Product category:
Print Finishing (Binding, Folding, Inserting, Stitching, etc.)
News Release from: Tech-ni-Fold | Subject: Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 July 2005
Reduced Finishing Costs With Pre-Fold
Creaser
A specialist UK manufacturer has developed a new method of creasing stock prior to folding that has reduced production costs for finishing houses and printers.
A specialist UK manufacturer has developed a new method of creasing stock prior to folding that has reduced production costs for finishing houses and printers that have been testing the new system Leicester-based Tech-ni-fold, which has been making creasing systems for six years, is now planning a world-wide launch for the product, called the Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 12 Jan 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser will be available from this month.
The creaser is claimed to be able to be fitted quickly and simply to virtually any make of folding machine, as well as hand-fed and automatic creasing equipment.
Tech-ni-fold said that it already supplies its creasing products to many leading manufacturers, including Heidelberg, Duplo and Multigraf and it expects a huge take up of the Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser following its official introduction.
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To solve the problem of toner cracking on digital stock at high speeds, Tech-ni-Fold is to launch the Turbo-Creaser, which is claimed to be the world's fastest digital creasing and folding machine.
The creaser is said to retain all the best characteristics of the earlier Tri-creaser products, which have evolved to meet new challenges from the industry.
Tech-ni-fold believes that one of the great attractions of the system is its simplicity.
The new system consists of a male and female component, which are fitted on to the slitter shafts of the folder.
The male component incorporates three stretchable ribs and one of the breakthroughs with the new product has been the discovery by Tech-ni-fold of how to mould a special mix of rubber-based compound in different colours, without compromising on the quality of the material.
That has allowed the manufacturer to create coloured rubber ribs to suit different stocks.
Graham Harris, managing director of Tech-ni-fold, explained: "It has taken us several years of experimenting with various rubber compounds to create one that allows us to produce a material in different colours that does exactly what we want it to on the folding machine.
This significantly reduces any risk of confusion, making it very easy for the operator to choose the correct rubber rib for the material to be creased.
"We've designed the colour and shape of the rubber ribs to suit stock from 100gsm, 170gsm, 170gsm, 250gsm and 250gsm upwards.
In addition, because some heavier boards are prone to cracking problems, we've designed several versions of the rubber ribs used with stock more than 250gsm.
That means that the operator can match the stock, without risk of cracking," added Harris.
Another claimed advantage offered by the rubber compound is its ability to grip the stock as well as crease it and that is said to greatly enhance sheet control and register from the front to the back edge of the material.
Moving a rib in to position for creasing is said to only take a few seconds and the spare ribs not in use simply remain in a recess, where they can be swapped if a stock change requires it, without taking the creasing unit off the folder's slitter shaft.
The female part of the Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser incorporates colour coded channels that correspond with the creasing ribs held on the male component.
The use of bearings within that unit enables it to run at the speed at which the sheet is travelling, rather than machine speed, which reduces impact and potential damage to the stock.
To aid make-ready the female component does not require a fixing screw to hold it in place and instead it aligns itself in to the middle position of the channel during production.
Graham Harris commented: "Traditional creasing systems, using metal ribs, can create many problems.
The rubber ribs stretch the paper fibres, rather than crush them, to form a crease and this is much gentler to the stock.
It results in an excellent crease on a huge range of material, regardless of grain direction.
We've carried out some extensive tests of the Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser at existing customer sites and they have proven that the rubber is extremely hard wearing and the system is very quick and easy to fit and changeover." He continued: "Customers have been testing the creasing system on material printed both conventionally and on digital presses and the results have been excellent. Request a free brochure from Tech-ni-Fold ...
Work that used to be sent out to the trade for creasing on a flatbed platen is now handled in-house and we anticipate that most companies installing the Easy-Fit Tri-Creaser will cover the purchase cost within the first few jobs.".
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