Genius 52 UV

by Chris Travis, KBA

Small press with nice design. Waterless UV, first time I saw it it was in Drupa.

It uses a single impression cylinder with up to 5 colors. It uses a chambered doctor blade duct, an anilox roller, then an ink forme roller, the plate and last the blanket cylinder (I like it!!!). Then you get the usual huge KBA impression cylinder, common to all the printing units.

The wide variety of substrates it prints on is impressive. They also claim that you get makeready in 10 sheets, since you get away from ink water balance (no water, no ink keys, plus the anilox roller should give a better control of the flow of the ink).

As I said, I like it.

Q&A
How do you take the ink out of the anilox roller. (Is there a catch?) They have a temperature control unit that practically adjusts viscosity of the ink (different kind of inks too) and in effect controls density (within a narrow window... i guess there was a catch there!) So the anilox roller is the key. I would love to know the window. For sure, taking away the ink keys is huge, but it decreases the control of the pressman over the process.... so... if things are not going PERFECT on the press... you have no room to 'save' the job on press.

No ghosting because all rollers are the same size... clever!