AeroCut Quatro is a compact multifunction finishing unit that’s the latest to be added to Morgana Systems’ range. It offers variable cross-cutting, slitting, creasing and perforating, all with automatic adjustment driven by job templates. The launch price is £29,995.
It’s built with digital printing in mind, with features including a sophisticated double-sheet detection and correction system and automatic correction for image drift. Options include a side-stop partial-width perforation unit and an Adobe Illustrator plug-in.
The AeroCut Quatro is made by Uchida Yoko in Japan. Morgana has sold Uchida equipment for the past 15 years, while Uchida is a Morgana dealer in Japan. The AeroCut Quatro was first demonstrated on the Uchida stand at drupa.
Ray Hillhouse, UK sales manager for Morgana, said: ‘This machine sits above our existing CardXtra and CardXtra Plus automated finishing solutions. The variable cutters give us the optimum flexibility in finished sizes to cover just about every common job.’ It does a lot more than CardXTra Plus – it has variable slitting widths and perforation. Double-slitting wheels give correct gutters for business cards.
AeroCut Quatro is based on Uchida’s original SRA3 format AeroCut finisher, but with more memory for templates and the ability to handle longer sheets. Sheets up to 365 x 520 mm are taken in standard mode and 999 mm long in flexible mode. This is suitable for the 660 mm length available in some Kodak NexPress and Xerox iGen4 presses, but also the even longer lengths from some of the MGI Meteor toner presses plus various low cost printers based on the OKI engines. Minimum sheet size is 210 x 210 mm.
The touch screen controls the lot. There’s a library of 263 pre-set templates that can be called up, or new jobs can be set up from scratch and stored as new templates if needed – there’s space for 90 user-defined templates. The machine can be connected to the desktop to receive outside instructions.
All slitting, cutting and creasing adjustments are servo-controlled and automatic once the template is chosen.
Speeds depend on what functions you’ve chosen. Examples are: for A4 perf-only it runs at 46 sheets per minute (spm); for A4 two cuts, one crease 20 sheets spm; for SRA3 21-up business cards, eight spm; for SRA3 eight postcards 12 spm; for SRA3 four-up greetings cards 14 spm.
Another option is a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator that allows print jobs to be set up in alignment to a finishing template. On Uchida’s drupa stand the new machine was demonstrated next to a Konica Minolta bizhub Press 6000. The Illustrator plug-in was used to align artwork to finishing templates, then the same command would send the job to the printer and the template to the finisher. As soon as sheets came off the printer they could be transferred to the waiting finisher.
Mr Hillhouse points out that in the UK many impositions are done in a RIP, however the plug-in will be useful feature for smaller shops or for pre-imposed files.
Morgana has demonstration units in its Milton Keynes and Scotland showrooms, and at the time of writing has delivered the first one to a UK customer, JD Printing in Farnborough. ‘This is a small company I met when I was at a previous job, when we sold them a DI press,’ Mr Hillhouse says. ‘They only have three people, so what they like is the ease of use. They can start it up and leave it to crease, cut and perf in one pass. Normally you’d need separate machines like a guillotine, which take more operator attention. With the AeroCut Quatro they can leave it running and go and do something else, which is important for a small company.’
He sees the AeroCut Quatro as a lower-cost competitor for Duplo’s DC-645 modular finisher, which has sold well into the short run and digital market. ‘It’s a section of the market that Duplo has had to itself. We’re letting the customers know that now there is an alternative.’
So far it doesn’t have the barcode reader and JDF options of the Duplo, but Uchida has taken a clever and simple route to automatically set the finisher directly from a computer without JDF. However it does have an optional side-stop perforator block that can be used for tear-off coupons or tickets, with a choice of blades for up to 70 mm into the sheet. ‘This is only usually available on much more expensive systems,’ Mr Hillhouse says.
‘We’ve also been able to attach our own Autofold unit to it, so it can trim, crease and fold in one operation. This costs just under £11,000, and can be retrofitted if needed.’
Contact: www.morgana.co.uk
