Ryobi announces perfecting for SRA1

As a further development of its Ryobi 920 Series, the Japanese press manufacturer has announced the release of a convertible perfecting option providing double sided eight-up format printing in a wide range of configurations from two to ten printing units. The presses will be available in the UK through Apex Digital Graphics.

The six newly created Ryobi 920P convertible perfecting models have been released to satisfy customer demand, and consist of two, four, five, six, eight and ten unit models. Ryobi expect these new models to meet the needs of printing companies that are taking on issues of increasing productivity and securing profits from a wide range of double-sided printing work.

A three-drum configuration has been adopted for the perfecting device to ensure smooth sheet reversing. The double diameter storage drum is equipped with a paper-tail edge suction mechanism to assure stable sheet transfer and maintain the print quality during the perfecting process.

To engage perfecting mode the operator simply enters the paper size and selects a printing mode from the touch-panel display. Various perfecting device settings can automatically set themselves to match the paper size, including the open/close timing of the grippers on the storage drum and turning drum, and the on/off switching of the paper-tail edge suction mechanism.

Ryobi 920P presses are suitable for working with a wide range of substrate thicknesses, from 0.04mm to 0.4mm. The maximum printing area for the convertible perfecting models is 900 x 615mm. Maximum printing speed for all configurations is 13,000 sheets per hour.

Commenting on the Ryobi announcement, Neil Handforth, Sales and Marketing Director at Apex Digital Graphics, said: "This is the next logical step for the Ryobi 920 Series. Printers need to be considering equipment investments that will enhance their productivity and help them to make money. The convertible perfecting option for the Ryobi 920 will help a print business to achieve both of these goals, and with the wide range of configurations being made available, they can select the machine that most suits their needs."

For companies focused on providing UV printing solutions for their customers, Ryobi's LED-UV curing unit is optionally available, and can mount over the convertible perfecting device in order to cure the reverse side of the print. Once perfected, the front-side printing is then passed through an LED-UV curing unit in the press delivery, to provide a completely dried printed sheet.

Effective High-Speed Printing
The motor-driven ink and water fountain rollers are programmed to automatically synchronise with the printing speed of the machine, helping to ensure a stable ink supply and uniform dampening. Printing density control systems Ryobi PDS-E, PDS-E Spectro, and PDS-E SpectroDrive are available as options, allowing numerical colour control via measurement of the colour bar on the printed sheet.

Efficient Job Changeover
Various automated systems come together on the Ryobi 920P to help ensure swift and accurate job changeovers including Ryobi Semi-RPC semi-automatic plate changing, Ryobi Program Inking, automatic preset and automatic cleaning devices. The suction tape feeder board has minimal furniture, as well as simplified brush and wheel setting, shortening the time required for changing the paper size.

Ryobi 920 Series
Ryobi's introduction of an SRA1 press caused considerable interest at the IPEX 2010 show in Birmingham earlier this year. It provides for eight-up A4 printing at a significantly lower cost than a B1-format press.

"Many printers looking to move up from B2 format tend to focus on B1 as the next logical move, when in reality many only intend to print eight-up A4 work. A B1 press for this work is simply overkill. It would mean that the printer is running a larger, more expensive press, using oversize plates, and often oversize substrates," said Neil Handforth, Sales and Marketing Director of Apex Digital Graphics, the UK's official Ryobi distributor.

The Ryobi 920 Series SRA1 press offers printers the ideal solution for such a straightforward workload. It also provides a more economical printing solution, and a significantly greener option when examining the potential savings on power consumption, plate and paper waste. It is the ideal machine for printers seeking an effective solution for 900 x 640mm printing. The Ryobi 920 is already becoming firmly established across Europe in areas that would previously have only considered the B1 option.

"Savings begin with the overall cost of the machine, which effectively offers B1 productivity for near the price of a B2 machine," said Mr Handforth. The physical size of the press itself provides a near 35% space reduction compared with equivalently equipped B1 machine, which can be important when expensive floor space needs to be considered as part of the installation of a new machine.

With regard to power consumption, the Ryobi will consume approximately 45kW per hour, whilst a typical B1 machine might expect to draw 72 kW per hour – another saving in favour of the Ryobi 920 over a typical eight hour day of some 216kW hours. With current commercial electricity pricing for daytime working at circa 9p per kW hour, that would equate to a saving for users of the Ryobi machine in the region of £100 per five day week, or in excess of £5,000 per year.

The SRA1 press format offers printers significant potential to grow their production format without increasing the size of their premises. Neil Handforth, Sales and Marketing Director at Apex, commented: "With a maximum sheet size of up to 640 x 920mm on the straight presses, the Ryobi 920 Series can handle eight pages of A4 with trims, but the press only takes the floor space of a B2 machine. In recent years many printers have moved up to a B1 format machine, with all of the associated costs, just to print eight-up A4 work. An SRA1 machine could have saved them a fortune."