During the week of April 17, the WIFAG press company demonstrated its new shaftless technology in Bern, Switzerland. On hand for this event were 350 reporters and press engineers from around the world.
The live printing demonstration lasted for about an hour. Only one operator ran the press, and he was the speaker. The press had been completely plated and was ready to start as soon as we were seated.
Test 1. The operator cold-started the press and activated the offset systems at 2,000 revolutions per hour. As the press reached 5,000 rph, it produced salable copies. The operator increased the speed to 35,000 rph and kept it there for a few minutes. He then brought the press to a normal stop, and the last paper out of the folder was a good, salable copy.
Test 2. The operator hot-started the press, held its speed at 5,000 rph for one minute and then stopped it. The press printed only 20 bad copies before producing salable papers.
Test 3. The operator started the press and reached 35,000 rph. After the press had been running at this speed for about three minutes, he pushed the emergency-stop button. The press came to an dead stop in 10-to-11 seconds and was under control, minus the wild web fluttering common to other presses during sudden stops. The last paper from the conveyor was very close to perfect register and certainly salable.
Test 4. A press crew took one web out of a tower unit by cutting it across its width and walking it through the press until it was clear of the folder. This left a 32-page product on press. The operator started the press and ran it at top speed without the tower unit. The crew then re-webbed the tower unit as the rest of the press continued running. The operator stopped the press, restarted it as a 48-page product and brought it up to speed.
Test 5. This test demonstrated the flexibility of the flying plate-changing unit. The web traveled through all four levels of the tower unit. As the top three levels ran at top speed, the bottom-level couple was electrically disengaged and came to a complete stop. The operator completely replated and then electrically re-engaged it. When the cylinders reached the proper speed, the couple started printing again. At the same instant another couple disengaged and stopped printing.
Conclusions
I was most impressed with the web control during starts and red-button stops, and the press' ability to split production, with one part of the tower unit printing on a web going to one folder and the remaining part printing on a web going to a different folder.
Shaftless technology should be a natural fit for newspapers that want to add color or page capacity but are short on space. Without line or upright shafts, the additional equipment will fit more easily.
These tests proved beyond any doubt that shaftless presses are superior to presses driven with line or upright shafts.
Frank Balentine is NAA's press manager. E-mail, balef@naa.org; phone, (703) 648-1217; fax, (703) 648-1216.
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