Ten must-see post-press stalls
During the PrintWeek-Drupa webinar on 24 May, Rushikesh Aravkar, technical editor, PrintWeek India said, "As they say, it isn’t finished until it is finished." Post-press is increasingly becoming important in delivering value in a print project, it is the finishing options that can help individual print services really stand out. Aravkar's wishlist of top ten "must see post-press stalls" at Drupa., Business
25 May 2016 | 3098 Views | By Rushikesh Aravkar
Since last Drupa several laser cutters have been introduced into the market and print firms have started adopting these machines for converting short-run jobs.
However, it has been observed that while lasers can only score or perforate, they struggle with folds, which weakens paperboard along the fold line. Highcon addresses this by extruding creasing rules from liquid polymer that’s then UV-hardened. Its current B1 Euclid III (1,500sph) has just been joined by the high speed Beam (5,000sph). A new 29in/B2 model called Pulse for 2,000sph will be shown at Drupa.
At the HP stand, do see the Pack Ready solution and meet the innovator, Salant. Pack Ready solution for flexible packaging is a replacement for aluminium barrier. HP has developed a unique thermoplastic polymer resin, which is coated on the laminate to produce a thermo-activated laminate.
Pack Ready film (developed by HP Indigo's R&D project manager Dr Asaf Salant), which consists of a laminate film and Pack Ready 'smart resin' (thermoplastic). This film is combined and bonded with printed film (in this case printed on the HP Indigo 20000) and the two films pass through a corona treatment unit to enhance surface tension and then merge at the nip rolls to be bonded at a heat determined by the media substrate.
Because the resin is already in the film, no coating is required, so the process can be solvent free, and again, because there's no coating, there is no drying or curing process involved, which significantly reduces the energy requirement for the process.
Masterworks Diana
The Diana Smart 55/115 folder-gluer is aimed at the mid-production market and offers short set-up times, inline inspection of the entire print image, excellent accessibility due to low side frames on operator and drive side, electronic speed control, and a touchscreen for machine operation, according to Masterwork. Its runs at up to 450m/min and is suited to a variety of applications, including lock-bottom cartons, multi-compartment cartons, miniature cartons, mailing envelopes and record sleeves.
Masterwork Diana Smart 55/115
On show will be two new versions of the Diana Smart folder-gluers for working widths of 550-1,150mm, including an offline quality inspection system with multiple cameras, to ensure that all added value effects and functions are precisely checked, qualified, and sorted, using a unique combination of cameras, angles and light sources. The Diana Eye 55 fully-automatic sheet inspection system has a working speed of up to 300m/min with a maximum sheet size of 550x500mm and a stock range of 90-650gsm. Masterwork said the system is unique in that it features an adjustable camera light source for multi-process inspection and complex processes such as holograms and foil stamping can be inspected.
The Duplo PFi Di-Cut 300 is an on-demand die-cutter that can produce a variety of digital print and packaging products. It can perform multiple cuts, slits, slit score, kiss cuts, perforations and window punches for single or multiple-up pieces, on a wide range of paper stocks at 3,000sph.
Duplo said a major benefit is an industry-first X&Y automated registration system. Registration mark smart technology enables the machine to counter image drift. It is operated by a simple touchscreen panel that provides micro adjustments.
technology, which incorporates a laser cutter with an inline creasing system. It is a folding carton finishing system that features laser processing technology and in-line folding/gluing for a ‘seamless, all-digital workflow’.
Printed boards can be fed to the creaser, which then passes them on to the laser for automated cutting, and then passed to a new robotic stacker or to a folder-gluer for boxmaking.
MGI-Jetvarnish
There are three available substrate size options: 520x1,200mm, 640x1,200mm and 750x1,200mm. The B2 version can operate at more than 4,000sph, according to MGI, while the B1 can run at 3,000sph. Also on show will be the new AIS SmartScanner sheet registration system, which uses “artificial intelligence” to automatically create varnish and hot foil registration for the management of inkjet heads and each printed sheet.