Graphic Arts Media

HPGprint installs world’s first Duplo Digital Spot UV Coater

The installation team (from left) included Bob Massa (Duplo USA), Greg Wallace (HPGprint), Mike Jacobs (Superior Offset), and Jake Gandara, Tom Nagasaki, and Anthony Gandara (Duplo USA).
The installation team (from left) included Bob Massa (Duplo USA), Greg Wallace (HPGprint), Mike Jacobs (Superior Offset), and Jake Gandara, Tom Nagasaki, and Anthony Gandara (Duplo USA).

HPGprint (Harvard Pinnacle Group Corporation), a full-service trade printer based in Waltham, MA, has installed the first DDC-810 Digital Spot UV Coater in the world. Released last month, the DDC-810 is Duplo’s raised spot UV coating solution designed for short-run production. Utilizing inkjet technology together with an ultraviolet lamp for instant curing, the DDC-810 applies a gloss varnish to defined areas of the substrate “delivering eye-catching images with a layer of texture and depth.” HPGprint provides high quality, short-run digital print products to trade printers and print brokers throughout New England. For Greg Wallace, President and owner of HPGprint, outsourcing his spot UV work was no longer an option. “I was having a hard time finding good suppliers and most of them were running jobs on a press and not digitally,” he said. “I saw the DDC-810 at Graph Expo in Orlando last year and was impressed with its output and features. I’m always looking for ways to add value to our print offerings, and the DDC-810 will allow us to do so, while helping us maintain the margins on our colour printing.”
The production centre at HPGprint runs a wide selection of digital print devices that includes: two Xerox Color 1000i Presses equipped with metallic gold and silver as well as clear dry ink capabilities; three Konica Minolta bizhub Presses; an OKI Data C941 Color Printer; and a Mimaki JFX500 Flatbed UV Printer and CJV300 Wide Format Printer/Cutter. With the DDC-810 now in-house, the shop adds to its print embellishment capabilities. Duplo also offers specially formulated UV varnishes to support printed output from its Xerox Color Press, iGen and Versant, as well as HP Indigo. Additional varnishes will be introduced in the near future, said the OEM.
The DDC-810’s PC Controller software makes it easy for users to set up jobs, while its camera recognition system ensures the accurate alignment of the spot UV layer onto the printed document. “I compliment the Duplo team because the installation of the DDC-810 was one of the smoothest we’ve been through,” Wallace added. “The workflow we’ve implemented with the unit’s PC Controller is dependable and efficient. We’re able to create and edit the spot UV files right on the workstation. It’s going to be a good complement to our Xerox presses, especially the metallic inks.”
With installation complete, Wallace has been running product demonstrations and even hosted an Open House recently to showcase the new equipment to his customers. “They’re impressed with the spot UV output,” he said. “It looks like the DDC-810 is going to be a rock solid piece of equipment.”