“The swimwear industry puts high demands on textile printers with requirements for high performance, enduring bright colours, and complex designs with increasingly fine detail. NEBULA Acid HD inks rise to that challenge, setting a new benchmark for inks for active-wear,” commented Jos Notermans, Commercial Manager, Digital Textiles.

The exhibition also marks the first showing in the Americas of the Javelin digital inkjet printer for companies printing up to two million metres of textiles annually.

High density colour

The NEBULA Acid HD inks, which can be used with any printer using Kyocera print heads, are a whole new formulation, developed and produced by SPGPrints, offering increased colour depth and improved runability, the manufacturer reports.

According to the company, the new ink range is ideal for Polyamide (PA) Lycra swimwear, luxury silk items like fashion scarves and neck ties, and wools. NEBULA Acid HD inks are also said to meet all industry standards for colour and water-fastness, and the specifications for all major swimwear manufacturers. The new range will be available from September 2016, initially in CMYK, orange, red, blue and grey.

“These inks are such a major step forward in their chemistry that SPGPrints will be phasing out its current acid ink range. However, we will support customers making the transition, and help them recalibrate their colour profiles to run the new high density inks,” said Jos Notermans.

Javelin digital inkjet textile printer

Designed for annual production up to two million metres, the Javelin printer features the same innovative Archer print head technology used in the recently launched, high-volume Pike printer, which won the 2016 EDP1 Award for Best Industrial Textile Solution.

Pike’s nozzle plates are 4mm from the substrate, compared with the more usual 1.5mm nozzle-fabric distance. This means a wider range of substrates can be run, and the chance of print head damage is reduced, the company reports. Using only six colours, Archer technology aims to enable a wider gamut than the HD-gamut of other digital textile printing solutions.

Fine line details, smooth gradients, blotches and geometrics can be accurately printed thanks to Javelin’s variable drop-size capability (2pL – 10pL) in resolutions up to 1200 x 1200dpi. The Javelin uses multi-pass scanning action with an array of Fujifilm Dimatix Samba print heads to cover the 1850mm width with sharp image production.

Applications

According to the manufacturer, Javelin is ideal for companies wanting to take the first step into digital textile printing, or with a need to supplement their existing capabilities. Javelin complements SPGPrints’ Pike digital printer that is capable of printing up to 13 million metres per year. Its fixed array printing bar contains 43 print heads for single-pass printing in a width of 1850mm.

“The launch of the Javelin printer provides another powerful tool for companies operating in this highly competitive market. With the colour range and print quality combined with digital’s fast-turnaround, fast time-to-market, this technology delivers what brand-owners want and what textile printers need for a competitive edge,” explained Notermans.

www.spgprints.com