A 30-year-old TKS press at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been given a new life with an upgrade of drives motors and controls.

Canadian specialist ElectronicDesignGroup has installed new ABB DCS800 drives to each of the 12 existing DC motors on one of the Atrlanta presses. Lineshaft brakes were disabled as press stopping is achieved via the regenerative mode on the new drives making stop times consistent irrespective of number of units clutched and number of drives/motors enabled.

Wear and tear on the driveline and clutches is reduced as a result of improved speed regulation from dynamic tuning of the machine.

A new Supervisory controller backpanel with PLC technology replaces discrete boards and relays, with complete rack, processor, power supply of a redundant Supervisor to minimise downtime and ease troubleshooting.

"The solution rejuvenates a 30-year-old press with current technology to provide the AJC the reliability they require to deliver their papers on time," says business development manager Dave Bast.