Esko has announced a new addition to its Kongsberg range of digital cutting tables, with the new Kongsberg C Edge. This has been designed specifically for signage and corrugated packaging converters.
According to Esko, the major feature of this series is that it can be upgraded in terms of both speed and acceleration to deliver a higher level of productivity. The Edge sits between the older X-series and the flagship C-series tables, and looks very much to me as if Esko has removed some of the features from of its C-series to produce a cheaper machine that can be upgraded to the full spec later.
There’s a choice of two sizes, with the C24 Edge having a 1680 x 3200mm table and the larger C44 Edge taking materials up to 2210 x 3200mm. Both appear to come with eight vacuum zones so that you can work on one area, whilst loading/ unloading other zones. They can be configured with a standard table top or a conveyor belt design and can handle up to 75mpm at an acceleration of 1G. The Edge series uses Esko’s new Fast Tool adapter for holding multiple tools, and can be fitted with a second of these, allowing converters to set up a lot of different tool combinations to handle a wide range of substrates without having to stop to manually change tools. It’s worth noting that you can also upgrade older cutting tables by adding the Fast Tool adaptor to them.
The C-Edge series can also be fitted with a heavy duty unit with a 50kg downforce to produce high quality crease lines with a 150mm crease wheel, suitable for corrugated packaging manufacturers. Esko also offers a CorruSpeed tool that was developed for cutting corrugated board at high production speeds without oscillation. This produces higher quality, even with faster speeds, and with recycled content.
Russell Weller, Esko product manager, stated: “The new C Edge is designed to grow with our customers. Invest now and you invest for the future. Unlike other tables on the market, the C Edge is completely upgradable avoiding the impact of having to reinvest when a business expands. The C Edge evolves with a business to unlock production flexibility and profitability, and delivers exceptional cutting quality and milling accuracy at a remarkably cost-effective price.”
It’s available now worldwide. You can find more details from Esko’s website here – but be warned – this leads to a web page that, at time of writing, has lots of words but nowhere near the level of information that you would expect if you were actually planning to buy one of these tables.
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