ImagesMagUK_April_2021

PF DIGITAL PRINTING www.images-magazine.com 50 images APRIL 2021 From hybrid printing to dye sublimation and direct-to-garment prints on dark polyesters, we bring you up to speed on today’s choice of digital textile printing solutions ‘Bits’ & pieces YES Group: DTG Digital YES advises on the importance of pre-set ICC profile RIP software for DTG printing. Gareth Evens, YES technical director, explains that YES supplies industrial DTG Digital machines that use ICC profile RIP software to ensure prints have better colour accuracy. “We teach our DTG Digital machines to utilise the actual colour of the garment, so the amount of ink used is efficiently controlled, reducing the cost of print by up to 30%. We select a variety of different materials and colours that would be most beneficial to the customer, and the materials used in their garment decoration business, providing a semi-bespoke service to help get the best out of DTG Digital machines.” YES Group also offers a wide range of inks and pretreatments for DTG printing, including ColourBrite Inks, which are designed exclusively for printing onto dark polyester fabrics. Brother: GTX Series The Brother GTX Series of direct-to-garment printers — the GTX, GTXpro and GTXpro Bulk — can now print in high resolution onto dark polyester fabrics and leather, in addition to cotton, without having to change inks in between. GTX Series users only require the use of pretreatments specially tailored to the new applications, and new software for creating the print data — the new software/firmware package is available free of charge. Depending on user preferences, there are two kinds of fixation (matt and glossy) as well as one pretreatment available. “The printing of leather can be done on the raw material in order to produce finished shoes, bags or other items in the next step, but also finished articles, such as backpacks and belts, can be refined with photo-realistic, four- colour prints,” explains Brother. “From unique single pieces and clothing for sports clubs to workwear with company or employee names in four-colour printing, all is possible even in small to medium-sized print runs, without any problems and at no high additional costs.” GTX Series users can receive information about the new printing options directly from Brother’s UK distributor MHM Direct GB. Hybrid Services: Mimaki TS100-1600 The brand-new TS100-1600 textile printer is the latest addition to Mimaki’s ‘100 series’, and is ideal for printers looking to add their first digital sublimation printing solution or expand their production capacity. “The opportunity for printers to adopt dye sublimation printing is significant,” explains Brett Newman, managing director of Hybrid Services. “With an increase in demand for personalisation, bespoke prints and custom décor, the new TS100-1600 offers companies a low-cost route into this proven technology.” The TS100-1600 has a print width of 1,600mm and speed of 70sqm/hr in its fastest mode. In addition, the use of one-litre ink bottles helps reduce the running cost as well as enabling stable, continuous operation due to the reduced need for ink replacement. It’s also equipped with a variety of Mimaki technologies, including a nozzle check unit, nozzle recovery system and a dot adjustment system, which automates dot position correction and feeding amount correction, reducing the need for operator intervention. While Mimaki’s RasterLink 7 RIP software is supplied as standard, printers who are purchasing the TS100-1600 can also choose to add TxLink4, an alternative Mimaki original RIP software platform. The Brother GTX, GTXpro and GTXpro Bulk can now print onto dark polyester and leather A pre-set ICC profile RIP software is important for creating high-quality DTG prints, says YES The new Mimaki TS100-1600 is ideal for decorators looking to adopt a dye sublimation printing solution