Digital printing

SUBMITTED TO:
Sir hanif memon
(Textile printing)

PREPARED BY:
(BS – T 7TH)

SYED ASIM NAJAM

29 – MAY - 2009

INDUS INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

NEAR NATIONAL Stadium KARACHI
The five things which deserve your greatest anxiety to acquire:

 Have hope in God and none else.

 Be afraid of nothing but sins.
 If you don’t known a thing never feel ashamed to admit ignorance.
 If you don’t know a thing never feel hesitate or feel ashamed to
learn it.
 Acquire patience and endurance, because their relation with true
faith is that of a head to a body; a body is of no use without a head,
similarly true faith can be of no use without attributes of
resignation, endurance and patience.
 If you aim to reach high
Make your motto, just do or die!
Success lies in the way of those
Who daily take the perseverance dose?
Hard work is the key to the door,
This makes you reach the success floor
But you can’t get the success without your parents
Who are the golden keys of your life?
The one who depend only on fate,
On reaching their destiny always late
The world remembers only those names
Who remembers god and its precious gifts?
So it’s solely our choice; what to choose
Do we want to win or simply to lose?
The road of success is waiting your way,
Get on to work; success is just a step away.
Achieving TEXTILE competency is the first step in a lifelong journey towards
greater knowledge and the interaction with more and better application of
TEXTILE. The material in this project is designed to guide you toward TEXTILE
PRINTING competency so you can become:

 A participant in the textile revolution.

 An intelligent consumer of machines.
 Better prepare of machines and other products.
 Knowledgeable about the wide variety of textile and services
that can improve productivity, give you much needed
information.

TEXTILE competency is your ticket to ride. Where you go, how fast you get there,
and what you do when you arrive are up to you.
PREFACE OF STUDENT
DEDICATION
WORDS OF WISDOM

1) INTRODUCTION TO PRINTING 1
1.1) Definition 1
1.2) History 2

2) Types of Digital Printing with New Developments 4

2.1) Textile Falcon 220 Textile Printers 4
2.2) Digital Textile Belt Printer 6
2.3) Digital Ink-Jet Textile Printer Belt System 7
2.4) Steam-X Digital Textile Printing Fixation 8
2.5) Digital Flat Bed Printer 10

3) Other Parts of Textile Digital Printers 16

4) Digital Textile Printing Refill Cartridge Bulk Ink Feeding System 20

5) Conculsion
1.1) DEFINITION

Digital printing is the reproduction of digital images on a physical surface. It is

generally used for short print runs, and for the customization of print media.

The process differs from lithography, flexography, gravure, and letterpress printing in
several ways:

• Every print can be different, because printing plates are not required, as in
traditional methods.
• There is less wasted chemical and paper, because there is no need to bring the
image "up to color" and check for registration and position.
• The ink or toner does not permeate the substrate, as does conventional ink, but
forms a thin layer on the surface and may in some systems be additionally adhered
to the substrate by using a fuser fluid with heat process (toner) or UV curing
process (ink).

1.2) INTRODUCTION

As little as 15 years ago digital printing of textiles, compared with

paper for the relatively benign office environment, no doubt looked like mission
impossible. The demands of the textile application are extreme. Among them:

• more than a half dozen common types of synthetic and natural fibres, each with its
own ink compatibility characteristics;
• dealing with a stretchable, flexible, often highly porous and textured surface;
• extreme use requirements including light, water fastness (sweat, too) through
finishing operations and often outdoor use, heavy wear, abrasion, and cleaning;
• for some apparel applications, challenging registration requirements since separate
pieces need to be assembled;
 • not just sight, but also touch requirement;
• much greater absorbency, requiring many times the ink volume compared with
printing on papers.

In the face of such odds, digital textile printing is happening. The traditional valve jet
machines are digital and have been around a long time, but they are appropriate primarily
for large volume, centralized manufacturing. The newer digital printing technologies open
things up for a wide variety of incremental applications. Tremendous progress has been
made, but there are still many challenges. However, the opportunities for high-value
digital printer applications are so large that many hardware and chemistry vendors are
investing heavily in textile and textile-related products and systems.

It is still clearly new territory, but we’ve progressed beyond curiosity seekers, says I.T.
Strategies. Printer and textile manufacturers know that this new opportunity is important
to their companies. It’s a new frontier; it’s something like the old Wild West. Some of the
energy is from the existing textile industry. Some from outside, like Color lab, Ltd. That’s
the color processor in Providence, RI, who decided to refocus his business entirely on
fabric printing. Their new company name is Practical Imaging. (See detailed case below.)

Another thing new is the much wider variety of fabrics that can now be digitally printed:
silks, polyester, car seats, and cotton. Actually, now almost everything can be printed. It’s
something like the development of digital presses. At first they required a narrow
selection of closely controlled papers. Now they are much more flexible. Textiles is
already going this way. But each of these materials has its own ink requirements.

And another problem is getting the ink to go through all the fiber. There are silk scarf’s
and car seats. And non woven such as Tyvek®--incredibly different requirements. Indeed,
inks are a major frontier and a number of ink companies want to know more.

Other important issues include mass customization and how to deal with the reality that
there need to be integrated solutions involving a sequence of operations such as pre-
treating, printing, finishing, cutting and sewing. This poses a contradiction: digital printing
opens the door for on-demand and decentralized manufacture. But how do you deal with
these pre- and post-printing requirements in an office or other decentralized environment?
One long-term market trend, for example, includes the movement of textiles and apparel
manufacturing to SE Asia. Less than 5% of the world’s textile printing production was
said to still be in North America. And there are some negative fashion trends, such as
increasing preference toward single colors rather than printed patterns. Will digital
printing offset or accommodate such trends?

1.3) HISTORY OF DIGITAL PRINTING

The earliest use of jet printing machines on textile fibres

occurred some 25 years ago but this was confined to the carpet
industry owing to the relatively low pattern definition of which the
machines were then capable (10 to 25 dots per inch (dpi)).

More recently high-definition ink-jet printers, used in

conjunction with computer-aided design (CAD) software, have become
established for preparing pre-production sample prints on textiles.
However, a number of wide-format, ink-jet printing machines, together
with suitable inks, are now being marketed and these can yield prints of
acceptable quality and fastness properties on most textile materials.

Jet printing may be defined as a process by which the desired pattern

with its individual colors is built up by projecting tiny drops of ‘ink’
(special dye liquors) of different colors, in predetermined micro-arrays
(pixels), onto the substrate surface.

The first reason for increased interest in digital printing processes lies
in the very common use of CAD systems followed directly either by
laser engraving or exposure of screens coated with suitable lacquers.
It is even more attractive to eliminate the making of screens altogether,
and such is the possibility offered by direct ink-jet printing of textile
materials. The immediate benefits are:
 Very quick customer response for both strike-off and bulk prints
and wastage on pre-production sampling minimized
 No capital tied up in the screens, with major savings in storage
space (patterns now stored on CD-ROMs or on similar storage
media) and damaged screens eliminated

 The number of colors and the size of the pattern are virtually
unlimited enabling the production of very long repeats (e.g. fully
bordered bed sheets) and full tonal (photorealistic) prints
 Instant fitting of patterns at start-up, thus minimizing fabric and
paste wastage
 Minimal downtime, because pattern changes and also color
changes, when using CMYK inks, are virtually instantaneous
 Only the ink required for the design is laid down, thus eliminating
any waste of print paste
 The amount of ink applied to the substrate is far less than that
used in a screen printing process.
Canon marketed its TPU0020 bubble jet printer, which achieved its
relatively high production rate by printing a very wide strip (almost 100
mm at 360 dpi) of the fabric on each scan of a print head having 1360
jets. It has not enjoyed widespread success, however, since this printer
requires a much higher capital investment compared with that of other
machines.

Zimmer, in conjunction with the Israeli firm, Jemtex, has developed the
Chromatex charged-drop printer (Figure 9.14). The size of drop
produced by this system is about ten times larger than that of most
other jet printers and as the print definition is relatively low (100–120
dpi) the inks are pre-mixed to match the individual colors of each
design, as in conventional printing. There is no super-pixel formation,
so effectively the pattern definition is also 100–120 ppi

Following the introduction of digital printers for textiles, stable

inks were needed that met the fastness properties associated with each
type of fibre and end use. Water soluble dyes are specially purified with
respect to freedom from both particulates and electrolytes, and are
controlled for viscosity, pH, surface tension, non-foaming
characteristics and storage stability. Depending on the type of printer,
inks are supplied either in pre-filled cassettes/cartridges or in bulk for
user-filling of ink reservoirs. The ranges of special jet printing inks at
present available are:
(a) For cellulosic fibers: reactive dyes (stable liquid formulations)
(b) For polyester fibers: disperse dyes (very fine dispersions)
(c) For wool, silk and nylon: acid dyes (stable liquid formulations).
.
The main producers of these products are Ciba, BASF, Dystar, Avecia
(mainly for OEM suppliers) and DuPont, although there are many
smaller, custom ink producers. Some manufacturers have more
recently introduced pigment printing inks, namely Irgaphor TBI (Ciba),
Helizarin (BASF), Teno-Jet (Brookline Chemical), Artistri
(DuPont) and Jetex P (Dystar) inks. For ink-jet applications the pigment
particles are milled much more finely (to around 0.1  m diameter)
than those used for conventional pigment printing.

There are many types of digital printing which some of them are discuss below:

 Textile Falcon 220 Textile Printers

 Digital Textile Belt Printer
 Digital Ink-Jet Textile Printer Belt System Digital Fabric Printer
 Steam-X Digital Textile Printing Fixation
 Digital Flat Bed Printer
  Textile Falcon 220 Textile Printers

Textile Falcon 220 textile printers are the newest 8-Colour

Variable Dot Production Inkjet Printers, developed to meet the highest
demands of the textile sampling and digital production market.

Incorporating the very latest developments in piezo-electric drop-on-demand

inkjet printing technology, the Textile printer combines high speed and high-
resolution output, making it equally suitable for short-run production printing
and high-quality silk printing.

This is a dynamic variable dot imaging technology. A pioneering feature

incorporated into the TF 220 printer is “Dynamic Variable Dot Imaging
Technology”. This feature enables the printer to independently produce
multiple and unique dots and moreover to adjust the size of the ink droplets
produced by each of the print head nozzles on-the-fly. The result is finer detail
and smoother gradients in highlight areas and crisp colors in the mid tones
and shadows. Ink drop size range reaches from 5.4 ng to 41.5 ng
  Wide Width Digital Printer Details

1. Unroll device, motor control with manual edge adjustment (optional

automatic)
2. Tension control with metal sensor different weights possible
3. Roll transport, synchronized feed with tub for waste ink (print-through)
4. Optional fabric dryer with three heat levels for fabric width up to 223 cm
5. Tension control with metal sensor different weights possible
6. Up roll device, motor control with manual edge adjustment (optional
automatic)

 Digital Textile Belt Printer

DBP Digital Ink-Jet Textile / Fabric Printer Belt System:
(1) The DBP digital fabric belt printing machine is now the newest
textile printing equipment in the World.
(2) It inherits the merit of traditional fabric printing, and adopts belt
transportation.
(3) Belt transportation in digital fabric printing optimize the textile printing.
The textile belt print machine can print on any fabric for digital textile
printing.
(4) Up to 220 cm fabric printing width.
(5) Precision printing now includes knitted fabrics and fine silk fabrics.
(6) Thus more fabrics can be printed.
(7) The digital textile belt printing machine brings in textile innovation.
(8) The green manufacture process of low - consumption, no pollution, no
noise can be realized.
  Digital Flat Bed Printer

 Pigment printing on to cotton t-shirts. Revolutionary sample printing on any

fabric. Digital fast t-shirt production for shops and advertising services.

 Continuous patented digital T-Shirt printer. Made in Europe.

 Ink Jet direct printing on T-Shirts, textile, leather, wood signs etc.
 Consists of 430mm width printing size, continuous transport system allowing for
any length of material, t-shirt mounting plates of any length, ink feeding bottle
system.
 Uses water based pigment inks and prints on almost any kind of fabric type (White
and light-colored), with very good wash fastness properties.
 The printing cost varies between 0.06 to 0. 2 Euro per print (20x30cm).
 High productivity up to 60 T-Shirts per hour @ 720dpi.
 Easy to use.
 Including RIP software.
 Ink feeding Open 200ml tank system
Voltage AC 220V, 110V - 59W
 Environmental conditions Temperature 10-25 C / Humidity RH >50%, Extra
equipment required Inks, PC, Dryer or Heat press or Heat fixation required at
150C 2-5 min (Dryer or heat press).

 Digital Ink-Jet Textile Printer Belt System Digital

Fabric Printer

This digital fabric belt printing machine is now the newest

textile printing equipment in the World. It inherits the merit of traditional
fabric printing, and adopts belt transportation.
Belt transportation in digital fabric printing optimizes the textile printing.
The textile belt print machine can print on any fabric for digital textile
printing. Up to 320 cm fabric printing width.
Precision printing includes knitted fabrics and fine silk fabrics. This digital
textile belt printing machine brings in textile innovation. The green
manufacture process of low - consumption, no pollution, no noise can be
realized.

Due to 16 industrial print heads with 256 nozzles printing speed of 140M2
per hour is now possible with this new advanced digital textile printer. The
1080 dpi resolution and four or eight colors printing choice can provide the
vivid printing effect and perfect performance. HSP enjoys very reliable
stability, high-quality belt transmission and automatic roll-to-roll system.

It is equipped with automatic corrective devices to ensure the consecutive

straight transportation of fabric; Also, efficient online fabric drying system,
well-designed ink supply and print head moisturizing systems, all to ensure
the continuity of production and ink-jet printing quality. HSP versatility is
reflected in the adjustment of print head height to apply for the different
thickness of the fabric; It can use various professional ink, reactive,
disperse, acid ink and pigment ink for kinds of weaving, knitting and non-
woven fabrics printing, including cotton, linen, silk, wool, nylon, polyester
and such a single or mixed fabrics. HSP is widely used in apparel,
accessories, footwear, luggage, leather products, home textiles, outdoor
textiles, automobile interiors, flags, banners and other products to meet
the fast, high-quality, energy-saving, environmental protection market
demands.
o Specification Sheet Of HSP Digital Textile Printer
3 Models 160cm - 250cm - 320cm
Width printing
Technology Industrial Piezo heads 4096
nozzles
Print head Height Up to 30mm Max 28mm
thickness fabrics
Media Self-adhesive

transmission belt
Media take up Auto feeding roll up
Maximum Media 3230 mm
Width
Maximum Print 3200 mm
Width
Max media size Unlimited
Ink - Color 8 color , 2x 4 color or 1x 8
color output
Ink type Acid, reactive, disperse,
pigment
Ink supply Continues auto supply
system
Fabric types Cotton, flax, silk, wool,
nylon, polyester etc.
woven, knitted
Printing Speed High Speed: 360 dpi 140sq/m
per hour
Standard 720 dpi 70sq/m
Speed:
High quality 1080 dpi 46sq/m
Speed:
Belt Auto belt correction
system / Auto belt washing
system
Interface USB2
Operating Touching screen LCD
Interface display
Work station Windows, P4/3.2G, 1G
RAM, 160G HD
Fabric Drying Infrared drier and cool fans
Power supply 380 VAC
Frequency 50HZ+0%
Consumption 10KW
Working Temperature: 20 - 30°C
Environment
Humidity: 60 - 70 %
Outer Dimension L4160mm x W1965mm x
/ Weight H1410mm / 1500Kg
Principle of ink jet printing used for textile:
Jet printing used for textile may be classified as being based on a selectivity deflected
charged –drop (continuous drop production) principle or a drop-on-demand (DOD)
method, in which drops are produced as required by some impulsive system. The
aqueous print medium (i.e. the ‘ink’) used, is pressurized (3-5 Mpa) for a charged
drop print heads, namely the bubble jet and plezo- electric types, Each system has
certain advantages, such as lower fabrication cost and faster printing speed. Coupled
with disadvantages such as inferior print definition or reliability.

Charged drop printers

In this system the ink is forced at high pressure through a very fine
orifice(8-15 um diameter) which produces a train of droplets whose
uniformity is further controlled by vibrating the jet outlet at high
frequency( 0.5 – 1.0 MHz) with a piezo transducer. Because the
droplets are produced in a continuous stream this is something referred
to as continuous ink-jet (CIJ) technology.
Charged droplets printer requires complex
system. The first problem is to produce extremely uniform drops and
then there is need to control both electrostatic and aerodynamics
interacting between neighboring drops whilst in flight, as these affect
both their velocity and path to the substrate surface.

Drop on demand printer:

DOD printer depend on some means of imparting as electro-mechanical
or thermal shock impulsive to a printer ink, which is held at
atmosphere pressure close to the jet orifice, capillary forces prevent
the ink from leaking out but when the jet is fired a pressure pulse
passes through the liquid and a tiny droplet is ejected. Although
various types of DOD printer have been developed over the years the
market is now dominated by two system, namely bubble jet types and
pieze types. The design of both types of print head is modular in
concept and their fabrication is based on the construction of multi –
layer/multi channel silicon or ceramic wafers using essentially
microchip fabrication techniques.
Steam-X Digital Textile Printing Fixation

Steam-X 1850 RDA

In a world first, the Steam-X has revolutionized the digital inkjet textile printing
industry. The Steam-X is the missing link that has allowed for the continuous
digital textile inkjet printing and curing of fabrics.

Extremely versatile, the Steam-X cures fabrics printed with any type of digital
printing dyes, i.e. acid, disperse and reactive.

The Steam-X can be used with any digital inkjet printer available. The printing
speeds of the inkjet printers are not compromised. The fabric travel through the
Steam-X is synchronized with the printing of the inkjet printer.

Simple Smart Printing

Digital inkjet printer is the most recent innovation in the textile industry, however
the curing of fabrics has been performed separately after the printing process has
been completed, and therefore causing delays in finishing. Steam-X is the
solution, which has streamlined the process into one continuous procedure.

The Steam-X features a fabric feed-in mechanism, with edge control alignment,
that feeds fabric directly into an inkjet printer. Following the printing process, the
fabric travels through the steam chamber of the Steam-X, where temperatures of
up to 180°C are reached and therefore curing of the printed dyes is completed.
Following the steam process the fabric is rolled up automatically.
Superior Steam Curing

Steam-X automatically feeds fabric into the inkjet printer, then through its built-in
steam chamber where the dye is fixed. The fabric then feeds out of the unit and is
automatically rolled - all in one continuous process.

Whether you're using reactive, disperse or acid dyes, Steam-X cures it all in the
same simple process. The unit is operated from a compact control with LCD
display, with clear step by step instructions; the temperature is controlled and
regulated using a temperature controller with digital output. Also included are a
20 liters water tank, steam generator and stainless steel steam chamber.

Optional features:

Monitoring software to track the performance of the Steam-X in real time. Outputs
such as temperature, humidity and production performance collected and via a
computer link can be stored in Excel file format.
Specifications:

Natural Silk Polyester

Specifications:
Fibre
(Acid (Disperse
(Reactive Dyes) Dyes)
Dyes)
Fabric 1830
Maximum mm
Width
Steaming C 102 102 175
Temperature
Maximum sqm/hr 44 22 110
Speed
Steaming min 15 30 6
Time
Fabric Length 6 m
inside the
Steamer
Machine 2m
Length
Machine Width 2,5 m
Machine High 1,3 m
Water Tank 20 ltr.
Capacity
Power 7 kW
Consumption
Power Supply 220/380V, 50Hz, 3PEN (5
wire) or 110/220V, 60Hz,
3PE (4 wire)
Fabric Roll 200
Diameter mm
max.
Fabric Feeder - Included
Steam 5l Complete with boiler and
Generator safety and control
mechanisms to meet the
A.S.M.E. Code, Section 1,
latest addenda.
Note: Quoted speed values are dependent on
material weight, quality and thickness
3) Adjustment and Trimming Unit Of Digital Textile Printers

3.1) Fabric Roll Winding Table

First winding unit for roll preparation before and/or after inkjet
printing.

3.2) Sidewinder Highlights

Perfectly rolled fabric ready for inkjet printing automatic edge
control and correction system for fabric width up to 250 cm operation speed up
to 20 m/min optional edge cutting and sealing device
3.3) Inkjet Device with Fabric Rolls
Printing on an inkjet device with fabric rolls that are not coiled up
well is very problematic. The fabric is moving to and fro and the print is not being
placed correctly on the textile. In addition to this a lot of folds are created
because of this effect. These problems are solved now.

3.4) Side Winder

Sidewinder is developed to make straight inkjet printing on textiles
possible. The fabric is constantly controlled by an edge sensor and automatically
corrected by a motor. The result is a perfectly winded roll of fabric, ready for
being printed on your inkjet printer.

3.5) Edges of the Roll

For proper processing of inkjet printed textiles it is important to
have the edges of the roll straight all the time; before, while and after printing.
Sidewinder, the winding table for textile rolls, makes it possible. By the way; the
optional cutting device will take care for the lengthwise cut automatically.
 3.6) Optional Cutting and Sealing Device
Ultrasonic cutting and sealing upgrade for Sidewinder,
automatic cutting and sealing in lengthwise direction of the fabric during the
winding process.
4.1) Bulk Ink System for Solvent and Water Based Large Format Printing

The cartridge got a shut of float keeping ink at a constant ink level in the cartridge.
Thanks to the mechanical float control type, the ink level can be controlled as
precisely as 0.001g to supply ink at constant ink level in the cartridge. Since no
electronic control device or automatic and manual valve is required, there is no ink
overflow or failure.
It is the safest and most reliable system on the market and at the best price.

To be fitted on JV4, JV3, JV5, TX series printer and more

The capacity of the reservoir is 1.5 L and Cartridge capacity is 220ml.

Unique design of combining bottle with cartridge allows easy installation of each color
into the slot of printer

Along with combined type, we can provide system which a reservoir can be separated
from cartridges
As there is an ink drain system at the bottom of the cartridge, the ink cartridge can be
refilled after the remaining ink is fully extracted off, when foreign objects like dust get
inside the cartridge or when there is a problem with the ink.

With a floater inside cartridges, the level of the ink can be precisely controlled by
adjusting the level of the floater valve.

 Easy Installation
As the cartridge and the reservoir are already combined in the single-unit type, the
ink cartridge is easily installed in the printer and does not require a special space.

Suitable for Bulk inks users

Even while printing, ink can be supplied by opening the cover of the reservoir and
refilling it with the amount of ink needed.

Stable Ink Supply

Ink can be stably supplied as the interval between the reservoir and the cartridge is
maximally short.
Digital printing of textiles has already established itself for initial sample
production since this offers very fast customer response, versatility and
economy. The integrated systems now available are capable of yielding
repeatable sample prints that are sufficiently reproducible to be used for
initial customer selection/acceptance followed either by:
(a) Small scale production (for rapid response, niche markets) using a jet
printer, or
(b) Larger scale, laser-engraved screen printing based on an integrated
recipe prediction system, with pre-production approval of
conventional strike-off sample prints.