Into the fold
While creasing and folding may seem like a relatively simple concept in what this process does, this finishing procedure is very much a fine practice, the quality of which has a major impact on the look of the final printed product.
Be it classic booklets or books, magazines or leaflets, creasing and folding plays a major part in the finishing of a wide range of print products and print-service-providers (PSPs) should ensure they are running high quality machines to achieve high quality results.
Here, Print Monthly picks out some of the latest technologies available to PSPs in this area and highlights how the latest developments with this kit can help users boost the quality of their output.
Saving costs
First, Morgana has been a major player in this market for some time, having introduced its AutoCreaser back in 2000, as a way of creasing digitally printed output prior to folding in order to prevent cracking of toner-based prints. Ray Hillhouse, vice president of sales and marketing for the Plockmatic Group Offline Business Unit, says in-house, quality creasing and folding equipment will allow the printer to produce quality work.
“As with any post-press technology, adding a creaser/folder will save costs related to using a third-party provider, as well as keeping hold of the job schedule,” Hillhouse says, adding: “After a guillotine, folding is probably the next most important task to have in-house.
“As was originally identified by Morgana, the concept of creasing digitally printed work prior to folding a sheet, allows a print shop to overcome two main problems that they face on a regular basis. First, the cracking of the printed image – an issue particularly evident in toner-based presses; and the issue of cross grained stock, where unsightly cracking can appear if folding a sheet against the grain of the fibers within the paper itself.”
Morgana’s latest solution in this area comes in the form of the DigiFold Pro XL, a combined creaser/folder product that Hillhouse says is an important addition because of its ability to handle a wide stock range.
The Morgana DigiFold Pro XL can handle a wide stock range
“We work closely with the print engine manufacturers on several levels,” Hillhouse says, adding: “All of them were pushing into longer sheet applications with their latest print engines. As well as opening up a new range of possibilities, we’ve made the DigiFold easier to operate and automated much of the feeder set-up by incorporating our new vacuum feeder.”
The machine is developed from the proven Morgana DigiFold Pro and is equipped with the latest version of the patented DynaCrease creasing system, where the creasing blades can be changed without the use of tools. An additional Static Crease option can also be installed to enable different crease profiles to be applied in one pass, commonly used in the production of ‘hinge and spine’ creases in book covers.
The DigiFold Pro XL can fold up to 6,000 A4 sheets per hour and in ‘crease-only’ mode can produce up to 7,500 sheets per hour – all with a maximum loading capacity of 200mm.
Morgana’s DigiFold Pro XL can produce up to 7,500 sheets per hour in ‘crease-only’ mode
The top-fed vacuum feeder ensures stable production for longer runs, while the user-friendly operator panel allows for the simple input of sheet size, media type, and thickness, and the Pro XL can use this information to automatically set the speed, roller gap, and fan settings.
O Factoid: Morgana’s DigiFold Pro XL can fold up to 6,000 A4 sheets per hour O
In addition, an air-knife system is used for sheet separation, while full cross-perforation is available, plus up to five inline perforation/scoring wheels, and the unit can produce up to 30 creases per sheet.
“The heavy-duty automatic creasing and folding system is designed to complement both mid-to-high volume digital and offset production presses,” Hillhouse adds.
Excellent quality finish
Elsewhere and Encore Machinery is another specialist supplier of print finishing equipment to the industry, offering a range of creasing and folding solutions to its customers. Paul Davidson, UK sales and business development manager at Encore, says having this process in-house dramatically increases a customer’s flexibility for delivering a quality product to a client within a designated timescale.
“In the current climate businesses having control of more processes under one roof help deliver consistent production costs whilst maintaining the bottom line ensuring excellent customer service to its client base,” Davidson explains.
In the current climate, businesses having control of more processes under one roof help deliver consistent production costs whilst maintaining the bottom line”
“Due to the ever-increasing recycled make up of most papers and boards, the need for a fully flexible heavyweight creasing and folding solution is key to help eliminate the fibre cracking of a product and ensuring an excellent quality finish.
“A quality creasing and folding solution such as a Pitstop Oxo Multiskill or Pitstop Butterfly fold unit allows customers the confidence to deliver a perfect finish every time whatever the substrate.”
Expanding on the Pitstop Oxo Multiskill in particular, Davidson explains that this new unit from Bacciottini has been developed for customers requiring the same quality creasing or perforating product as supplied in all previous versions of Pitstop machine, but developed into a smaller footprint mobile unit, opening up its use to a wider range of users across all areas of the industry.
Stand out features on the new Pitstop Oxo Multiskill enable the machine to run as either a standard creaser or creaser folder at speeds up 9,000 sheets per hour with a single crease and fold on an A4 sheet. Users will also benefit from an intuitive, icon-based touch screen display, which Davidson says will allow customers to easily change over job types in a matter of seconds, making the whole process much easier and user-friendly.
The new Pitstop FMHS or double headed version from Encore can crease at speeds up to 14,000 sheets per hour
Meanwhile, if a faster creasing and folding solution is required, the new Pitstop FMHS or double headed version can crease at speeds up to 14,000 sheets per hour and by adding on the Pitstop Butterfly unit, folding can also be achieved on products up to 450gsm at speeds up to 11,000 sheets per hour.”
Streamline throughput
Also in this market, Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) has a range of products on offer. Eric Keane, managing director of IFS, says investment in the latest folding and creasing solutions will ensure users benefit from all new enhancements that have been added to support more efficient production, aid operation and reduce human touchpoints.
“At the centre of these improvements is greater automation,” Keane explains, adding: “It also helps streamline throughput, increase capacity, and eliminate errors. It can support a broader range of applications too. With remote reporting and diagnostics any downtime can be minimised, and maintenance planning optimised.
“New solutions are also increasingly able to help tackle another industry pressure - a shortage of skills. This is something the pandemic has exacerbated. It has increased demand for systems that are simple to run and designed for single person operation. Intelligent print finishing enables companies to have the flexibility of employing operators with little or no experience when required.
“Covid also encouraged the development of ways to minimise human intervention. Ways such as automatically unloading and stacking or boxing finished products with the use of intelligent AI robot technology. This trend will continue to grow as operations look to enable operators to move around the bindery more freely to focus on more complex tasks and move to green button production.”
Looking at the latest solutions from IFS, Keane highlights the cloud-based iCE LiNK workflow from Horizon. This provides access to a dashboard that reports real-time production analysis for, according to Keane, improved efficiency and profitability, remote update capabilities and scheduled maintenance resulting in less downtime.
Also new is the Horizon AFV-566FKT folding machine, developed to deliver enhanced functionality to tackle a broader range of fast turnround run lengths quickly and efficiently. The system also features a new look, advanced colour touch-screen panel cover and a status checking screen for a quick at-a-glance overview.
Available from IFS, the Horizon AFV-566FKT has been developed to deliver enhanced functionality
Another solution Horizon offers is the Horizon CRF-362 folder creaser, which creases and folds in one pass a range of light and heavy weight stocks, coated or uncoated. Capable of up to 10 crease lines on a sheet, it uses an impact scoring technology that eliminates or minimises cracking of the stock or printed image.
Set-up and changeovers – including fold pattern, creasing number, and up/down crease selection – are completed on a high resolution intuitive colour touch screen.
Quality and cost
Next, Lewis Price, managing director of Ashgate Automation, explains that run and fast turnaround creasing has now become the norm for digital printers, but quality and cost should remain key features for printers.
For this reason, he recommends the CreaseMatic Auto 50 creaser, manufactured by KAS Paper Systems. Designed for higher volume digital printers and litho printers, the high-speed SRA 2 suction fed model is available at a price level Price says is normally associated with A3 models.
“Meeting the demand for creasing long sheets has now become essential; the CreaseMatic Auto 50 can crease sheets up to a metre in length,” Price says.
“The CM Auto50 is a fully programmable card creaser using a matrix-style crease, this crease prevents toner cracking when folding digitally printed card. A rotary perforating system is fitted as standard, while the latest model features the new touchscreen display, making programming and operation simple to use.”
Up to 8000 sheets per hour can be creased on the CreaseMatic Auto 50 using a bottom feed suction system for continuous production. The crease can be programmed anywhere along the length of the sheet, while up to 29 creases per sheet can be programmed with 99 memories for regular jobs. In addition, stock can be creased in sizes from CD to SRA 2, up to a maximum sheet size of 500 x 700mm.
The CM Auto50 is supplied with four creasing width tools to cover the stock range of 80-350gsm
“Many A3 printers will benefit from the ability to run A3 on the long-edge allowing jobs such as wine bar and restaurant menus to be creased. A3 printers will also be able to make use of the 500mm crease width which will allow other jobs such as 2 x A4 letter fold jobs to be produced two-up, halving the run length.”
The message here appears to be that while speed of delivery is becoming increasingly key for PSPs, quality of output remains of paramount importance. Investing in new technology and making use of new features will allow you to deliver quality work to customers in a timely, competitive manner.
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