Edale’s roots in narrow web production can be traced back as far back as the 1950s. Since then it has continued to develop new machines to ensure it remains competitive in today’s cut-throat market. Indeed, today, according to Jeremy Westcott, head of sales and marketing at Edale, it has five or 10 new machines in the launch pipeline.

One of the firm’s most significant launches came just over a decade ago. In 1999 Edale decided to develop a modular range which could challenge rival Mark Andy’s 2200. When launched, the B range of narrow web flexographic presses, offered two web widths of 250mm and 330mm.

Although the press continued to give customers a choice in web widths, a series of minor changes led to the machine being re-branded the Beta in 2001.

Designed predominantly for label printing applications, such as food, wine, pharmaceutical, and technical ‘peel and read’ labels, some printers have broadened its applications to include clothing tags and tickets produced on thicker substrates such as light board.

The standard model comes with one die-cutting station and one sheeting station, offering reel-to-reel or reel-to-end production and a ‘web-up’ design. This means the machine’s drying units are located above the printheads, rather than below, to avoid the risk of ink drying on the plates and aniloxes and to provide better web visibility, thereby making jobs easier and quicker to set up and, according to the manufacturer, helping to reduce waste.

The press can incorporate both UV drying and infrared, for water-based inks. Because the machines were designed to be modular, printers can build up their own specifications and retrofit a number of different options onto the press. These include quick job change, web cleaning, rotary screen-printing, slitting, hot and cold foiling and the capability to produce personalised labels with a digital press. Laminating for both UV and standard print is another option.

Winding options
New versions of the machine are currently being developed with a wider range of sizes for rewinds and unwinds. The machine’s servo infeed tension control will also come as standard when the new formats are unveiled in a couple of months’ time.

Edale sells secondhand machines direct, but this is often done when a customer is looking to part-exchange their older model for a newer press. The typical price for an eight-year-old six- to eight-colour Beta 250 is around £80,000, which is around 40% of the price of new models. A 330mm-web-width eight-colour UV Beta will cost upwards of £200,000.

Edale has four engineers in the UK and service contracts are arranged into bronze, silver and gold packages. The bronze package offers an annual preventative maintenance while silver has the added benefit of further discounts on spare parts. Edale’s gold service offers additional remote software support.

When looking to buy a used press, check the usual things like service history. It’s also a good idea to get the manufacturer to check it over so you can be sure of what will need to be replaced and the costs associated with this.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Max number of print stations 14
Max number of die stations 3
Web width 250mm/330mm
Max print width 246mm/326mm
Max mechanical speed 150m/min
Max unwind capacity 800mm
Max rewind capacity 900mm
Footprint (eight-colour, 330mm web width) 15m2
Weight (eight-colour, 330mm web width) 4,500 kg
Price
    New (eight-colour, 330mm web width): £200,000+
    Used eight-year-old 250, six/eight colours: £80,000
What to look for

• Service history
• General wear and tear