd encourage thoroughly testing however: I've had nothing but...

As @Eric Boucher mentioned, it's pretty straightforward to set up the cut files for projects. I can't say that Intec's documentation made it the easiest process in the world as of several years ago when I was learning, but the overall theory/workflow is the following: * There are two flavors of...