B2 presses

[setad]

We are looking at purchasing a B2 press and would appriciate peoples thoughts on the presses that are on the market at the moment. We are mainly looking at the SM74, XL 75 and the RAPIDA 75. The rapida is the cheapest of the 3 but is the build and print quality anywhere near the heidelberg?

I look forward to your thoughts.

 

[Ret Heidelberg Instructor]

You may want to look at the XL75. With the size that can run a 23 X 29 inch sheet. That way you can get 6up: 8 1/2 by 11 inch copies. The SM 74 is only 20 1/2 by 29 and you only get 4 up. If you get a coater, get the Anilox roller system and extended delivery for drying purposes.The press also has double size impression cylinders with less tranfer marking problems that you could get on an SM 74. If you go SM 74 order it with the transfer jackets and not Super blues. You will be able to clean the tranfer cylinders. Don't know much about the KBA press but I am sure that they are well engineered and well built. Put both of them through demos with your jobs and see the results. Give them jobs to try that they can pre-flight and then give each of them one that they can't pre-flight, but the same job and see yourself what the results are. Approach both maufacturers with an open mind and do your homework. Get the best bang for your buck but do not sacrifice quality and speed.

 

[setad]

Thanks for the reply, thats interesting what you say about the extended delivery because we would be getting it with the anilox coating unit and the Heidelberg rep has said we wouldn't require the extended delivery which i found strange, as we have an extended delivery on our 52 at the moment. We have been to trial the KBA machine and i was very impressed with the build quality and it also had the double size impression cylindars, which the 74 doesn't have. Overall the print quality wasn't bad although i did have a few concerns regarding the fit. For the operator i think it would be a nice machine to run. We are going to trial the XL and the SM so we will see what the comparison is between the machines.

 

[Ret Heidelberg Instructor]

Ret Heidelberg Intructor

Ret Heidelberg Intructor

Check into the extended delivery options. You may not need them. They may be for UV applications. The press has been designed with better drying capabilities to accomodate speed and coater drying.