Best Press in your opinion ?

[REYES1377]

I have to agree with some of the comments made about the Komori. I have a LS840 full UV. Price wise it was the best for the money. Let me tell you though, i'm not impressed with it as well ! This press is very sensitive to chemistry, inks and anything else you put in it. We had a very bad start up as well. The press was installed brand new 7 months ago and we are still having different components breaking down or failling on the press.

 

[Mike Herndon]

In terms of technology and for a B1 format KBAs have been on the top for many, many years. Some of the tech advantages of KBA over the other guys are:

-Universal grippers (forget about adjusting grippers whenever you change stock.... + they have a self cleaning effect whenever they open and close)
-Ability to disconnect the rollers from the cylinders through a clutch mechanism. Say you have a 6 color press but will only be printing 4 colors, you can disconnect the rollers so they stop rolling. No need to apply lubricants, no need to clean them afterward, simply connect when you need that unit and disconnect when you don't.
-Large double circumference printing and transfer cylinders. No need to chose between SM or CD cylinder configurations. All KBA B1s have double size cylinders. Easy to print thick stock.
- Automatic non stop at the delivery with no need to slow down the machine when you are using it. This little device is great, a rollaway type of non stop secondary pile simply comes out from the rear end of the delivery and holds the paper pile temporarily while you simply lower and exchange the main pile. Genius.
-Non wear, non contact ink keys. The ink keys in the KBAs never, ever touch the surface of the ductor roller, so no need to place expensive ink liners, and no wear whatsoever. If you have repetitive jobs, you can use the same profiles over and over without adjusting for key wear.

I could go on and on. The machine is great. Of course, it is not the cheapest machine out there.

However, what bothers me is that for some reason the Germans have never quite get the electronics the way the Japanese have. All German machines always have more electronic issues than the Japanese. IMHO, they should just dump all the Siemens electronic in favor of Omron.

I agree, we demo'd a kba 106 rapida, very nice machine for all the above reasons. If I was buying a press with no regard to cost, service, past experience etc, just buying a press based on mechanical features the kba would be the one I would get. The 106 impressed me- the gripper system, servo drive, ability to declutch the unit, the perfecting system, roller train, the design, all of it was an engineering marvel. But it does come at a high price, and I mean high.

I’m partial to Heidelberg, I’ve ran them all my life. The new XL’s are impressive. They are still a true “pressman’s” press meaning a good pressman can and will get the most out of it. Heidelberg service has always been good to us.

The last Komori I ran was years ago, a Lithron 628. Good press and did what you wanted it to do. Lately we’ve researched Komori’s and found the Komori LS is different beast completely with a fully automated make ready. A Komori rep told me Komori’s ultimate goal is to make the M/R “touch less”, no operator Involvement. Notice I said operator, with the Komori supposedly you do not need to be a pressman to get the most out of it. Yes it helps but Komori’s says it is not needed (and company owners like this). This, I was told is Komori’s philosophy. Heidelberg gives you an infinite amount of adjustment so you can get any job to print. Komori completely automates and sets everything using their make-ready software so the press will run any job. Hit the green button and go. Both are very different and both work very well. I was impressed seeing the Komori m/r in 50 sheets in an actual production environment, no staging, completely automated.

The last Man Roland I ran was a Miehle Roland 640 with the CCI console….wow. Press actually printed pretty well though.

Mike

 

[Mike Herndon]

I have to agree with some of the comments made about the Komori. I have a LS840 full UV. Price wise it was the best for the money. Let me tell you though, i'm not impressed with it as well ! This press is very sensitive to chemistry, inks and anything else you put in it. We had a very bad start up as well. The press was installed brand new 7 months ago and we are still having different components breaking down or failling on the press.

I keep hearing stories like this and this is what keeps me from being sold on Komori. Yes the automation is impressive but the installation start up, service, and running window make a big difference in the day to day.

Mike

 

[JOHNYPRINT]

last year i had two demonstrations for 10 colour perfectors, hiedelberg XL 105 with cutstar and a 10 colour KBA 106 , both great machines but the KBA marked on the perfected side where the hiedelberg did not, the hiedelberg also had a far superior image control system, for me in the long perfector world the h'berg XL wins hands down. johnyprint

 

[edpressguy]

just my opinion

just my opinion

lets see i have ran the new XL 105 6 color, as well many 6 color cd's and 6 color sm's. XL has it's nice features skewing damping roller, and hycolor. The air turbulences threw out intire press helps with reduce marking, i have always found with heidelbergs there user friendly, as well being able to lease there press makes it a good bussiness factor in Alberta. But there printing qualities suck the good old heidelberg chug. I have ran a Manroland 300 and found the quality of print is good , and by skewing your transfer cyclinders to postion job is a good idea.The down fall the metal they use is cheap pot metal and have found it has left me high and dry do to the metal breaking off on the end of isolating rollers.The closest service tech for them are in toronto which doesnt help when in Alberta. I am currently running a komori lithrone, and I find there print quality on solids are awesome. I enjoy there fast make readies and less waste usage. There roller settings are better, and color control is great from first sheet to about 2000 into running not much color variance. but there service in alberta also sucks, I also feel like i ran this press before, like a early 1990's manroland with like change here and there to be enough to call there own. over all they all have there qerks and they are all have there good aspects.

 

[Weaver]

last year i had two demonstrations for 10 colour perfectors, hiedelberg XL 105 with cutstar and a 10 colour KBA 106 , both great machines but the KBA marked on the perfected side where the hiedelberg did not, the hiedelberg also had a far superior image control system, for me in the long perfector world the h'berg XL wins hands down. johnyprint

I currently run a 2008 XL 105 10 color perfector with a cutstar and its like the movie Field of Dreams-" if you build it they will come" well when it comes to that press-" if you plate it it will run it ". And will do it comfortably... .

I have run many heidelbergs from sm 102 / CD 102 and now the XL perfector they all are great machines and in my opinion you wouldn't be disappointed in a Heidelberg at all. The operator opposite to me ran Komori's and he raves about how much he loves the Heidelberg over them hands down.

 

[canadian printer]

I love the Heidi CD. best press and most user friendly.Running a Komori now and like all others who have posted most concerns are mine also.Heidi has local service Komori does not.All press have their quirks but I think Heidi is still the best just to expensive for the economy right now and Komori is a lot less money. Tough decision for a owner I live in a city that is all Heidi so it is tough to find guys who can or want to run a Komori