Binders specialist Easibind International has installed an HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press to print speciality items for branded corporate stationery, POS displays and other products on a wide range of paper and plastic substrates.
Introduced at drupe, the latest HP Indigo 5600 model includes special features suited to printing directly onto plastics and thivk card. These include the Thick Substrate Kit, Combined Multi-Shot and One-shot process (for synthetic and paper substrates), and White Ink options.
The seven colour press can handle substrates from 80 g/m2 to 460 microns to enable the printing of branded stationery, packaging, promotional items and security recognition and identification cards in full colour with personalisation.
Established in 1977, Easibind is based in Heanor, Derbyshire, where it uses a range of printing and finishing technologies to produce its range of products.
It also has an HP Indigo press s2000, which it will continue to use alongside its new 5600. The latest press runs at up to 68 full colour A4 per minute (up to 90 pages per minute in Enhanced Productivity Mode) and can use special effect inks including UV red, light cyan, light magenta, digital matte and white.
‘The advantage of HP ElectroInks is that they are transparent just like litho inks, so we can produce litho quality using the white ink as a base laid on solid-coloured substrates or as a backing – last ink down — on transparent materials,’ said Harry Skidmore, founder and CEO of Easibind. ‘We print a lot of subsurface on the transparent ranges, using white ink to maintain the high definition CMYK images through the face. This provides a scratch-proof top surface which is useful when using long-life polymers.’
Easibind offers the growing number of plastics used for corporate products and displays. It carries out inhouse pretreatment so substrates can be digitally printed.
‘The HP Indigo 5600 can print on a wide range of substrates including synthetics. PP, PET and PVC are widely used in the industry,’ explained Mr Skidmore. ‘We also use other materials for trademark and specialist applications. These include polycarbonates, polyesters and thermoplastics which are used for POS and display, security and recognition, and industrial thermoforming markets.’
Easibind offers UV coatings for all its standard production processes for scratch resistance and anti-microbial protection. These are applied to HP Indigo printed products as a near-line finishing process, adding further value to the print.
‘Demand is growing for high-volume personalised media. We can do this with a combination of our conventional UV litho presses and our HP Indigo digital presses,’ Mr Skidmore concluded.
Contact: www.easibind.com and www.hp.com
