At Gartex Texprocess 2023 in Delhi, Mimaki India, a provider of digital printing of textiles, introduced its first direct-to-film printer, the TxF150-75, for textile applications, which offers an alternative to printing direct-to-garment or via dye sublimation. Mimaki also showcased a new version of its Tiger sublimation printer, the Tiger 600-1800TS.
The TxF150-75 is based on Mimaki’s existing 150 series wide format printers. According to Naved Nakhwa, heading marketing at Mimaki, India, the TxF150-75 is Mimaki’s first DTF (direct-to-film) printer with a maximum printing width of 80 cm for producing DTF print transfer sheets. The PHT50 heat transfer pigment ink for DTF, consisting of five colors (CMYK and white), has acquired the Eco Passport certification, which is essential for obtaining international safety standards for textile products.
Nakhwa said, “The DTF printers have been facing ink ejection defects and white ink clogging. To overcome these issues, Mimaki has adopted a degassing ink design that uses aluminum packs as the printer’s ink packaging form as well as a white ink circulation function MCT (Mimaki circulation technology). The new printer features Mimaki’s NCU (nozzle check unit) and NRS (nozzle recovery system) technologies that support stable operation. They ensure continuous printing without stopping the operation.”
Tiger 600-1800TS
With two newly developed heads, the TS100-1600 has pursued high quality, high productivity, and stable operations as a sublimation transfer inkjet printer. It achieves about twice the high-speed printing of conventional machines for textiles.
In addition to NCU, NRS, and MAPS4 (Mimaki advanced pass system4), which enable stable high-quality printing, the DAS (dot adjustment system) was incorporated into the new 100 series printers. Dot position and feed correction, which used to take a lot of time and effort to do manually, can now be done automatically, reducing the workload on the operator.
The new Tiger can print at up to 550 square meters an hour. It takes media up to 1.9 meters wide with a print width of 1.85 meters. The ink used is Mimaki’s MLSb510 sublimation ink. There are four colors – blue, magenta, yellow, and black. Indian Printer and Publisher had earlier reported The Tiger comes with TxLink software, which Mimaki has developed specifically for the textile market. It is a considerable improvement over the previous model. It offers much higher productivity – up to 143% better than the outgoing model – and with half the footprint and less maintenance time needed.
