Product category:
Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA | Subject: Rapida 105
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 April 2005
Hybrid Print Consumables Need
Accrediation
At the second of its hybrid user meetings at KBA's sheetfed facility in Radebeul (Germany) expanded on developments in hybrid printing technology.
At the second of its hybrid user meetings at KBA's sheetfed facility in Radebeul (Germany) expanded on developments in hybrid printing technology Over 250 people attended the event from all over western Europe, the USA, India and Japan, amongst other countries
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 24 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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KBA said it believes it has occupied a position as the standard bearer in hybrid technology after demonstrating the company's own coating option, which is based on the application of two different types of ink (hybrid and oil-based), at Drupa 2000.
The company has since expanded its role to embrace other technological innovations in sheetfed offset and, as a result, it said it has sold more than 200 hybrid presses for sheet formats from B2 to size 7-plus (27" to 64").
The vast majority of those presses are already on stream and during that period, cut-throat pricing for standard printed products in the market has steadily expanded the circle of hybrid converts, added the company.
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When KBA unveiled a new Rapida 105 at Drupa, a similar press had already been put through its paces for several months at the pharmaceutical centre run by the Rob Leunis and Chapman Group (RLC).
Jurgen Veil, head of sheetfed offset marketing at KBA, outlined the technical criteria that apply in approving consumables and systems components for hybrid production.
Most early adopters of hybrid coating were packaging printers, but over the past 12 months commercial printers have accounted for a growing proportion of the 50-plus shipments.
Teething troubles caused by a shortage of suitable consumables have long since been remedied, and today there is a plentiful supply of hybrid inks - including special inks, cleaning agents, oil-based varnishes and UV coatings, said Veil.
However, Veil added that users have been unsettled by instances of consumables being labelled as hybrid-compatible when they are totally unsuitable and could even cause press damage.
To address that issue, last year KBA commissioned FOGRA to conduct a series of tests.
After announcing preliminary findings for 600 different washing agents, blankets and roller materials, Jurgen Veil and Dr Wolfgang Rauh of FOGRA awarded the first hybrid-accredited certificates of approval and quality seals to a selection of inks that had already passed all the tests.
They included Starbrite from Epple, Gemini Process from Flint Schmidt, Sun Chemical's Sun Cure Hybrite and Novabryte BF Process from BASF.
Those, along with the various washing agents and UV coatings still being tested, are said to ensure a stable, reliably reproducible print production and others product will soon follow, said KBA.
Albrecht H Glockle, head of prevention at the BG, Germany's equivalent of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK and OSHA in the US), described the emission tests that were carried out at the Rapida 105.
The press tested at the end of last year was configured with two conventional and two hybrid inking systems applying three UV coatings and one aqueous coating.
Three different washing agents were used and all production was alcohol-free, said KBA.
All the readings for the relevant emissions - ink mist, VOCs (alcohol, carbon dioxide), ozone, UV light, spray powder and noise - were below the specified thresholds.
At the user meeting the BG, therefore, awarded the new B1 press its 'emission tested' certificate.
Following on from all the other Rapida presses in recent years the Rapida 105 has become the first 18,000 sheets per hours (sph) sheetfed offset press on the market to receive the globally valid environmental accreditation, added KBA.
According to the BG, process stability when using hybrid inks depends on three criteria - print output, materials compatibility and environmental factors.
Output is determined by the press manufacturer and suppliers, materials compatibility by FOGRA and emissions by the BG's testing and certification unit.
But process stability can only be achieved if all three parties work together, added the organisation. Request a free brochure from KBA ...
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