1st Byte produced a flyer to promote its Sensory Printing
1st Byte’s new Sensory Print division is based upon its HP Indigo presses and its latest addition – London’s first Scodix digital enhancement press.
Investing in an HP Indigo 7600 press turned out to be just the first step towards offering a creative printing service for London digital printer 1st Byte. It signed up for the UK’s first such system at drupa 2012 and managing director Lawrence Dalton has since spoken in glowing terms of the special effects that the press can produce, which include printing with white and clear ink onto black and heavy substrates.
The HP Indigo 7600 took the company into a more creative end of the market than it had been in previously, Mr Dalton said. He wanted more though. The result has been further investment – London’s first Scodix digital enhancement press – and the formal launch of a new division for creative print applications, that 1st Byte is calling Sensory Print.
The Indigo 7600s (1st Byte has two) and the Scodix S74 are intrinsically linked, as Mr Dalton explained: ‘There were some problems in selling the Indigo clear ink for the raised ink effect. You can build 50 layers of clear ink (50 clicks) for a tactile feel.
We quickly realised that we couldn’t use the effect on a large area without getting scratches and scuffs. We also found we could not use it on anything heavier than 300 gsm coated, 250 gsm uncoated paper, nor on both sides of the sheet.
‘That made me start to think. I was aware of Scodix, having been shown it four or five years ago. In truth it was an expensive machine, and originally I could not see the need for a quarter of a million pounds to do spot UV when you could spend much less and put in a conventional UV line. But following on from the Indigo and the growth in demand for high value, low run types of work it created, I could begin get my head around the benefits for what we call embossed varnish, both to us and to clients. I took a team to Belgium to look at the Scodix, and early last Autumn we came to the conclusion that weshould move ahead with this.’
1st Byte’s Scodix is not a fully specified latest model, which would include the Rainbow inkjet glittering station (a unit that would require several extra feet of space in the company’s cramped premises), but it does have a camera system that re-registers every sheet individually, and metallic printing capability, which 1st Byte can now do without having to use Mirriboard.
‘Using this special metallised laminate we can now laminate any sheet,’ Mr Dalton continued. ‘You put it down on the board first and then print on top of it. You can start to achieve all sorts of effects that you would not have been able to do before, such as personalised foiling and UV varnish.’
The machine runs at around 300 to 400 SRA3 sheets per hour and can take preprinted B2 sheets and add a new lease of life to them. It works by building up layers of clear polymer on the desired area, up to a thickness of 250 microns. This is also a typical setting for Braille applications. 1st Byte is prepared to offer the Scodix effects on a trade basis, but only if it handles the print too (with the exception of litho and B2 Indigo jobs, which it cannot do).
In January 2014, when the press was newly installed, the company ran a seminar to introduce its creative effects to designers, and the Scodix had produced a number of live jobs within weeks of its introduction, surprising even Mr Dalton with the scale of take up.
‘The reaction has been brilliant. This is absolutely right for our clients who want high value, high quality, short run print jobs. The beauty of this system is that it releases clients’ creativity. Anything with spot UV you have got to have 30 sheets of set up before it’s done properly. We can do a proof as well and the cost of that in spot UV would be half the run.’
Referring to the fact that there are more than 100 Scodix presses around the world, he added: ‘To us, one of the biggest attractions is that there are large corporates using Scodix around the world, particularly in the US and France, and hopefully we will be able to convince their UK counterparts to start using it. It will bring a lot of new clients to the company so we would hope that the Scodix will pay for itself in about 18 months’ time.’
