Smart Offset (continued)
The printing platform is all press—but it is much more than a conventional small offset press with an imaging head tacked on. It is an integrated system, engineered from the ground up to produce high quality short run offset color printing. The DI features a portrait-style bearer design with ultra-precision helical gearing and cylinders built in a V-shape radiating from a common impression cylinder. The robust ink train includes four form rollers. Three rollers (two oscillators and the fountain roller) are chilled. Today’s DI presses use a two-zone chilling system—one for the laser imaging module and the second for the ink train—a significant advantage over earlier DI presses.
A proven register board/push guide infeed delivers sheets to the cam-closed grippers with an accurate front lay register system. Mechanical and electronic double sheet detectors and multiple sensors monitor paper travel. Suction wheels and decurling are standard. Substrates need no special treatment and can be purchased from any paper merchant.
Infrared dryers expedite drying, with sheets quickly ready for a back up or a second pass for coating. DI waterless presses deliver heavy ink coverage, great for saturated images and solids.
More than 500 firms have installed presses enabled by Presstek’s ProFire and ProFire Excel imaging technology. After comparing several direct imaging presses, Chicago’s M&G Graphics installed the Kodak Polychrome Graphics DirectPress 5634 DI. “Its quality surpassed all of the competition,” says owner Josephine Meyer. “The automation of the KPG DirectPress allows us to achieve excellent color quickly, which cuts down on our waste and enables us to print more jobs in a day, reducing turnaround time.” M&G Graphics found its conventional 6-color presses couldn’t meet customer demands for speed. But with such high-profile clients as the Art Institute of Chicago and Second City, the company needed to provide very high-end quality.
In launching its DI-based print service, the firm created a brand—M&G DigiPrint—which it bills as “the digital twin of conventional offset printing,” with “the convenience of laser, the impeccable quality of offset” and “ideal for printing as few as 500 copies of high end materials like brochures or booklets.” M&G also services 4-color short-run jobs for other printing firms and brokers, and now receives inquiries from Internet-based print firms looking for reliable, high quality print production sources.
San Diego-based IPS Printers added a KPG DirectPress 5634 DI last year, to move beyond limitations of a digital printing device. “It allows us to offer our clients longer 4-color print runs against shorter deadlines, because we are able to turn jobs so efficiently,” says Ian Barrow, who took over the 12-employee firm three years ago. “I researched several DI presses but was most impressed by the color capabilities of the KPG solution.” Serving agencies, book publishers, architectural firms and bio-tech companies, Barrow expects IPS to add eight employees and grow to $3.5 million in sales within three years.
ProFire Excel enabled DI presses are available in two configurations dependent primarily on volume requirements. The entrylevel model has an imaging time of nine minutes for a 4-color job, while the high productivity model has an imaging time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The high-resolution output of the two units is exactly the same. Technical distinctions derive from differences in file and color management and the level of automation.
Productivity Comparison (A3 sheet, 4 color, 500-sheet job) |
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Ripping and film making off line or imaging on the press |
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Plate transport from prepress section |
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Platemaking and plate punching |
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Plate mounting |
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Inking, registration adjustments |
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Production run |
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In the United States and Canada, Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) markets the high productivity model as the KPG DirectPress 5634DI and the entry level model as the KPG 5334DI. KBA distributes the presses in Europe as the 46Karat and 46 Karat Plus. And on a worldwide basis, Ryobi distributes the entry-level model as the Ryobi 3404E-DI and the high-productivity model as the 3404X-DI.
Presstek also markets KPG-branded DI presses in North America. Each channel offers a variety of financing, support and training programs.
Find Out More:
Presstek-enabled DI presses are available for less than $300,000. Find out more at www.presstek.com or call 603.594.8585, ext. 3596.
