Indigo Digital Press
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[edit] Introduction
Indigo is the name given to a series of Digital Offset Printing Presses made by Hewlett-Packard in Israel.
The main uses for the Indigo Presses include general commercial printing, Industrial, or Packaging Print, Direct Mail, Personalisation / Versioning, and Web to Print.
[edit] Technology
The technology used is based around their ElectroInk technology, which uses small colour particles suspended in Imaging Oil (Isopar) that can be attracted or repelled by means of a voltage differential. The ink forms a very thin and smooth plastic layer on the paper surface. The fact that these particles are so small ensures that the printed image does not mask the underlying surface roughness/gloss of the paper, as can be possible with some toner based processes, bringing Indigo printing closer in appearance to conventional offset lithography, whereby Ink is actually absorbed into the paper.
HP provide the option for users to mix their own ink colours to match Pantone references. This is common with non-digital offset litho presses, and is one of the features that distinguish them from other manufacturers. Colours are mixed in an IndiChrome offline ink mixing station. Users can also order special pre-mixed colours from HP Indigo, for example fluorescent pink. Some Indigo presses are available in configurations supporting six or seven colours.
[edit] History
The name of the press series, Indigo, comes from a company formed by Benny Landa in 1977, with the aim of creating photocopiers. However, the development of ElectroInk technology pushed him to create an Offset Press replacing the traditional ink with the new technology. The E-Print 1000 was the result, released in 1993, a plateless digital offset press.
[edit] Current
HP, a long-term R&D partner of Indigo, acquired the business in 2002, and now produce several versions of the HP Indigo Press, which can be broadly grouped by the Printing Engine (Series 1 or 2). All operators are trained by HP, usually for a 10 day period, at specialist training centres either in Maastricht or various locations in the [[United States|U.S.
The series 2 printing engine can be easily differentiated from the original format by the double sized PIP (dynamic plate), which allows the press to run twice as fast, and many other improvements, prime amongst them, the substitution of the developer drum and associated image improvement mechanisms with one easily replaceable unit, the BID (Binary Image Developer).
