The companies put forth their advanced technologies in digital printing at the seven-day event was held at Barcelona.
Considered as the ‘Olympics’ of textile machinery exhibitions, ITMA has a 68-year history of displaying the latest technology for every single work process of textile and garment making. This year, the seven-day event was held at Barcelona in Spain, and the organisers claim that 1,717 exhibitors participated from 45 countries, the largest gathering of exhibitors in its history.
Amongst the various new launches at the show were digital printers by Mimaki and X-Rite. Mimaki Engineering, a leading manufacturer of inkjet printers and cutting systems, had announced the first global technology demonstration of a brand-new hybrid digital textile printer from the TX300P series. “It features both direct-to-textile and direct-to-transfer print capabilities, and achieves unparalleled flexibility in ink combinations and substrates,” says a company press release.
The new printer by Mimaki is an evolution of TX300P-1800, with the added capability of printing direct-to-transfer. Equipped with Mimaki’s Total Solution Provider approach, the printer is compatible with Mimaki’s full range of pre-treating, steaming and washing equipment. It features Mimaki Core Technology including a Nozzle Check Unit and Nozzle Recovery System.
Apart from Mimaki, X-Rite Incorporated and Pantone LLC, global leaders in colour science and technology, also announced their new i1Pro 3 Plus. According to the company, it is a spectral colour measurement solution with advanced calibration and colour profiling capabilities to support today’s wide-format and industrial printing applications. The i1Pro 3 Plus has been optimised for digital printing on a range of materials and surfaces, including ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood, vinyl, plastics, thin films, cardboard, paper, etc.
There are some new features in the i1Pro 3 Plus such as larger aperture of 8mm to support new materials and substrates used in digital printing applications, new polarisation filter that reduces specular highlights and shadows on fabrics and ceramics, longer ruler for measuring the wider charts used in grand-format printing, and a new LED illuminant that improves device reliability.
The i1Pro 3 Plus allows for four measurement conditions (ISO 13655 M0, M1: D50, M2: UV Excluded, M3 Polarised). It supports transmission scanning for backlit film and materials used in signage, and measures high brightness of up to 5K NITs for ultra-bright displays.
In addition to this, X-Rite had also unveiled a new i1iO Automated Scanning Table that supports the i1Pro 3 Plus. This hands-free test chart reader offers automated colour profiling on a variety of substrates with reduced risk of colour measurement errors. The new i1iO table can be used with a variety of industrial materials including textiles, ceramics, corrugated, etc. and supports materials up to 33mm thick, with the optional z-axis spacer. It also supports transparencies and backlit materials.