UK printers discuss the StitchLiner Mark III at the Horizon showroom
Finishing specialist IFS presented new and updated stitching, perfect binding and folding equipment to address both digital and offset print production at a special event last week at Horizon’s European showrooms in Quickborn, Germany.
At an event attended by 13 British printing companies, including Solopress, Emmerson Press, Bonacia, Interprint, Galloways and JPL, Horizon Europe and IFS staff demonstrated the range of finishing equipment from the Japanese manufacturer.
Of particular interest to Digital Printer readers was a highly automated saddle-stitching system built around the Horizon StitchLiner Mark III, which like its predecessors handles 4-page flat sheet input. The Mk III enables both collated digital and offset print to be combined and stitched, including support for A4 landscape booklets at up to 5300 booklets per hour (6000 for A4 portrait). This makes it possible to combine variable content sections with static pages to minimise unit costs. A square back option is also available but reduces throughput to around 1200-1300 copies per hour.
The StitchLiner Mark III offers fully automated set-up of stitcher head parameters via a 200-job memory, with compensation for booklet thickness as well as format. This allows productive handling of variable “each booklet different” work. The minimum supported format is 85 x 95mm in a two-up arrangement. Twenty StitchLiner Markk III units have already been installed in Germany.
For book production, the BQ-480 four-clamp perfect binder complements the BQ-470 model which will continue to be available, but offers a number of enhancements in terms of automation and flexibility. Also aimed at digital printers, the new model can bind up to 800 “book of one” copies per hour thanks to a high level of automation that can be customised for paper type, signature or loose sheet print, sewn book blocks and notch binding. The binder supports both EVA and PUR hotmelt glue with two different tanks available for each glue type. Books up to 65mm thick can be PUR bound, with rigid clamping during the milling and nipping stages helping to provide a high quality finished book.
Variable product types are also supported by the AFV-56 buckle folder. Available in four- or six-buckle configurations, the folder features area-based vacuum control for handling very light stocks down to 40gsm (uncoated, 50gsm coated). Like the other new products, it offers a high level of automation, with screen-controlled set-up changes taking between 30 and 45 seconds. Minimum fold width is 35mm which suits pharmaceutical applications – Horizon staff reported that one user in this sector had calculated an 80% saving in set-up time.
A 900mm feed table option supports the long sheet formats from many sheet-fed digital presses and various roll folding options are offered, all accessed from the touchscreen.
