They did go out of business. Took ALOT of peoples money with them.

One of their main development engineers went to Kompac to help with their coater.

Dorn is out too... Although HP just started making one. I bet that they are double the cost of what the rest of them are.

Guess I read that one wrong over the phone -- glad I didn't jump on a k2 machine, though maybe it would have been ok as our volume is so low it probably wouldn't have required parts for years to come.

I got samples back form kompac that I had sent printed on our standard 32#/80# Mohawk uncoated and they called to let me know that it wouldn't work on the uncoated stock. With the kompac-coated samples on uncoated the coating appears to have been absorbed, even on the very heavy coverage toner areas, so the coating didn't form a continuous gloss film but rather a very broken finish. Kind of looks like a laser print that got hot ironed with a very dry hard broken gloss look rather than the wet gloss delivered over the offset printed samples. I have to send some samples laser printed on enamel coated stock to see how that looks. Hopefully it was just the stock that went so badly for me for the first samples.

Kompac's machine bothers me because of it's size and cost. It's low 50's, when everyone else in same configuration is high 30s low 40s... Im sure they'll stand by it though. They are a staple in the industry in their other products. I don't *think* they'd be going anywhere.

Look at the Duplo UV Machine ... debuted at the Chicago show. Very nice machine sells for mid 40's plus a feeder. Lots of benefits that help eliminate fire's in the units (which are the biggest danger, obviously). When Duplo steps in i think you can be assured that the unit is built well and has been refined and tested plenty before making it to north America.

duplousa.com

you are correct.... hp launched their own coater at Graph Expo... it is twice the price and delivery is very long too... check out TEC Lighting out of Brea California.
www.teclighting.com

4Over is using a press, the business cards I got from them are halftone. Since it is free I think 99% of the business cards they put out use it. It's gang printing, not short run.

How much would it cost you to outsource the entire job to 4Over? Our costs, including labor, were lower if we outsourced it too them, even when the calculation is "comparing" 12 point KKC1S on digital vs their 14pt/16pt UV coat on offset... Even if they are a little more expensive we can easily charge more to cover the costs, profits increase dramatically.

Why is this thread to UV coat specific? I would imagine an AQ coat would be cheaper.

The big reason not to outsource for us is time - we can print 1,000 covers inhouse in an hour; if we outsourced we'd have to leave an extra couple days which isn't always possible. If it weren't for time, and the desire to be the producer, outsourcing would make a whole lot more sense than an expensive machine just to apply a clear coating.

I didn't think AQ would go over toner...

What is your competitors turn around time? We do all sorts of jobs, and match prices for stuff we outsource as well.

If push comes to shove tell them that UV coat costs so much to print you must gang it by waiting for orders to build up. Or that you have a co-investment in a million dollar UV machine, or whatever, just give them the same options that your competitors are giving them.


Totally out of my depth here, but I would guess that if ink can go onto glossy paper...