DScoop Dublin (3 - 5 June) will mark the official debut of the newly formed LasX Europe. Set up in Hannover on 1 April as a wholly owned subsidiary of its US parent company, LasX Europe sells and supports the highly advanced LaserSharp range of laser based cutting systems, together with robotic and automated materials handling systems, across the EMEA region.
Unique to LasX is a twin camera optical system that reads barcodes and alignment marks on the print, calls up the relevant cutting templates from a database, aligns the lasers exactly to the print and also controls the positioning of the stacking robot.
Dirk Stünkel, managing director of LasX Europe, said "DScoop is an ideal venue for us to introduce ourselves to the European market. It will be host to many HP Indigo digital press users from across our region. We're eager to show them how our products can complement their digital print work with short run and personalised finishing."
LasX has manufactured laser cutting systems since it was first set up in 1998 in the USA. Today it supplies systems for commercial print, electronics and medical applications. The print systems can be configured for roll or sheet materials, in sizes suited to anything from narrow web labels to large sheet carton packaging up to 2 metre widths. They can be integrated with other finishing equipment and run inline or nearline with digital or conventional presses.
Live robot stacking
At DScoop LasX Europe will show live demonstrations of its super-fast LaserSharp Spider STP-400 robotic stacker, working with cartons that have been pre-printed by an HP Indigo 30000 digital carton press and pre-cut by a LasX LaserSharp B2 Motion cutter. Videos of the LaserSharp B2 Motion system cutting the same cartons at high speed will be shown as part of the demonstration.
Guided by printed bar codes and alignment marks on the job, the Spider STP-400 can automatically pick up, sort, rotate, stack, shingle, and/or collate variable nested parts at high speed. For wider configurations two stackers can be fitted side by side.
Integrating lasers for finishing
The LaserSharp B2 Motion cutter itself is one of a wide choice of configurations that customers can specify. It can be fitted with lasers between 100W and 2,500W power for cutting anything from thin paper to acrylic plastic. A 400W laser can cut, score, perforate or etch lines at up to 12 metres per second on cartonboard. The transport belt runs at up to 60 metres per minute, with a vacuum that ensures that sheets and cut items remain firmly in place throughout the process.
"We will be showing DScoop delegates the missing link in digital printing: digital finishing that can keep up with their short-run, fast turnround printing and add value to their print in new and exciting ways," says Mr Stünkel. "Our second appearance will be at LabelExpo Europe in Brussels, in September."
www.lasx.com
