New Features for Kongsberg Converter by Esko

Esko-Graphics has developed new features, including an optical registration system and remote alert capability for its Kongsberg Digital Converting Machine (DCM).

Esko-Graphics has developed new features, including an optical registration system and remote alert capability for its Kongsberg Digital Converting Machine (DCM).

The Kongsberg DCM is based on the Kongsberg XL series of cutting and creasing tables for packaging applications.

The Kongsberg DCM automatically loads sheets from a stack of material up to 24" thick, cuts and creases each sheet from a CAD file, and unloads the sheets - running virtually unattended.

No cutting die is required, generating further savings in cost and turnaround time.

The company believes a natural fit exists between the DCM and large-format digital printers that make inroads into the POP display market and other, formerly screen-printing applications.

There is a growing tendency to consider short-run production as high-margin business thanks to new digital manufacturing equipment.

The Kongsberg DCM is replacing manually operated (clam-shell) die cutting presses and other automated die cutting equipment especially designed for short-run work.

They require the significant expense of creating a die, which can often amount to 1,000 Euros or more, per job.

Frequently the delivery time for the cutting die is several days, which can be a problem for the short-run trade, which is often a just-in-time service.

The machine can have a camera-based registration of print-to-cut, which considerably speeds up change over time between jobs, and compensates for inaccuracy in print positioning between sheets within a production run.

With this method post-laminated sheets that have not been clean-cut can be reliably and accurately finished on the Kongsberg DCM.

It can be run unattended and some existing customers are even running it overnight, claim Esko-Graphics.

To ensure that the system can be monitored, it can be equipped with a simple attachment that notifies the operator when there is any stop in the production cycle, by issuing a text message to a mobile phone.

For time-critical jobs, the remote alert system can ensure that the machine runs smoothly, even when nobody stays close to the machine.

The Kongsberg DCM is built with a number of features that provide productivity and safety benefits, such as neat stacking of finished sheets in the output stack saves time during stripping.

It has a large bed size (1.6 metres x3.2 metres) that allows savings in print layout.

Flat die cutting equipment is often limited to 1.6x2.0 metres.

New and finished sheets are simultaneously loaded and unloaded.

A large crease wheel provides die cut-quality folds and an automatic knife tip sensor ensures the knife blade is intact.

A vacuum suction monitor in the cutting bed and suction grippers also ensures the substrate is held and transported properly.

Photo cell sensors safeguard against obstructions in the cutting area and in-stack.

It can also be fitted with a fence with monitored gates to safeguard the operator and bystanders.

Since 1986, Esko-Graphics has installed more than 1,500 Kongsberg sample-making tables.

Of these, only a handful is no longer in use today, which means that over 99% of all Kongsberg tables are still in daily production, claimed Esko.

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