Print Buying Direct

Everything you need to know about Digital Printing – part 5 – 8th July 2009
Digital colour production print was so attractive that other companies wanted to build their own. In particular Xerox, which had been the biggest seller of Xeikons, announced its own in-house system, the sheetfed DocuColor 2000 series, at drupa 2000. Fast, flexible and affordable, these Docucolors soon outsold all the other digital colour press installations put together. This was fortunate for Xerox, which was going through alarming financial problems at the time as its photocopier business dried up.
The Docucolor 2000 series was built by the Fuji-Xerox alliance, but the company also had an all US project underway, which was revealed in 2001 as the high volume iGen 3, for 90 A4 pages per minute (a 110 pages per minute version followed). This shipped about a year later. Last year, the company announced iGen4 with, the same nominal top speed but with engineering improvements that should allow it to hit significantly higher monthly volumes.
Meantime Nexpress, an alliance of Kodak and Heidelberg, was coming to market with a fast sheetfed digital colour machine, the 2100, for 70 pages per minute. This was demonstrated at drupa 2000 and started reaching users 18 months later. Nexpress sold well and has further developed with faster models up to the 100 page per minute 3000 introduced in 2007.
Meanwhile, Xerox naturally lost interest in reselling Xeikons after 2000, and the DC2000 series was eating up the market for the other resellers. With sales tailing off, Xeikon hit financial troubles late in 2001, but was rescued by Punch International, a Belgian engineering company that already made many of the hardware components for the presses. With new capital Xeikon revived and by 2004 was able to launch a radical new generation high speed, high quality model called the 5000, which remains the foundation of today’s range. In 2008 it announced its fastest machine to date, the 8000.

To be continued…

See part one of this blog on digital thinking here

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Our business cards are some of the best in the business – printed in full colour on our £200,000 state of the art digital press – you’ll be proud to hand out business cards that we produce for you. Our business card prices are also very cost effective – 100 full colour business cards for only £10!

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

One of the mainstays at Print Buying Direct is Leaflets. We are experts at Leaflet Design & Leaflet Printing.

The markets tomorrow – What does the future hold for printing? – Part 6 – 29th June 2009
Getting smart
More security will be built in to many print products to help brand protection, anti-counterfeiting and to keep ahead of the copiers. Many new products will be linked to the development of RFID technologies like credit cards, smart cards, and other printed security products. Biometrics will in corporated into passports, licences, smart cards and even tickets to prove the identity of the bearer. As well as chips, printed 2D barcodes and glyphs that can be unscrambled in readers to provide a picture of the owner, with a fingerprint or even a part of a DNA code that can be easily tested.
Smart labels will be a key component in future. These incorporate an electronic capability achieved through the laying down of conductive inks, polymers or semiconducting polymers onto the surface of the paper or board. The development of printable radio frequency identification (RFID) devices will be particularly important. Other capabilities being examined include displays that offer the opportunity for constantly updateable and information. Currently silkscreen is being used to lay down the thick layers, inkjet will become more prevalent as new fluids are developed and complex capability can be laid down in a single pass. Smart electronic displays and RFID will become common in packaging.
Stora Enso has several novel concepts and demonstrations. One is for automatic opening and re-closing packaging systems with a carton formed to mimic the mechanism of a flower opening. The pack can open or close under certain conditions depending on shape memory where materials revert to previous shapes under the influence of heat, light or electricity. This could create seals that open under certain environmental conditions, e.g. when a microwaveable meal reaches the correct cooking temperature or a drinks container is suitably chilled. Linking this with reversible glue systems, requiring electricity to reverse the polarity of surfaces and effectively switch to glue on or off makes easy opening and re-closing of a pack, increasing the life of a perishable item. So, instead of wrestling with a cap or seal you just touch a printed button. Such developments will provide dramatic improvements in the open ability/ close ability of packs, an issue that is growing concern to older people. ‘Senior friendly’ packaging will be easy to open but still take child safety into account.

To be continued…

See Part 5 of this blog on the future of printing.

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Our business cards are some of the best in the business – printed in full colour on our £200,000 state of the art digital press – you’ll be proud to hand out business cards that we produce for you. Our business card prices are also very cost effective – 100 full colour business cards for only £10!

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

One of the mainstays at Print Buying Direct is Leaflets. We are experts at Leaflet Design & Leaflet Printing.

Finishing – part 9 – Lamination – 11th June 2009
Lamination and encapsulation
Large and expensive machines requiring highly skilled operators ensured this was one of the last finishing processes to join in house binderies. Trade finishers were able to hold onto this process for longer than any other discipline because of the prohibitive cost of the machines and the skills required ensuring top quality results.
However, the popularity of digital print also pushed this service into the spotlight. With the increase in demand for short run, fast turnaround products, printers are being required to work faster and smarter with lamination increasingly being used to protect the final product. Not only is it used to prevent ink that is not totally dry from scuffing and thereby allow work to be delivered in shorter timeframes, it also gives it a high quality finish. But there were some initial problems. Manufacturers had to tackle the issue of digital inks or fusing oils reacting adversely to the film. Focused research and development has resulted in systems that can now be used for both litho and digital work.
There are two main methods of laminating- wet and thermal. The former sees a wet adhesive applied at the point of lamination. These machines tend to require a larger footprint to ensure the sheet is totally dry before being stacked. This also dictates the speed of the machine. The second is thermal where the lamination drum is heated up using oil, water or electricity. The laminate film incorporates a dry adhesive on one side. With a smaller footprint, a key attraction with the latter option is the fact that the pressure on space in the bindery is reduced. Despite the bigger capital outlay, larger trade laminators tend to use water based processes while wet laminating allows films with special textures to be used.

To be continued…

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part one of this blog on print finishing , See Part one of the Blog on Variable Data Printing – also part one of Publication Printing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

Finishing – part 8 – Binders – 10th June 2009
Automated functions in perfect binding allow for a quick and accurate set up for each time. These include sensors within the book clamp that enable each book to be measured for thickness, which then sets up the nipping/cover feed guides, and use of book verification systems to avoid wrongly collated signatures.
And now printers are considering whether to add PUR to their EVA gluing capabilities. One of the key benefits of PUR glue is the lay flat properties, which allow books to open flat without the spine cracking. Less brittle, PUR can also content with a range of temperatures- hot or cold- and the glue does not adversely react with digitally printed stock and warp like EVA glues can. Hot melt can be limiting with the range of stock that can be bound and, while PUR is much stronger and works on a much wider range of stock, it is more expensive.
However, a traditional glue tank system using PUR requires emptying and scrupulous cleaning at the end of a shift, or it would very soon become unless nozzle applicators are used. These incorporate a valve to minimise glue exposure so PUR glue is supplied from a sealed unit and the cleaning and handling issues are resolved.
Useful features on perfect binders include intelligent cover handling and feeding that can save many production headaches while winged books can be produced of the machine has a flexible enough scoring system. Having an integrated pre-jogger places an important operation where it is needed, in the loading area, which is ergonomically sensible. Delivery methods too can have variations that make a different-smooth delivery means no spine damage when the books exit the machine, and side gluing and asset for binding heavy stock covers and a feature generally only available with larger, more expensive machines.
Development continues to centre on improving automation with Heidelberg’s Eurotrim 4000 adhesive binders including optimised net output of up to 95% thanks to intelligent automation, modular design and end to precision and Horizon’s high profile colour touch screen on the BQ-270. Not to mention Duplo’s fully automatic. DuBinder range with its easy to use integrated touch screen controls, facilitating a 35 second set up between programmes, and Wohlenbergs’ Master Series extension to its modularly designed ‘City e’ equipped with the dynamic drive technology and ConditionPro compatible control generation.

To be continued…

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part one of this blog on print finishing , See Part one of the Blog on Variable Data Printing – also part one of Publication Printing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

Digital Brochures – Put Your Brochure on your website – 23rd April 2009

NEW – DIGITAL BROCHURES – We are now selling ‘digital turnpage brochures’. Ideal for putting on your website or sending via email. We take your existing artwork and make it so your customers just turn the pages and read it as they would the paper version.

See our dedicated Digital Brochure Webpage for more information.

or Call 0870 950 8444 to place your order