Offset Printing
New 23×29 KBA Rapida 75 Sports Large-Format Design and Automation
Thursday 30. October 2008 - Thirty new innovative features introduced on half-size press
KBA North America, a global press manufacturer based in Williston, Vermont and Dallas, Texas, is introducing the new Rapida 75 23 x 29 inch sheetfed press to the North American marketplace after a successful debut at Drupa 2008 in late May.
“The Rapida 75 is the perfect half-size press for the North American market,” says Holger Garbrecht, president and CEO of KBA North America. “It was developed with all the hallmarks of the precision work of the KBA group. During its development, KBA-patented construction elements from larger-format printing presses were used. Among these are the pneumatic side lay, clamping of printing plates, adjustment of the diagonal register on the transfer cylinder and many other designs. The patented designs were modified for the KBA Rapida 75 machines.”
The new KBA Rapida 75 is a 15,000 sph press configurable with two to eight colors plus coater and perfector, and incorporates nearly 30 new features. These include pneumatic suction sidelays, an open inking unit design, gripper systems and KBA DensiTronic density measurement and control from the console. Standard features include semi-automatic plate changing and remote control of the diagonal register, which is adjusted through the transfer cylinders; simultaneous cylinder and roller washing; pallet feeding and delivery. Machines delivered to customers are prepared for temperature-controlled inking units. If the customer decides, even at a later date, to add temperature control to the equipment, performing the additional installation in the printing shop is not a problem.
Productivity is a key feature of the new Rapida 75. The image area of the Rapida 75 offers a wide range of possibilities for optimal imposition of pages on the sheet. Eight pages can be imposed on the conventional half-size format, while the 29-inch format allows users of the new KBA Rapida 75
to impose up to 12 pages on one sheet. The printing of a 120-page magazine on conventional half-size format sheets requires 15 preparations, while the use of 29-inch format sheets reduces the number of preparations to 10. Changing to a new job takes between 10 and 15 minutes. The substantial productivity increase in both prepress and printing, while not increasing the cost, is another strong argument in favor of the KBA Rapida 75 printing press.
At Drupa 08, the five-color coater press with extended delivery demonstrated a high-speed job change from luxury spirits packaging on lightweight board to a high quality brochure.
Another of the state-of-the-art solutions included in the optional accessories is a fully-automated four-over-four perfector which performs sheet perfecting using a system of three double-diameter cylinders. The sheet is guided by air locks. Instead of jackets, special surfaces are used on the impression cylinders after the perfector, reducing expenses for the printing.