The Spot 80 polymer has been specifically engineered for low-build spot UV applications, with a thickness of less than 40 microns, and will complement the company's existing PolySense 100 polymer, which was designed for hi-build applications in the 70-100µ range.

Mark Nixon, managing director of UK distributor Conversion, said that the trade-off with the firm's existing high gloss, high-build PolySense digital embossing polymer was that it lost some of its lustre and didn't have the same coverage ability when knocked back to < 40µ.

"When you use it for high-build applications the PolySense 100 is more glossy than screen or litho spot UV, but when you try to use it for low-build applications people say it's not quite the same," he said.

"In order to get an identical match to what people think of as spot UV with a low-build polymer meant we had to chemically change the way the polymer reacts when it hits the substrate.

"Spot 80 addresses that balance between being fluid enough to flow through inkjet and having the right viscosity to give you that high gloss finish and good coverage on low density materials."

Nixon added that Spot 80 was also much more cost effective for spot UV applications where a digital embossed finish was not required, as putting down less polymer means less cost for the printer.

The development of the new polymer has also resulted in the launch of the new Scodix Ultra Pro press, which features the same specification as the Scodix Ultra, but has three polymer reservoirs, allowing operators to switch between applications.

In addition to the PolySense 100 and Spot 80 polymers, users can currently opt for a scented polymer in the third reservoir, which is the first of what is expected to become a range of polymers for different print-enhancing applications.

Nixon said: "It is Scodix's ambition to produce more and more polymers for different niche applications. We see the Ultra Pro as being a bit like the iPhone and the polymers are the different apps. We're at the beginning of a long road."

The wash-up cycle takes around 20 minutes and involves flushing any polymer in the pipes back into the relevant reservoir under hydraulic pressure, before sealing off that reservoir, flushing the heads and priming the system for printing with the next polymer.

Nixon said that Scodix would continue to work on reducing the time taken to switch between reservoirs and added that the beta sites had tended to print hi-build and spot UV in different shifts and to run the wash-up between shifts.