6 Color UV or 7 Color UV press

[ashwini singh]

Hi,
we have been planning a shift to UV printing and packaging from a conventional 4 color commercial printing unit.
i recently had a visit from an printing engineer who has been recommending the 7 color UV presses which can print CMYK + RGB to produce a huge color gamut. Also that 6 color presses are more common now in packaging and that 7 color would give us an edge.
I am not so sure about the difference in a 6 color and 7 color unit other than adding an extra pantone unit. Could somebody from this field help me understand the possibilities or obvious advantages of a 7 color ?

thanks
Ashwini

 

[aqazi81]

It depends on what type of Jobs you have, if you have jobs with seven colors then it's a good option.
If you are buying a second hand press then mechanical condition of the press matters more.

 

[gordo]

If you can afford the 7 color then that's the better option. You could run it as a 7c to better simulate spot colors and/or add vibrancy to the imagery - or run a 6c process (which is more common) to do the same thing and use the 7th unit for a metallic silver which would also let you simulate a wide variety of metallic colors by using the 6 process colors ( you need a soecial receiver silver to do that).