AMS, Carlisle Printing Make 'Sheetfed Perfecting History' by Retrofitting LED UV on a 40" Long Perfector

SUGARCREEK, OH—September 26, 2014—Air Motion Systems and Carlisle Printing have teamed up to retrofit LED UV on a 40” 5- over 5-long Perfector, the first of its kind in North America. Converting from a conventional perfecting process, the one day installation of two AMS XP7 Series LED UV lamps made an immediate impact on the production and efficiency of the nine-year-old ManRoland 700.

“The results are fantastic,” states Marcus Wengerd, owner of Carlisle Printing, an Ohio commercial printer. “We had been searching for a way to increase our efficiency and profitability on the long perfector, while maintaining the very high level of quality that our customers require of us. I can honestly say that installing LED UV is the best thing I have done in 22 years of printing.”

One LED UV module was installed over the perfector cylinder after unit five and another was installed in the delivery following unit ten. The press runs at maximum speeds with no worries about the LED UV keeping up. “We are running the press at full density, four colors and LED coating varnish on both sides. At this point, we are running the AMS LED UV lamps at less than full power to meet all of our drying needs.”

Carlisle specializes in printing a wide variety of commercial products including books, catalogs, brochures, menus and event invitations, as well as labels and packaging. The entire experience with AMS UV LED has been rewarding, according to Wengerd.

“It is totally rewarding to eliminate marking, to take dry sheets directly to the bindery, and to not run spray powder," he says. "We are eliminating gutters and saving on paper costs. We set the slow down wheels once and forget them. In all, it has been an extremely rewarding experience!”

The AMS XP7 LED UV system was installed in August, in a process that took just one day. The only change required of the existing machine to accommodate the LED lamps was a change in rollers from conventional to hybrid UV ink rollers. Because they are compact and produce no heat, the AMS LED lamps integrate seamlessly into the press and don't require placement in the interdeck units, as is customary with traditional UV units.

“It is interesting to compare the LED UV installation to what we would have sold to Marcus with a typical UV system just a year ago,” says Hans Ulland of Air Motion Systems. “Last year on a five over five, we would have offered Carlisle at least two UV units per side. But thanks to a rapid advance in LED UV technology, not only are they using only a 1/4th of the energy required by traditional UV, but their installation took less than a full day compared to the week plus that traditional UV would have required. And unlike high wavelength UV and low energy UV solutions, they never have to worry about mercury compliance or changing bulbs. Another huge benefit lies in the fact there is no UV preparation of the positions required with LED, which saves even more installation time and money.”

Carlisle Printing joins a growing number of commercial printers around the world who are switching to LED in order to gain productivity benefits, jobs savings, energy savings and add more profitable work. As a pioneer in UV LED technology, AMS will be exhibiting its LED UV solutions for Sheetfed Offset printing at GRAPH EXPO 14, scheduled to take place next week in Chicago from September 28 to October 1.

River Falls, WI-based AMS will be hosting a FREE LED UV Printing Seminar at GRAPH EXPO 14 entitled "How to Profit with LED UV in Sheetfed Offset."

Source: Air Motion Systems.