Page 51 - Print21 May-June 2020

Finishing
Five top finishing buys
Automation of print finishing can only be achieved with equipment that is designed to be compatible and communicate with all parts of the system. Horizon has a reputation for building modular equipment that can easily be fitted into a production line, even without the assistance of robots. Bernie Robinson details some of the most popular solutions Currie Group delivers to commercial printers.
Putting together an optimised print finishing system is an investment strategy where expert advice is essential. Knowing how to achieve the required result, as well as balancing
the appropriate level of throughput
and computerised control, is a task
for professional capital equipment specialists. Automated functionality whether in binding, folding, collating, or stitching means there is value in linking discrete items of equipment in order to create a process that produces completed items.
According to Bernie Robinson, managing director Currie Group, an acknowledged expert in print finishing equipment with many years’ experience in the field, it is necessary to balance the level of automation with the skill sets of the operators in every printing business.
Here he shares some of the most popular finishing solutions from Currie Group that have delivered outstanding results for commercial printers throughout the region.
1CRF-362: One of the problems facing printers when folding digital print is cracking of the spines of books.
The CRF-362 impact creaser and
folder with two fold knives is designed
to handle heavier sheets in one pass without cracking. A workhorse for commercial printers it’s suitable for creasing covers, restaurant menus, shop cards, invitations and laminated sheets. It can also be used to prepare high quality perfect bound book covers with spine, hinge and flap creases properly produced by selecting up or down creasing.
“It’s a popular item that doubles as a perforator, Robinson said. “We sell two to three a month. It’s also pretty quick, up to three thousand sheets per hour.”
2PUR Binder: Another popular investment for printers addressing the book market is the Horizon BQ-280PUR.
PUR is polyurethane adhesive that has become popular due to its superior binding strength and lay-flat qualities when a book is pressed open. It’s ideal for educational
Slit, perforate, score in one pass: Horizon SmartSlitter
Horizon folders: Currie Group supplies a wide range of Horizon
booklets, cookbooks, and photo books. Unaffected by ink, PUR has almost entirely displaced the alternative hot- melt EVA glue due to its lower application temperature and better environmental outcomes in terms of recycling.
“The Horizon BQ-280PUR is a single clamp perfect binder that is a favourite with commercial printers. It can produce three hundred and fifty books per
hour. We sell it with Kleibert glue and recommend a warming unit so that there are two cartridges ready to be used at any time,” Robinson said.
“We also have the larger machine, BQ- 470 with four clamps that can turn out eight hundred books an hour.”
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perforate, and score all in one pass. Ideal for coupons, tickets and business
reply cards the system can deliver multiple up greeting cards with or without creasing. Accordion fold applications
or perfect bound books with up and
down creasing can also be performed in one pass. It’s becoming more common
for printers to output standard size business cards 21-up on a sheet. With the SmartSlitter print registration marks adjust for image shift from sheet to sheet.
“It’s a very easy machine to operate, even for non-skilled operators,” Robinson said. “The colour touch screen has a simple user interface that lets a job be set up using a barcode. Horizon has introduced several features, including the ability to run partial perforations both across and along the sheet.”
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SmartSlitter: The Horizon SmartSlitter is versatile sheet
processing system that can slit,
The equipment has a reputation in Australia for unrivalled productivity and value by providing exceptionally high levels of automation and ease of use.
“We have models from 560 to 760 wide, all equipped with intelligent automation. The operator can adjust
the settings by inputting the paper size and fold pattern on the colour touch screen. It takes only a couple of minutes to finish a changeover from 16-page B-1 format signatures to 16-page B-2 format signatures,” Robinson said.
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Horizon collators have a reputation for being fast and accurate. They can operate as a stand-alone piece of equipment or can link to Horizon stitcher/trimmers for automated feeding of uncollated sets. Year after year they have maintained their popularity whether 10-bin rotary feed VAC-1000 or the 15-bin friction feed SAC-150.
“It’s important that collators are able to be part of an automated finishing line no matter how many towers are used. Horizon has a range of collators suitable for very printing operation with the ability to handle every format. Sustained performance and reliability helps improve collating productivity. We also have the HAL-4 tipping collator to handle business reply cards or single sheets,” Robinson said.
folders, suitable for every size and speciality of printing enterprise.
Horizon collators: Every document finishing line requires a collator to
arrange pages in proper order.
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