NEW ORLEANS — Printing Press Services Inc. provided Nexpo not only with one of the most interesting exhibits, but also one of the show’s noisiest moments.

About halfway through the second day of the show, one of the blankets on PPSI’s new Model 80 Wideboy triple-width press apparently decided that things were a little too quiet, and promptly separated from its cylinder. The noise of the blanket banging in the press could be heard throughout the hall.

Printing Press Services International introduced the new Model 80 Wideboy triple-width press, which will allow newspapers to print with 50 percent more plates than a conventional double-width press.
Photo by Chere’ Martin

The new Model 80 Wideboy is designed to offer newspapers the opportunity to expand the amount of color pages and increase printing capacity. The system can print with 50 percent more pages, 50 percent more color, and 50 percent less reel handling than a conventional double-width press. It also features a footprint similar to double-width presses, which allow newspapers to install the unit without the need to expand their print facility.

The Model 80 Wideboy has narrow-gap, steel-backed blankets that are designed to reduce press vibrations that may affect print quality, and are designed to be changed as quickly as a plate can be changed. The shaftless press also has automatic retiming and individual cylinder plating for fast makeready and is available as a satellite unit or up to a six-high tower.

Six sections per former level can be produced with the press without angle bars in collect mode. With three former levels, the press can produce nine sections in straight mode, and 18 sections in collect. Other features to the system include:

• CNC ground gears

• Triple-ring eccentric bearings

• Stainless-steel cylinders

PPSI has two jaw folders that can be used with the Wideboy. The press’ 2:5:5 jaw folder has a maximum speed of 85,000 cph, and can handle a broadsheet up to 160 pages. It features shaftless drive, stepper wheel delivery, variable gain shaftless RTFs and nipping reels, optional twin RTFs, and three-wide former arrangements up to three levels high.