UV coating with digital printing

[desertdude]

I had someone tell me that UV coating - for the sake of preventing ink smudging - is not as necessary on a digital press. Is this an accurate statement?

 

[BrentHals]

Digital presses are toner based, adhered by heat and pressure - so yes.

 

[desertdude]

Is this equally true for coated vs. uncoated paper?

 

[Craig]

Yes it is equally true for both coated and uncoated. But I want to add that the "ink" toner will not smudge buy just rubbing you finger down the printed page or normal handling. When run through high speed sorting equipment for the USPS, that is where it is likely to happen. This is caused by the heat and friction that the printed piece is being put through as they are separated. I have seen offset printed mailers with similar results as well.

 

[George]

I'm looking for some equipment to do UV coating in paper sheets 13x19 coming out from a HP Indigo 5500. If somebody knows what kind of equipment is available in the market to do this kind of job, please let me know.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
George

 

[lfelton]

Morgana do one and also someone mentioned in another post that Duplo do one. If you want something a bit bigger then Kompac do one that I've seen at trade shows and gave great results. That needs fairly hefty ducting to the outside. There's one more small-mid sized one that I've seen, but I can't remember the manufacturer.

Wouldn't you be better off buying a laminating line?

 

[KurtK]

The IPA did some tests earlier this year, one test was a rub resistance test, which is supposed to test durability with respect to shipping/mailing. The three HP Indigo machines performed about the same as offest (50%-70% density loss), the Nexpress and KM performed better, ~20% density loss. The Xeikon output with a protective coating performed best with < 10% desity loss.

2008 Digital Print Forum Results | IPA

 

[jlind]

It depends on what you want to accomplish with the coating. If the printed piece is digital and going into the mail as a 6x9 postcard, you may want to consider a protective coating. Not necessarily a UV coating. Aqueous and oil based varnish coatings protect the postcard too. Unlike the IPA digital print study, GATF did a mailing study of digital printing, with and without protective coatings. The postcards were shipped from all over the country, printed offset, Nexpress, iGen3, Xeikon, and HP. The coatings definitely helped protect the postcards that were heavy dark coverage. It seems that the postal machines don't always like the UV coatings, since they are not receptive to the fluorescent ink jet bar code ink. These pieces are diverted to another machine where a pressure sensitive label, white, is applied and then the ink jet bar code is applied. Unfortunately, this is right over your image or message, the machine really doesn't care. In fact, all the machines are designed for white envelopes that are a lot fatter than a single postcard. The machines run the mail through with friction belts at 30,000 letters per hour. It was an interesting experiment, and showed printers and manufacturers what they were up against.

John Lind
Cranberry Township, PA
724-776-4718

 

[shunt618]

On a side note...

On a side note...

I was under the impression that you did not need any special coating for products coming off our Nexpress 2500s. Now, our coating supplier says you need special coating because of the digital printing??? I thought a typical coating that one would use on general offset work would be sufficient. Am I being mislead by our supplier or have I been by Kodak. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[shunt618]

I'm looking for some equipment to do UV coating in paper sheets 13x19 coming out from a HP Indigo 5500. If somebody knows what kind of equipment is available in the market to do this kind of job, please let me know.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
George

We purchased a Tec Lighting XtraCure 29" UV Coater with Feed and Delivery.
It is supposed to be pretty slick, we are beginning training on the machine today. I will post up how it goes and what my opinion of the device is as it develops.

We purchased from Graphco, in Solon, Ohio

 

[mannyC]

Tec Lighting has an 18" unit with a feeder that can UV coat 17.5" X 20" sheets at under $15,000. Call me at 714-529-5068 so I could give you more information on one of the more popular UV Coater in the industry.