come with standard features to allow the substrate to be held or moved accordingly. There is a conveyor system that can cut and crease longer lengths of substrate with accuracy and repeatability. The vacuum table holds the materials firmly to allow you to have accuracy of 0.05mm or 0.05% whichever is greater. The table is zonal so if the substrate is of a smaller size, you can maximise the draw of the vacuum accordingly. There are what Summa calls Media Advance Clamps which allow the substrate to be fixed whilst it is advanced for longer or multiple styles of jobs. Finally, the Roll Support System can be used in combination with the Conveyor System and Media Advance Clamps for processing substrates on a roll. Depending on the format of the machine you choose, a number of these features may or may not be available, but overall all machines above the F1612 can come with the full gamut of equipment. That said the F1612 can come with options such as extension tables and baskets to make it a very flexible machine. There is a lot more to the F Series flatbed finishing machines from Summa and it is impossible to do it justice in just one review, but needless to say, I would suggest regardless of the imagination of your designer, any one of the F Series would be capable of producing what was required. Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu functions without any form of pause. The LED pointer also means when switching, the F Series machines easily and accurately pick up from where they need to. So, what options do we have to fill these three slots? Again, Summa breaks down the choice easily and conveniently. There is a choice of four different groups of cutting and finishing tooling: Tangential, Router, High Frequency Rotary, and Drag modules all of which can be added in one of the three slots on the cutting head. In more detail, the Tangential module provides a vertical force of 10kg and a wide range of different knives and cutting tools for a wide range of materials. Some examples of what can be used in the Tangential module include a kiss-cutting tool for easy weeding of images or shapes, a double cut tool for rigid material, and a heavy-duty cut-out tool for materials up to 15mm in thickness. Creasing tools can be added in this module and if an angle other than 90 degrees is needed there are several V-Cut tools cleverly colour coded for a variety of angles. If perforating is needed in the product, a tool can be clipped into the Tangential module to have a number of different formats of perforation. Finally, if the substrates are thick or troublesome then there are three different styles of oscillating tools either powered electrically or pneumatically. This is only a brief overview of the type of tool you can install in the Tangential module, the number of knife styles and other options is almost endless; meaning you are bound to find the tool you need. Choosing the Drag module for your specified machine opens up a number of functions such as kiss-cutting and the ability to install a pen or other marker to allow the F Series to draw intricate designs on the substrate. The pressure applied by the drag module is up to 600g and this makes it very useful for paper under 200gsm, adhesive vinyl, sandblast materials, and window films. The Rotary module has a high torque motor built into it that can drive a number of different rotary knives making it extremely useful for cutting woven polyester, laminated fabrics, canvas, felt, and a number of packaging foams amongst a list of other materials. The main reason for this being one of your choices is most fabrics are difficult to hold down onto any vacuum table so the rotary knife will cut the material without it needing to be held so tightly down to the table. The F Series comes with two types of Router module, the Standard and High Frequency (HF) versions both giving a range of routing options. The Standard router has either a 1000 or 1400W power option depending on what you choose to cut. The HF version is for high production environments in most rigid materials. Regardless of the choice of router taken, all come with dust removal which is very important given the heightened risk to the operation from dust. Table Features Regardless of the machine size you have decided on, all the F Series machines ◄ There is a choice of four different groups of cutting and finishing tooling: Tangential, Router, High Frequency, Rotary, and Drag Work Zone Material Width F1612 160 x 120 cm Up to 165 cm F1432 136 x 320 cm Up to 142 cm F1832 184 x 320 cm Up to 190 cm F3220 327 x 210 cm Up to 322 cm F3232 327 x 320 cm Up to 322 cm Statistics ▼ The F1612 can come with options such as extension tables and baskets to make it a very flexible machine UNDER THE HOOD / SUMMA F SERIES 23 June / July 2023 - Issue 247 email: news@signlink.co.uk
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