Great things happen when creative minds come together. The team at Digital One Color, a specialist in large-format digital printing based in San Diego, Calif., recently helped Sony Electronics Inc. rebrand the interior of its headquarters in San Diego. The project required more than 7,500 square feet of wall graphics to be printed on adhesive-backed vinyl and installed throughout the building’s 11 floors in a single weekend.

The Screen Truepress Jet2500UV board and roll inkjet printing system played a key role in meeting the ambitious project’s compressed deadline.

“We printed stunning graphics on 3M IJ40 series vinyl film,” recalled Tom Wilson, production manager. “A lot of the colors Sony chose were in the RGB color space. The Truepress Jet2500UV was able to hit those brighter colors better.”

One of the production challenges that Digital Color faced involved the use of large solid colors in the graphic designs.

“Any imperfection in the ink lay down really stands out when you do an entire wall of magenta or some other color,” Wilson said. “Imperfections aren’t as apparent in smaller graphics that are made up of different textures. The inkjet heads on the Truepress Jet2500UV fire just right to prevent uneven lay down of ink.”

Established in 2005, Digital One has grown into a 36-employee operation with $5.5 million in annual sales. In addition to expert printing, Digital One provides all the mechanical functions that go into sign fabrication, including painting, heat bending, cutting and installation. The company focuses on producing “high-end jobs we can be proud of,” said Paul Moebius, owner.

“We have a willingness to take on unique projects and see them through to completion, combined with a sense for creative solutions that are financially viable for our clients,” Moebius said. “The Truepress Jet2500UV has lived up to our quality standards.”

To augment its printing capabilities, Digital One wanted a versatile, UV-cured inkjet device that could print fine detail on retail signage and POP displays, as well as quickly turn around vinyl banners and stickers.

“The Truepress Jet2500UV is constantly running because it is so flexible in the range of printing it can accomplish,” Moebius said. “It prints legible 3-point type and knockout type without the ink spreading into the type. We can flip a switch, load a roll of banner material and print the roll unattended at high speed.”

The first big test of the Truepress Jet2500UV’s speed and precision came soon after its installation. Digital One was contracted to produce more than 6,700 prints to replace the artwork in every guestroom in the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The process called for a reverse print with a white flood on quarter-inch clear acrylic sheets. Each print was centered in a 4-inch clear border. The Zund L-2500 CNC cutter/router trimmed the prints to their specified sizes.

“The quality was near photographic,” Moebius said. “The Truepress Jet2500UV delivered the job on time. It met all our expectations, and the client was happy with the results.”

In June, Digital One added Screen’s new UV Cut Filter to the Truepress Jet2500UV. The UV Cut Filter reduces heat from the UV lamp used to cure the Truepress inks by 90 percent.

“The heat can cause thin substrates to bow or waffle,” Moebius explained. “Most times, this is not a problem, but sometimes the media waffles enough to cause a head strike. The UV Cut Filter allows us to print in the best quality mode on very thin styrene and window film under 0.020 inches without having to worry about the possibility of head strikes.”