Kama is hoping to make the venerable Heidelberg Cylinder a museum piece with the introduction of the ComCut 76, a new flatbed platen that ought to have made its debut at Drupa.
The new machine borrows some concepts from existing Kama platens, but has a lower entry level price to appeal to companies currently using Cylinders and windmill platens for embossing and die cutting and creasing.
The ComCut 76 takes a 760x600mm sheet, putting it at B2 and digital presses, runs at 5,500sph and has a cutting force of 165 tonnes to enable it to process plastic and card.
The German company reckons that the device will pay for itself when running for just 5 hours a week. “Many printers are looking for a solid successor solution for their Cylinder that will pay for itself within a manageable period of time,” says Stefan Kleditzsch, Kama’s sales manager for northern Germany. “We offer this solution with the ComCut 76, which fulfils all die cutting and embossing tasks according to the motto ’reduced to the max’.”
In the UK, Friedheim International handles distribution of Kama’s existing platens for die cutting and foiling. John Harrison reckons the appeal goes beyond the lower cost. “A lot of Cylinders are well loved, dating from the 1950s and 60s, but there is a lot of manual handling involved in reining them. All the sheets must be lifted to load into the machine, perhaps 2 tonnes of material for a job,” he says.
“With the ComCut there’s a pallet feed so there is no lifting involved, which suits current health and safety requirements, and increased productivity.”
Job set up times are around 10-15 minutes, far faster than the very mechanical machines. The system creates fewer nicks in the processed sheet, thereby improving quality, with rapid set up for repeat jobs. It will cope easily with cutting boards and kiss cutting self adhesive materials. The Kama also offers blind embossing which is not available on Cylinders.
“This is a low cost solution for those companies looking to move away from manual power. And as it runs as fast as three Cylinders, it will free up expensive floor space and reduce manpower requirements.
“It is going to deliver much better crease formation for a digital printer going into short run cartons because it is a flat bed die cutter, which then runs much better on the folder gluer line.”
