Offset Printing
Ipswich is home to the UKs first Heidelberg SM52 UV press
Tuesday 19. April 2011 - Deben Print, Ipswich, has taken delivery of the UKs first UV version Speedmaster SM52.
Managing director Tom Clougherty says: “Deben Print specialises in printing onto plastics. We have built our reputation printing with UV inks which can be applied to non-absorbent material and they dry immediately giving us good response times, allowing us to meet market pressure for very fast turn round times.
Many of our post press processes, including lamination onto plastic and punching for the production of credit card style cards are B3, so the SM52 is the ideal format.”
Deben Print could have brought new but the opportunity arose to buy a high spec machine in next to new condition, refurbished by the Heidelberg factory in Germany, and that was too good a proposition to miss.
The SM52 is a five-colour printer, with coater and interdeck drying and is adapted to handle thicker substrates, up to 600 micron.
“As Deben produce membership, store, and gift cards, as well as vinyl stickers, window graphics, menus, shelf wobblers and other point of sale material we liked the flexibility the SM52 offers. The diversity of the material the SM52 can cope with such as PVC, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyester, besides card and paper was also a deciding factor in the purchase of the machine,” says Mr Clougherty.
UV printing is an attractive option for many printers because it is a clean process that eliminates the need for powder spray and gives the feel, protective qualities and scuff resistance associated with a conventional gloss laminated finish. As UV inks can be printed onto plastics, films and metallic paper as well as standard paper and board, the process is adaptable, but to date, has only commonly been adopted for larger format presses.
Deben will celebrate its 30th birthday next year and the SM52 is an early present to the company.
“Because of the speed and ease in making ready to print, wastage costs in time and material can be kept to a minimum. This will open even more doors to us in the short and long run markets where we have already established a good reputation for competitive pricing and good service,” says Mr Clougherty.