Automated Book Trimmer
Book trimmers are trusted by the industry as a premium quality line of equipment. The largest book retailer in the USA uses these machines in their production. There are two main body trimming units available in the Challenge Machinery CMT Product line. Each main body trimming unit is compatible with a variety of infeed and outfeed options. In addition, the two main trimming units are very similar but have different advantages for different operations. Take a closer look and see which of these trimmers might be a fit for you!
These two models have been updated to the latest generation of control interfaces from Challenge Machinery. The TC touch screen is available on the CMT-130 and the CMT-330. This color touchscreen is a major improvement that makes it more user friendly and easier to use for inexperience operators.
CMT-330 TC Three Knife Trimmer
The CMT-330 TC is a true high-speed three knife trimmer. It has three knives installed for each of the three sides of the book that must be trimmed. The book is processed in two cycles; first the face trim will happen. Immediately afterwards the head and the foot trim will run simultaneously. The head knife and the foot knife both cut in a safe direction away from the spine of the book to prevent spine cracking.
CMT-130 TC Three Side Trimmer
The CMT-130 TC is a three side cutter that utilizes a single knife to cut all three sides of the book. This causes a slightly slower production rate but drastically reduces the price of the machine and allows an operation to get started with book trimming. Many users keep their single knife trimmer when they later upgrade to a three knife trimmer.
The book trimming process is a critically important step when making a quality perfect bound book. The final look of the book is heavily influenced by the cleanliness and squareness of the book. Sometimes, scratches can be a common issue when running any process on a number of recently bound books.
Challenge CMT trimmers are pneumatically operated which makes them very fast and allows for a lot of finesse in how the books are handled. There’s a natural pressure and speed ramp with pneumatic control that is more gentle and more forgiving on book blocks. For example while watching a CMT trimmer run people are often amazed at how quickly the book is transported.
When moving books around it is easy to cause scratches on the laminated surface of the book. This is worse when lower quality laminates are used but even high quality laminates can be damaged with poor book handling. A proper interior surface that is kept clean is the biggest defense against scratches.
Each of these trimmers can be operated inline, offline, or near-line. You can equip them with conveyor infeed and outfeed or there is an available stack feeder and stack delivery. Whatever your requirements are, there’s a configuration that will match so please contact your sales representative so we can create a customized solution.
Challenge CMT Automation Features
Smart automation is a core design element of the Horizon BQ-500. This machine was engineered from scratch to be as automated as possible. The glue pot, book carousel, cover feeder and nipping station are all fully automated. The machine will set-up based on job parameters with no user intervention required. Even fine tune adjustments and other detailed settings can be baked into job storage. Read more on challenge products here.
Challenge CMT-330TC Three-Knife Book Trimmer
Challenge CMT 130 Book Trimmer
