Indigo scuffing in the bindery

We currently are running 2 canon image presses, 1 oce vario print 110 & 14 x 20 offset (straight 4 color, no coater) in our shop. Floating the ideas of moving into B2 indigo or a 7k press. With either move we will either eliminate offset altogether or start that transition with the 7k. How does the ink hold up from the newer (2017 - 2025) indigo presses? I have read a lot of posts and spoke in depth with one employee here used to run an indigo. All mentioning ink scuffing in the bindery being the Achilles heel of these presses. Will an offline coater be required for commercial finishing, folding, die cutting, saddle binding etc? Curious to see what the consensus is out in the field.

 

Hey Chris, we have been running Indigos for 15 years , currently running a 7900, the ink being the only negative over those years, otherwise it's a solid machine that produces good quality printing efficiently . We have learned to work around the problems by using HP Indigo certified papers, we run most postcards on our Konica or offset because they get beat up badly in the mail if we run on the HP unless we UV coat them. As far as binding, the only problem (sometimes) we have is with heavy coverage on covers for booklets tend to scuff on our Horizon bookletmaker. On shorter booklet runs that scuff, we'll run a cover sheet of 60# to protect it then remove it when completed. Running certified paper gives good results, and learning to work around some problems is key. I think the pro's definitely outweigh the cons with this press

 

Great info Sean...I agree with you, the pros definitely outweigh the cons in my opinion also. Have my eye on an offline coating unit for when we go to the indigo to combat the ink.