HP Indigo 5500 – printing lightweight stock

[Pete Deutscher]

Does anyone have experience running lightweight (.004”) stock on an Indigo 5500?

We had a demo last week at HP’s Atlanta facility and found the Indigo 5500 to do a great job printing on 10pt. cover stock and plastic transparency material tipped with a 50# offset sheet. It ran into problems printing black over black on uncoated 50# (text weight) offset, though. The paper sleeve that wraps the back cylinder kept coming off and jamming the press. We were told that HP had recently changed to a recycled paper to make these sleeves and that must be the problem. It occurred to me that a more likely explanation might be that when printing thin stock the blanket comes in contact with the sleeve and pulls it off (tearing through the mounting holes) and that when printing the thicker stock there is no such contact. If we purchase the 5500, we would be printing a LOT of black 1/1, 50# , so any advice that I could get about this would be much appreciated.

 

[jinthebay]

Light weight stocks on Indigo

Light weight stocks on Indigo

Hey Pete,

We're running a 3500. Also had problems with light weight stocks. 60# and 20#.

Check to see that your substrates are defined correctly. Weight and Size (very important).
12x18 runs much smoother that 11x17.

Also, where are you getting the jams? Just at the impression cylinder?

One thing we adjusted was the vacuum pressure. Take off the back panel on the feeder and play around with the suction until you stop getting feeder jams (if you're getting feeder jams).

Good luck.

 

[Pete Deutscher]

Thanks for the input

Thanks for the input

The jam-ups did happen at the impression cylinder - most likely the result of the 50# sheet running into the dislodged sleeve.
Have you noticed a recent change in the integrity of these sleeves?

Thanks again,
Pete

 

[[email protected]]

re:HP Indigo 5500 – printing lightweight stock

try running the old style of impression film. I had a similar problem of the impression film tearing out after 300-400 sheets and solved by running the older, larger hole style to get 5,000 sheets per film. I also heard of an FCO that called for an impression film clamp that had 4 holes instead of two but I would think an HP demo machine would have all FCO's in place.

HTH,

Paul

 

[RGPW17100]

We run 60 uncoated and 80 gloss text all of the time and never had an issue. We are still using the older style impression cylinder sleeves.

 

[jinthebay]

50# on Indigo

50# on Indigo

Hey Pete,


I guess I didn't read through your post completely. It sounds like you haven't made the purchase yet and have some concerns. As Paul Beck said, HP has changed out their impression clamp on most machines and I would be very surprised if they hadn't done that as well with one of their demo models.
I'm also surprised to hear that the guys in Atlanta dropped the ball at your demo. Those folks are pretty sharp. Sharp enough to get us to purchase their 3500 that they demoed for us on their floor.

A couple of things to consider. First; What size paper will you be running on the press? 11x17. 11.5x17.5. 12x18. ??? Cause, we had all kinds of problems with the lighter weight paper BUT only when we ran smaller than 12 x 18. We can run 20# bond at 12 x 18 all day long. Switch to 11 x 17 and it's jam after jam!
So, where are you going to get your paper from (If your cutting it yourself, make sure you have a qualified person to do it and a good cutter to do it on.

Second. Can you get the work in? Sounds like a silly question but if you have more than just a few slow days during the week, your gonna be dead in the water. You're going to NEED to keep that machine running at least 6 to 8 hours EVERY day to pay for it.

Lastly. Who's gonna run it? Make sure you can get someone who is very mechanically inclined, concientious and PATIENT! Big learning curve. (I was a prepress guy with no press experience. Many operators are pressmen with no prepress experience). You kind of need both. A previously trained Indigo operator with level 2 certification would be ideal, but you'll have to pay for it. (Maybe not in this economy)!

Anyway, somethings to think about. Overall, great machine but NEEDS daily maintenance with a responsible operator. Bottom line. Can you get the work for it?

 

[[email protected]]

Ha ha. Thanks for the nudge Pete. I'm actually looking for a Production managment/Operator position in the Atlanta area. Share maintenance certified. Prepress experience. Degree in Photography. Excellent eye for color. If you need a do-it-all operator/manager, I'm your guy. User name is my email.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Pete Deutscher]

Thanks to all of you for your help and insight.
Taking time out of your day (and life) to help me, a first-time user of this site, is so much appreciated.
It's back to Atlanta for us next week to test again - was told that there "was a part broken on the machine" at the time of the last test and now that it's been fixed they have run over 35,000 impressions without a single impression paper failure.

Thanks again - I hope I can return the favor.

Pete