Printing Direct-to-Fabric ▲ The iSUB technology eliminates the need for postproduction calendering and gives excellent colour consistency There is quite often an issue when printing directly to fabric due to the fact that a secondary process is needed to set or fix the dye into the fabric. Clearly, this can be an issue with regard to the handling of what can be large and heavy rolls of materials which is not easy. Durst has overcome this problem by designing into the P5 TEX a unique IR (infrared) inline fixation device specifically used for direct-to-fabric printing. The device is called iSUB and the full moniker for the new machine is the P5 TEX iSUB. The size of the P5 TEX iSUB is very impressive with a maximum width of 3,370mm (132 inches) which can also be configured as full-width, multi-roll or dualroll formats. The width and ability of the machine to print direct-to-fabric and fix the dye-sublimation inks in one pass makes it very efficient when producing a wide range of products. According to Durst, various applications such as sports and fashion items, interior décor, events and trade show banners, and backlit signs and a full gamut of visual communication materials are easily achieved on this printer. Breaking the key features down into four areas, the aforementioned iSUB inline fixation technology has to be the USP for Durst. As said, this device allows the fixing of the ink into the directly printed fabric in the same pass. Durst says the iSUB technology eliminates the need for post-production calendering and gives excellent colour consistency and avoids colour bleeding into each other giving very sharp and crisp edges to the colour boundaries. It is also very useful to be able to print difficult materials such as onto black fabrics and tricky materials used for backlit promotional products. As the iSUB is contactless, if you were printing on more tactile substrates, they retain these properties once printed. Roll after roll The dual-roll option allows two rolls of up to 1.6 metres in width and 600mm in diameter on the machine at the same time and queues, then deploys different jobs on each roll. This has an obvious advantage of making the full width of the machine available for production, ensuring the uptime of the P5 TEX iSUB is maximised. The purpose of the multi-roll option is to further ensure the effective use of the P5 TEX iSUB and maintain productivity at the highest levels. The multi-roll option allows two rolls to be mounted to the machine at the same time and at the end of one roll, the second can be simultaneously spliced to the first. Flexibility in paper Whilst the P5 TEX iSUB has the unique ability to print onto fabric and fix the colour in one go, there are times when the need to print onto transfer papers is required. Durst has taken this into consideration and has a facility in the printer to be able to print onto a transfer sheet. There are a series of plates that can be quickly and easily added to the machine The Durst P5 TEX iSUB can print direct-to-fabric or to transfer paper making it an extremely flexible dyesublimation printer 20 Durst claims to have produced a game-changing step forward with a printer that can provide inline fixation of dye-sublimation inks printed direct-to-fabric. Brian Sims takes a closer look at the P5 TEX iSUB to find out more email: news@signlink.co.uk February / March 2023 - Issue 245 UNDER THE HOOD / DURST P5 TEX ISUB
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