The New Wave of Digital Fabric Printing Technology

Historical present in textile printing

Textile printing is a method by which fabrics are printed in assorted colors, arts and designs. It is a very old art advanced and created on fabrics in Egypt while 5000 B.C. Fabrics also found printed in Greek while 4th century. B.C, also it is noted that printing blocks were sourced from India in 5th century. B.C. while that time, France acknowledged as favorite center of this type of cloth yield and printing. Japan was favorite for adding stencil work in wood by development blocks and added by pasting dies and prints it in fabrics.

Inkjet Transfers

In the Mid-15th Century, with the invention of printing press by John Gutenberg there was a drastic turn seen in printing technology and textile printing. After practicing by William Caxton in England, there was a fine comprehensive seen in relief printing technology in 1476. In sixteen and seventeen century with the export of spices, India became major provider of printing fabrics and products, like calico, pajama, gingham, dungaree, chintz and khaki according to the requirement of European countries. Then by the efforts by Grant, Thomas Bell and many printers, with the invention of wood block (1760), copper block (1770) and copper roller (1797) printing technology in the eighteenth century, especially the trend of cotton printing spread, still it can be seen at the Toile de Jouy Museum.

The New Wave of Digital Fabric Printing Technology

The history of fabric printing in Dartford goes away with Augustus Applegath's acceptance of a silk printing works in the town and it sustained until 1865 when James Keymer established a new fabric printing works on the banks of the River Darent. In 1907 Samuel Simon was used a fabric printing theory in which the designs were shaped from stencils straight through screen printing machines. In 1940's first photographic stencil was built up by Colin Sharp. After improvement of computers, the printing process and its developments geared up in their colors.

Development in last two decades

With the revising in the printing technology, color inkjet printers played an important role in digital fabrics for the buyer market in the late 1980s. That time Canon and Hewlett-Packard became leaders in the printing technology. Canon's Bubble Jet printers were received so acceptance in the market. Again newest technology geared up in their revising with the existence of a large format color inkjet printer - the Iris printer in the 1990s, but that technology was not determined as ideal tool for the fabrics due to light sensitive color problem, rather it was accepted for paper printing.

Earlier, direct printing method used for fabric with the computer and the printing is made with the computer inks; it was the time where fabric was printed using only black images or text because of the availability of only laser printers and ribbon printers and there were no color printers. In 1999 Bubble Jet Set printing technology developed, which permits fabric to be treated, amalgamated to freezer paper with an iron and then control straight through an ink jet printer.

The meaning of Digital fabric/Textile Printing

The digital fabrics printing technology is existed since last decade, it emerged after 1994. It is a skill that prints the designs on fabric, immediately from your computer, without extra efforts just like printing and designing a paper. Digital textile printing is a flexible tool and a key accepted to the vision of mass customization. It permits the user to evade the screen development process, contribution the chance for quick changes to color or establish elements prior to printing.

Advantages of digital fabric printing over former printing technology

Generally, textile printing has been operated straight through transferring media, such as screens and rollers. Each transferring media is designed and allocated for a definite color. A block printing and engraved copper printing are operating straight through these methods. A whole of woodblocks that are designed in block printing give a whole of colors in design. Benefit of using this type of method is that you can have three dimensional effects due to its color divorce and layers, and still today rotary screen printing method is used in designing of former floral patterns and toile designs. Mechanical or former fabric printing methods some times manipulate in both way, by establish aesthetics and styles, while in the field of printed textile establish with the newest digital fabric printing technology it enhanced the style and meaning of printed textile design. It is a fact that the new newest methods of digital printing on fabrics have exposed new horizons to the designers and manufacturers. Digital printing methods have facilitated industry to make a digital sampling and have advantages of turn in designs before engraving. By adopting digital printing techniques you can re-adjust conventional printing establish and can able to give new looks in design.

Today, many customers are demanding fabrics to be printed with assorted color combinations, styles, designs, former designs and looks, but to co-up with these customization demands there has been a limitation to attend the whole mass market with former printing technology. Digital printing profits over conventional printing it furnish fine benefits like quick turn-around, productive set-up and speed, economical and great flexibility, takes less time, alteration possible etc. And in today's buyer oriented market the printing technology is not petite to wearing wears; but it bounds to its limits and reaches to the requirements of trade show graphics, photograph of huge fabric posters of television and movie stars, advertising purposes, flags and banners and many mores.

Unlike any former textile printing technology, the main Benefit of digital fabric printing is in its process color application with its newest printers, software applications. Photographic and tonal graphics shaped millions of colors with Photoshop and can be printed on fabric according to the color compound requirement. Wider color scope and finer printing capability are ready with the newest improvement of inks, color supervision software. In the former process colors of Cmyk, you can have assorted color compound with expanding of extra preset colors like orange, blue, green, and also there is availability of assorted type of software with these complex color combination. These preset colors reduce importance of screens or rollers for printing, and there is no need of repeat the size and other compound with no limit with color combinations in designs.

From digital textile printing technology you can have newest innovative and creative deigns like concepts of shadow, shimmering, vibration, reflection, moire, optical, translucent, netting, blurring, layering, superimposing, etc., instead of development special efforts with former methods of printing. Today, the printing technology advanced so tremendously and became so eco-friendly, user-friendly that, even designers can make its products without taking help from textile designers.

Digital Printing Advantages

. establish achieved with greater flexibility, without the limitation of on repeat size, colors, engineered designs and gets outstanding depiction of continuous tone (photographic) images

. The digital printing equipment not requires much infrastructure and it is comparatively ready in less cost

. Drastically trim down time to market the products

. It also decrease the use of water, dyes & solutions hence acts as an environmentally friendly tool

. It decreases market waste and print loss, provides centralize manufacturing facility

. Mass customization requirements surely ready in short time

. Availability of fast greater speed of operation, high resolution / drop Size & configuration with spot colors compound or color control without lack of standards

Types of digital fabric printing technologies

There are assorted types of digital printing technology ready in market like thermal Dod Ink jet
Piezoelectric Dod ink jet, airbrush/valve jet, electrostatic (sublimation & resin), thermal transfer, electro photography (Laser, Led), photographic development, continuous ink jet (Cij) etc.

Dod Ink jet fabric printing method: Dod Ink jet printing method bring a drop of ink or dyes only when needed for printing that is why it is called drops on quiz, ( Dod ), i.e. It works on the principal "only when and where required in the design" . This theory works as environment friendly, because of its "no paste, no waste "method, and the faultless color reaches to the fabric.

Piezoelectric Dod ink jet fabric printing method: It uses electrostatic soldiery for arrangement and spraying of micro drops of inks or dyes in fabric printing. Here high voltages are applied to piezoelectric crystals for producing directional current. The Benefit of using this methods are it formulation directional ink, where inks not heated , hence less expensive, printing heads works at its cycles per second and provides high resolution by applying small drop size of inks or dyes.

Electrostatic Sublimation Transfer Printing : Sublimation is a method whereby a solid dyes turns exactly into a gas without passing straight through a liquid state, can be transferred to a fabric (e.g. Polyester) and re-solidify as a solid color again. Dye sublimation is a two-step process that needs added equipment to the electrostatic printers for dye-sub. Also it requires a special paper for heating at the heat press; electrostatic printer. It is also called sublimation transfer printing. These inks or dyes can be printed onto paper from either a silkscreen process or from printers attached with ribbons with the sublimation inks. These papers then can forward images onto fabrics.

Direct ink jet transfer method: The direct ink jet transfer method is direct transfer, or printing directly onto fabric with an inkjet printer. This process expensive and the fabrics require to be coated in order to effectively allow the inks or dyes.

Continuous ink jet fabric printing method: The ink is constantly pushed out of the ink channel by a pump by a nozzle attached with a Pzt material and it generates an "ink-jet". Using an electrical power on the Pzt material, the nozzle shakes, breaches the ink jet into droplets of ink and used for printing fabrics. Continuous ink jet fabric printing method also ready with its binary hertz performance and multi-deflection system.

Software application in digital fabric printing: For digital fabric printing Color supervision Systems (Cms, Calibration), Raster Image Processor (Rip), printer driver software, establish lay out software (Cad), etc are widely used.

Development in printing equipment

At gift Ichinose ImageProofer, Stork Amethyst, Dupont Artistri2020, Mimaki Tx2-1600, Encad, NovaJet 880, Zimmer Chromotex, ColorSpan, FabriJet, Aprion Magic, Leggett and Platt Virtuetc, Imaje-Osiris, Reggiani DreAm, Robustelli Mona Lisa, Leggett & Platt Uv-dye, Mimaki Tx2 & Tx 3 etc newest printers or equipment with their advanced brand name or version are widely using for getting productive results.

Latest digital inks: Today most fabric printers or manufacturers uses reactive & acids in assorted colors, dispersed inks, finishing inks for light, color, pigments etc. Ink specialist such as Ciba Specialty Chemicals, DuPont, Dystar ( Basf), Cht, Lyson, Brookline, Ecs and Kimberly Clark have advanced digital form of conventional dyes such as reactive, acid, disperse and pigment. These inks permit printers to make prints on their definite type of fabrics.

According to Ray Work of DuPont, the worldwide market for textile chemicals is at billion, of which around 36% is dyes and pigments. Finishing and coatings includes 38%. A important improved, according to Work, is that now practically every type of fabric can be digitally printed by ink jet, be grateful to enlarge in inks

For DuPont Artistri 2020 Printer DuPont Artistri 700 Series Ink is (acid dye ink chemistry) used for Nylon, Nylon/Lycra, Silk, Wool. For Polyester, Nylon, Nylon/Lycra processing disperse dye ink is used, for Cotton, Polyester, Cotton/Poly Blends, Viscose/Rayon Linen, Nylon*, Nylon/Lycra, Silk, Wool pigmented ink chemistry available. DuPont Solar Brite Ink is used especially for active wear, swimwear, intimate apparel, flags and accessories.

Digital textile printing technology in gift market

For digital textile printing technology, there are three types of demands exists in market, which are sampling, strike-off, and mass customization.

Sampling: The sampling quiz, involves printing on paper and fabrics with an intimate concentration and compliance to the usual screen printing which is used for manufacturing.
Strike-off: Strike-off is a stock of sample for a single, salable item for markets such as luxury, entertainment, or special events.

Mass customization: Mass customization is the third main products area and it creates an huge deal of concentration by mass customers.

The time to come markets: also the above existed segment, the digital fabric printing technology will be booming with their batch yield printing and low volume quiz, fabric printing.
Its industry size is calculated: 300,000 Retailer "Doors" and 20,000+ manufacturer "Doors",

400 associates establish 80% of all apparel,

Apparel & associated Volume is 0B,

All Others' Goods report B.

Textile Printing Trends

The world wide trends: Decline in Us print production, there seems growth of Asian print yield and decreasing yield run lengths, quiz, for greater establish variety, quiz, for shorter yield cycles and quiz, for reduced catalogue risk.

Cotton is the most frequently printed material (48% of printing production), followed by cotton/polyester blends (19%), polyester (15%), and viscose (13%). From a worldwide viewpoint, other material (e.g. Polyamide, polyacrylic, wool and silk) involve with a petite part.

Prospecting Market

There are a range of new textile industry products you can print with digital printing, which covers wall covering, Info-banners, car covers, artworks, and flags and together with museums, galleries, and exhibitors for multi disciplinary products, used in printing of instruction theory or associated products and there are many prospects for both direct and transfer digital printing e.g. For printing mouse pads ( new fabric surfaces and base materials), apparel prototyping for spot color, linking prototyping to production, and digitally-generated screens etc.

Digital textile yield has been expanding at about 13% worldwide. The worldwide volume of digitally-printed textiles has been reaching about 44 million square meters by 2005. Duo to the high capability performance, in short time the availability of products, multidiscipline design, eco-friendly , cost- productive , etc advantages in digital textile printing technology, there exits a new market opportunities for this technology and it will be applicable to, backgrounds printing, scenes for theaters, film studios, photographers, music and sports events, road shows, parades, high profile catering, presidential campaigns, promotion organizers, advertising agencies, universities, churches, parties, for hanging signs, displays systems, packing, for sampling, for prototyping and new designs sampling, short run production, for interior designers to make curtains, upholstery, table cloth, bed ware etc.

The New Wave of Digital Fabric Printing Technology

Why Are There Lines On My Copies?

(How to Get Rid of Them!)

Have you ever made a copy and noticed that there are lines running down the distance of the page? This description is about identifying image defects or lines that a Key-Operator (Person responsible for the equipment) can fix on their own and lines that need a mend someone to fix. You wouldn't want to spend .00 to 0.00 for a technician to come out to just clean your glass, would you? No, I didn't think so.

Inkjet Transfers

Slit Glass
With the age of Multi-Functional Printers, (Mfp's) comes new problems. Fax Machines, Digital Copiers and Mfp's all have one thing in common. They all have an item on them known as the "Slit Glass." Each machine that uses a slit glass as a way to scan images will eventually get dirty and cause lines on copies along with transmitted faxes. These machines don't scan the same way that older or analog copiers do. Analog copiers use the entire glass with mirrors to get the image to the Photoconductor. Digital copiers use the slit glass. It passes along this small area and uses mirrors that direct it to the Ccd unit. The Ccd unit then converts the analog information into digital information. When using the Document Feeder or Processor the customary only passes over the slit glass. It does not get copied from the glass where you lay down your original.

Why Are There Lines On My Copies?

How to rule if the Slit Glass is the Problem.
On Copiers, Mfp's and Fax Machines you can quickly diagnose if the slit glass is the problem.

Copiers:

First make a copy on the glass. If there are no lines showing, then make a copy through the Document Feeder or Processor. If there are lines on the copy then more than likely it is the Slit Glass causing the problem. I say more than likely because there are occasions where this may not be true.

Fax Machines and Mfp's:
First print a journal or a function list. To print these refer to your Operators Manual. If you don't have a line, make a copy through the Document Feeder or Processor. If there are lines then your problem is the slit glass.

Digital Copiers and Mfps
This type of slit glass is easy to spot. Just lift the Document Feeder up and look for the small rectangular glass nearby 1 inch by 12 inches. Look at it carefully. If there is anything stuck on it, this will cause a line. The Image flaw will look like a small pin sized line all the way over the page, although I've seen larger even 1 inch wide. The most common substance that I have found stuck to the glass is white-out. This happens because they don't let it dry well before running it through the feeder. When it dries on the glass it doesn't come off easily. an additional one issue is blobs of ink, again this is because of not allowing enough time for it to dry. Being impatient for real will cost you more time in the long run.

Cleaning the Slit Glass.
Cleaning the slit glass is easy but you need to pay close attention and be sure that you have removed all of it. Take your finger nail and scrape off as much as you can. Get a cotton towel and saturate it with alcohol. I also advise using an alcohol swab. These come in little sealed pouches and are cheap and easy to find. Let the spot soak for a little and this will loosen up the white out. Glass cleaner does not remove it as good as alcohol. There is something about alcohol that breaks down the white out. Next, go over it with a lint free cotton towel soaked with glass cleaner, and then dry it off to eliminate streaks. Never spray the liquid on to the glass because some of it may find its way inside the machine.

Fax Machines.
The slit glass on a fax machine may be a bit harder to get to. The document feeder or processor is ordinarily under the operate panel. Lift up the panel and shine a flash light on to the small slit glass. It is about 1 inch by 12 inches in diameter. Use the same technique to clean it.

You Cleaned the Slit- Glass but the Line is Still There.
Some times the blob of white out is for real stuck on the slit glass. I have a procedure that is fool proof in seeing where the spot is, because sometimes it is so small that you can't see it. First, get the copy that has the line on it. Hold it directly and evenly on the slit glass. Look considered and see if you can consequent the line to the glass. This is where the spot is. One thing about this procedure. You must check it both ways. Turn the customary 180 degrees and observe it again because the image is reversed because of the lens. Now that you have found the spot you may have to use a solvent to get that spot off. These can be stubborn and difficult to remove. You can try Wd-40. My technicians use a solvent called D-Ink (Coopers). D-Ink is very expensive but it works well. If you still have the line on your copies then you have an additional one problem.

Calling for Service

Call a considerable mend someone to come out and take a look. I advise using a local independent mend company. Look them up in your Yellow Pages. I advise an Independent because they ordinarily are a smaller firm and they will give you more personalized service. I hate those crazy phone systems, being stuck in a loop when trying to call for service. Most of the time they also have more contact and you won't be paying for over- inflated hourly rates of an authorized dealer or huge corporation.

Other Line Problems
If you followed my tests and you have a line both copying from the glass and using the Document Feeder then you have an additional one problem. I believe that it is always a good idea to have a good technician ready to call, but why spend money when it is something so uncomplicated anything could do it. Here is a list of probable causes. Many things could be wrong so I am not going to go in too much in detail.

Possible Causes / Lines

Laser Printers, Laser and Led Fax Machines
Toner cartridge, charge roller, paper or object stuck inside blocking the scanner, change roller, optics, and corona wire. Note: You can clean these but if you don't know what you are doing you can damage something.

Inkjet Printers and Fax machines
Print head, Ink cartridge, dirty optics, paper or object stuck up inside machine blocking the print-head or optics.

Copier and Mfp's
Toner cartridge, charge roller, paper or object stuck inside blocking the scanner, change roller, corona wire, and dirty optics. Note: You can clean these but if you don't know what you are doing you may damage something.

I hope this description has helped you save some of your hard earned money. There for real is no imagine to spend money when you can just clean it yourself!

Why Are There Lines On My Copies?