Duplo is following the growing flow of B2 digital presses with finishing products that will match the format of the HP Indigo B2 presses plus inkjet machines from Fujifilm, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and others that may follow later this year.
The PFI Blade B2 is a larger format version of the Blade cutting table launched in 2020 and it shares the same user interface, software and ease of use ethos. At Duplo’s open house event last week, the new machine was demonstrated cutting a jigsaw pattern. Duplo will be targeting short run packaging with the machine. The machine can be left to run unsupervised.
The Dusense 8000 is a B2 version of the Dusense embellishment press introduced in October 2017. Where the smaller model is limited to tactile finishes created by UV cured clear inks at differing thicknesses, the new machine will also apply a foil to the UV cured fluid. It will be a rival to Scodix and MGI machines, though perhaps less versatile and less expensive.
The third new machine will find immediate favour in the UK. It is the DC20K, a cutter and bridge to prepare larger sheets to be processed by a DC746 multifinisher. This takes a B2 sheet and cuts it to a suitable size for the multifinisher to then turn into business cards, greetings cards and other items that are meat and drink to the multifinishing unit with the full options of cutting, slitting, perforation, creasing and scoring.
This ensures that the cost and productivity gains associated with digital printing on a larger sheet are not lost in the finishing process and that finishing does not become a bottleneck.
Much of the appeal of B2 digital is from the greater number of items on a sheet compared to a standard SRA3 sheet. If that can take 21 business cards, the B2 press sheet accommodates 64; two-up greetings cards can become six on the larger sheet and so on.
However, finishing the larger format has to date had to involve a guillotine and therefore an operator, and creation of an unwanted bottleneck. This is not needed in the Duplo set up.
The unit can feed sheets on either edge, cutting according to the programme and printed jobs. A job that is split 3/2 will result in two sheets with the DC746 adjusting to cope through subsequent actions. This will require instructions to be part of the imposition file produced in prepress, either through the EFI Fiery or Ultimate Impostrip. This integration will be completed by the time Duplo is ready to ship in the summer.
Cameras are used to position each sheet for the machine, correcting for skew as well as lateral and longitudenal shift.
The same concept of cameras to read register marks and correct the position of the sheet applies to the DuSense. This is essential for accurate positioning ahead of applying the UV oil that is first pinned under an LED UV array and the cure completed with a mercury vapour UV lamp.
It will feed a sheet to a maximum of 585×1,068mm as a means of future proofing an investment as larger presses become available. It runs with Kyocera print heads capable of 600x600dpi, producing a layer from 10-80 microns on a sheet to 600gsm, pitching the DuSense squarely at the luxury packaging applications.
The unit includes an automatic thickness detector to check each sheet from the feeder and to position the heads with the right accuracy above the substrate. A surface treatment unit ensure that the DuSense will operate on the different types of digital as well as litho printing. A side lay register positions the sheet before the print heads.
After imaging comes curing and a foiling station at the end of the press. The sheet can be diverted beneath the application rollers if necessary. The foiling station itself includes delivery and take up reels and can accommodate five separate reels across the width.
