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HP Indigo Alternatives - Ideally something that is not dry-toner based

Igorm

Igorm

Active member
Hi All,

looking for recomendations.

We are a smaller shop that prints and laminates plastic cards.

To keep it short, our process is to laminate around 250F - 280F, so dry toner is out of the question since it will burn on the machines we tried (Canon, Ricoh, etc..)

I have been looking at HP Indigo for a while now since the electrostatic ink can handle the heat but it's not cheap.

Does anybody know of alternatives to it that might be either inkjet or similar? Huge bonus if it has 5th color white capabilities

Thanks
 
I've been single-side laminating book covers printed on 10 pt. C1S on Canon and Xerox toner machines for many years now. We run our 1.5 mil film at the same 250-280F. Never experienced any "burning". What do your results look like? Pictures?
 
We use a completely different lamination process, not your standard roll based system. The heat in your case is only applied for a few seconds, while with us its a few minutes.
Stickman42 said:
I've been single-side laminating book covers printed on 10 pt. C1S on Canon and Xerox toner machines for many years now. We run our 1.5 mil film at the same 250-280F. Never experienced any "burning". What do your results look like? Pictures?
Click to expand...
 
Putting this together with your other post have you looked into silk screen? It puts down a heavier white. Maybe more description of materials and process you are using would help us, help you.
 
bill kahny said:
Putting this together with your other post have you looked into silk screen? It puts down a heavier white. Maybe more description of materials and process you are using would help us, help you.
Click to expand...
Hi Bill,

Unfortunately, silk is not an option for us because we do a lot of one-offs.

It has to be a digital machine.

Thanks
 
substrate customizable? What does that mean and what are you running them on now?

look at large format ink jet - Epsons
 
bill kahny said:
substrate customizable? What does that mean and what are you running them on now?
Click to expand...
We print on PVC. So depending on the machine (Dry toner, inkjet, indigo) we can have it customized to have a top coat that matches the print technology for best adhesion.
 
Igorm said:
Riso does look interesting. I will check it out more. Thanks
Click to expand...
Not sure what your product is, but RISO's are very low quality. They even say on their own marketing material that the technology is designed for transactional use (such as medical bills that just need to be informational and not a high quality marketing piece). Plus, since you print on plastic, I don't think their ink type will work.

Based on the limited info you provided I'm still thinking inkjet is going to be your best bet, but printing on plastic and wanting white, then UV or Latex inkjet printers will work best since they can print on any substrate. If either of those models I linked to are overkill in size, then Xante makes an 18"x24" and 24"x36" UV printer. Epson even just announced a new A4 sized desktop UV printer that has white and clear varnish.
 
jwheeler said:
Not sure what your product is, but RISO's are very low quality. They even say on their own marketing material that the technology is designed for transactional use (such as medical bills that just need to be informational and not a high quality marketing piece). Plus, since you print on plastic, I don't think their ink type will work.

Based on the limited info you provided I'm still thinking inkjet is going to be your best bet, but printing on plastic and wanting white, then UV or Latex inkjet printers will work best since they can print on any substrate. If either of those models I linked to are overkill in size, then Xante makes an 18"x24" and 24"x36" UV printer. Epson even just announced a new A4 sized desktop UV printer that has white and clear varnish.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. We already have a flatbed (Roland LEF2-300) but for this application, I would like a sheet-fed system.
 
Igorm said:
Thanks for the info. We already have a flatbed (Roland LEF2-300) but for this application, I would like a sheet-fed system.
Click to expand...
Gotcha. There are other sheet fed UV inkjet systems out there that you may already be aware of such as Konica's KM-1e or a similar unit by Komori. But these will be in the same price point and footprint as the HP Indigo's. I don't think there are lower cost or smaller format units available yet, but I think the market is heading that direction.
 
Trying to look at this from a different angle. Is PVC a must? Is film lamination a possibility? If you need to wind up with a 35 mil card (got this from your website), how about an inexpensive color laser printer and a matching inexpensive roll or pouch film laminator? Print on 18 pt. stock, laminate 2 sides with 10 mil film?
 
You could maybe experiment with a Kyocera 15000c. Does NOT have white. Must print on uncoated or treated paper. About $200k. NOT YET RELEASED is the Kyocera 55000c, which uses infrared technology for "instant" ink curing. Price unknown.
 
Stickman42 said:
Trying to look at this from a different angle. Is PVC a must? Is film lamination a possibility? If you need to wind up with a 35 mil card (got this from your website), how about an inexpensive color laser printer and a matching inexpensive roll or pouch film laminator? Print on 18 pt. stock, laminate 2 sides with 10 mil film?
Click to expand...
That's a great question. We did try that. The cards were peeling so much that I felt that I was an orange salesman.
 
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