The new Diamant MC with servo technology for first-class books.

Bookbinders know this situation: the machine is set up quickly, production starts smoothly but then the experienced eye recognizes that the edges do not match perfectly. Extremely accurate positioning needs to be carried out, a job that up to now required not only a great amount of bookbinding experience and a good knowledge of the machine; the bookline and production had to be stopped, too. The reason was the cam-controlled rubdown device that presses the bookcase onto the bookblock. To get excellent book quality, up to now the bookbinder had to compensate the difference in height by manual adjustment and thus submit to the above-mentioned restrictions. So the bookbinder had to decide whether to give priority to fast production and compromise the book quality, or to sacrifice precious time to obtain better product quality. 

Motion Control Technology: the Solution
With the new Diamant MC bookline, Müller Martini now offers the solution. The new system has no mechanical cam in the casing-in area. The servo technology allows precise, fast and simple calculation of the glue roller touch-down height taking into account a great number of parameters: the Diamant MC considers the measured-in sizes, the rounding degree, the type of backing iron, the necessary exchange parts and even the production speed. The glue rollers automatically touch down at the precise height of the bookblock, any further adjustments by the machine operator are no longer necessary.

High Product Quality through Servo Drives
Besides the touch-down height, the travel of the rubdown device is set according to format and speed. Each book is rubbed down time-optimized and fitting its width. With great precision and for each individual production job, the system calculates the point at which bookblock and bookcase meet. If a book is missing in the production process, the rubdown device stands by without movement to reduce wear and tear. The servo drive synchronizes rubdown device and sword, the bookcase is perfectly rubbed down and the bookblock lies perfectly in the bookcase. The result is an excellently cased-in book without any readjustments.

Perfect Bookblock Gluing
Not only rubbing down but also endsheet gluing is servo-driven in the Diamant MC. It is now possible to fine-tune the glue roller speed. Taking into account the endsheet material, the bookbinder can now adjust the glue roller speed to fit the product perfectly. The glue rollers turn twice per cycle. With the servo-driven Diamant MC, they glue the bookblock at the desired speed at their first turn. At their second turn, they compensate for the speed of the first one. This means that the rollers run at the precise speed required to touch down exactly at the joint of the next bookblock, a feature that guarantees the extraordinarily high quality of the bookblocks. Pleasant side-effect of the servo technology: the machine runs extremely quietly and with amazingly low vibrations.

The servo technology allows the system to calculate the difference between the upper edge of the sword and the glue roller touch-down height. E.g. rounding degree and block thickness are auto- matically taken into consideration.

Menu-driven Operation for Efficient Production
While the print runs are getting smaller and smaller, the time periods from incoming order to delivery are getting shorter and  shorter. Intelligent machines help the book manufacturer to remain efficient and successful in this situation. With the easy-to-handle Diamant MC, the machine operator is able to produce high-quality books in high speed. The Diamant MC servo technology optimizes the machine motions as per product requirements. Guided via touchscreen menus and control panels with self-explanatory pictograms, even the lesser experienced operator can produce books of excellent quality. Besides the double bookblock backing and continuous joint forming and pressing features, servo-driven casing-in now offers another important highlight in the Müller Martini bookline. A feature that is unique and cannot be found in any other bookline. Highest book quality, shortest changeover times, clear and easy operation – the Diamant MC sees to a truly efficient hardcover production.

MC Technology also in the Ventura Book Sewing Machine
Also in the Ventura MC book sewing machine Müller Martini applies the new servo technology. Here it allows to guide the signatures without interruption so that they run smoothly and without any marks on the saddle. Thanks to this technology, differently sized signatures are guided safely and carefully onto the sewing saddle where they are positioned on the right hand side. With this positioning on the right hand side, travel time of the signatures on the sewing saddle is very short allowing high performance also in case of sophisticated products. A wide range of grammages and materials can be processed at maximum speed.

The two-part sewing saddle of the Ventura transports the open signatures into the sewing center and allows high production speeds. While one signature is still being sewn, the next one arrives on the first part of the sewing saddle. As soon as the second, inner part of the sewing saddle has returned to its home position, the signature arrives, is positioned on the right hand side of the inner sewing saddle and transported into the sewing center.  This two-part feature guarantees both fast and safe production.