Esko Digital Finishing Business vice president Steve Bennett said that the breakthrough was thanks to a much more powerful spindle that allowed the machine to cut through denser substrates.
"Because the sign shops are typically printing on very rigid, dense substrates we have a new very high-speed spindle that delivers 2.5kW of power directly to the milling head," he explained.
"Our prior spindle and most of our competitors are 1kW by comparison."
Bennett said that the development of the new MultiCUT-HP tool head, which can be retrofitted to Esko’s top-of-the-range Kongsberg XP cutting tables, had been driven by the growth in UV and correspondingly direct-to-substrate printing.
The high-powered milling tool is water-cooled to prevent overheating and comes with a range of drill bits up to 8mm in diameter, allowing it to remove more material per pass.
Bennett said that this made the MultiCUT-HP three times more productive than its predecessor, while new power-saving variable vacuum technology means the table consumes less energy than previous models.
The Kongsberg XN has a modular design and is available in a range of sizes, from the 1,680 x 1,270mm Kongsberg XN20 to the 2,210x6,550mm Kongsberg XN48.
Esko said that the enlarged work area allows full Y-axis reach of all tools, while the length of the XN24 and XN44 models has been extended to 3,200mm.
The Kongsberg XN has four tool heads in total, as well as a full assortment of insert tools to enable greater versatility, and can handle substrates up to 25mm thick.
New tools include a solid board v-notching insert, a corrugated paper-core board v-notching insert and a Braille tool insert. Optional extras include a material conveyor, an AutoFeeder and a Roll-Off unit.
Bennett added that the machine could be used for "any application in packaging, display making and sign making", including cutting plates as part of the Esko Digital Flexo Suite.
"It’s our most versatile finishing system," he added. "Our customers came to us and said that was the number one feature they’d like us to improve on – the versatility to finish all kinds of substrates.
"It’s an ideal machine for sign makers but a great fit for packagers and converters as well."
Esko's digital finishing solutions, including its i-cut Automate 12 software and four Kongsberg cutting tables, will be demonstrated at Drupa on stand A23 in hall 8B.
