ultimate slitter and creaser?

[wonderings]

Our company got out of print a year and a bit ago and we have just gotten back into the game. So we have setup with all new equipment. I would like to automate as much cutting and finishing as possible so am thinking of a slitter that does creasing and perfing. Who makes the "ultimate" for this? I know Duplo but have no experience with them or any other slitters. If money was no object what would you get and why?

 

[LeGerbs]

Our shop used the Duplo 618 for a good while but we found it was just too slow to keep up with our normal day to day production needs. We ended up re-selling it for the bigger 648 and it's a very reliable machine. If you're planning on finding a way to automate all cutting you're just not going to find it. These machines are great for specialty work that needs scoring/perfing/small runs. Other than that if you're looking for a way to cut everything at a reasonable pace really your best option is just a good ol' guillotine.

EDIT* I should mention that the perf tool isn't included in the 648 or 618 and needs to be purchased separately which usually isn't cheap

 

[jwheeler]

a way to cut everything at a reasonable pace really your best option is just a good ol' guillotine.

This is a really good point because the slitter/cutter/creasers (SCC) perform best with cardstock. Ideally, you should have both an SCC and a guillotine. You can get away with heavier-weight text paper in a SCC such as 100# gloss text, but even that can sometimes be problematic. If you get a programmable guillotine cutter, it can be much faster for many jobs. For instance, if you have a job that you just need to cut in half, or in quarters, you'll fly through it in less than half the time a SCC can do it, and the programming will make it automatically move the backstop in between cuts. Our cutter even tells the operator which way to rotate the stack next. The shop I work at now has an AeroCut SCC, which works fine, but we had a Duplo SCC at my last job, and I prefer that interface. The Duplo 648 is also really great for large amounts of business cards because it has an elevating stacker.

 

[gregbatch]

Is this an in-house shop? Do you produce the same items or is it changing constantly?

 

[Shawnd]

Depending on what you are doing, ultimate could be a die cutter:

RD-N4055 Die Cutting System - Standard

The RD-N4055 Die Cutting system combines a high-capacity feeder, a single- or dual-magnetic cylinder die cutter, a specially designed separator, and an optional card stacker into a highly efficient, versatile system for operator-friendly production. As part of Standard Horizon’s popular RD...

www.sdmc.com