Xeikon unveiled the new presses during a webcast on 30 March 2020, which originally planned as a pre-Drupa 2020 event.

The SX 30000 press is based on a new generation dry toner technology, which Xeikon has called its Sirius technology while the CX300 uses the next generation Cheetah 2.0 technology.

In October 2017 Xeikon announced that it was terminating its Trillium liquid toner programme, allocating major resources in developing the new dry toner technology. Last year, the company introduced a campaign – Power of dry toner, making it clear that it remained convinced of the unique power of the dry toner technology.

 “The water-cooled LDAs (LED Arrays), with 1200x3600 dpi technology and the single pass duplex, full rotary concept, have remained unchanged, as well as the 5/5 print station setup. Almost everything else has been re-engineered,” said Dimitri Van Gaever of Xeikon. “One of the things that really set the Sirius technology apart is its ability to print on heavy substrates at high speeds.”

The Xeikon SX30000 press powered by the new Sirius technology, Xeikon said, is capable of running a printing width of 20-inch (or 508 mm) on a broad range of substrates at 98-ft/min (or 30 meters/minute), 404ppm A4) – boasting an average speed increase of more than 50% throughout the range of 40-350 gsm versus the previous platform.

Dimitri Van Gaever explains some of the core components that enable SIRIUS to set a new standard. We have been working along 4 major axes: toner development, imaging technology, fusing technology and media conditioning, resulting in more than 400 design changes and developments compared to the previous generation. “An important step is the EkoFuse technology, a new fuser and a patented new crossflow cooling system add up to achieve superior print quality levels at market leading speeds.”

Xeikon SX30000 press: built on the new Sirius, a new generation dry toner technology

Filip Weymans, vice-president of marketing for Xeikon while discussing the Xeikon CX300, said, the new digital label press is designed to achieve the highest possible overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). It is even more productive than the very successful Xeikon CX3 first generation of Cheetah presses.”

He added, “Today’s investments need to deliver results. Printing speed is an important factor, but combining that with a low OEE would not deliver the value printers and label converters are looking for. With Cheetah 2.0 technology, we have focused on combining high production speeds with a high OEE, ultimately resulting in maximum sellable output.”

The Cheetah 2.0 technology is based on the proven, scalable Xeikon press architecture that includes five print stations and a full rotary process with a variable repeat length. The dry toner printing process can operate at a speed of 30-m/min (98ft/min). The web-width can vary between 220mm (8.6”) and 512mm (20.3”) wide using a LED imaging head operating at 1200x3600 dpi delivering offset/gravure image quality, claimed Weymans.

The Xeikon SX30000 will be launched and commercially available as of June 2020 and the Xeikon CX300 will commercially available beginning in April 2020.