Mimaki has introduced two new textile printers at opposite ends of its range, the ‘affordable’ TS100-1600, which is intended as a first dye-sub printer for those looking to move into roll textile printing, and the Tiger-1800B Mk III, the latest iteration of its high volume industrially-focused model.
The 1.6m TS100-1600 prints at up to 70sqm/hr in its fastest mode and uses 1l ink bottles to support longer periods of uninterrupted use printing to dye-sublimation transfer paper. It features various proprietary Mimaki technologies for quality control and is offered with Mimaki’s RasterLink 7 Rip software, or as an option, TxLink4, an alternative Mimaki Rip with dedicated textile functionality (see below).
Hybrid’s managing director Brett Newman commented, ‘With an increase in demand for personalisation, bespoke prints and custom décor, the new TS100-1600 offers companies a low cost route into this proven technology.’ It will be available from April 2021 through exclusive UK and Ireland distributor Hybrid services.
The newest version of the Tiger 1800B supersedes the Mk II which was launched at Fespa 2018. The 1.8m printer offers direct-to-textile printing, via reactive inks or direct sublimation, plus sublimation transfer and is capable of up to 385sqm/hr. The Mk III has been developed for reliability and print accuracy, according to Mimaki:
‘The textile industry is fast-moving, highly creative and leaves little room for error,’ said Bert Benckhuysen, senior product manager at Mimaki Europe. ‘Printers in this market require a robust system that will deliver the speed, quality and innovation needed to keep pace with this exciting industry. The new capabilities of the Tiger-1800B MkIII build on those featured in successful predecessor models to meet these requirements head on.’
New features on the Mk III Tiger include Mimaki Printer Controller software which is intended to simplify operation of the printer and allows for automated overnight operation via a print queue. A nozzle recovery function allows production to continue automatically if a nozzle malfunction occurs.
Also expected to be available via Hybrid from April, the Tiger-1800B Mk III ships with the TxLink4 Rip software, which has a ‘parallel Rip’ and load-balancing functions to maximise productivity and a variable Rip for variable data printing, useful when producing business or sports garments where limited personalisation, such as a name or team player number can be added during the Rip and print process without requiring unique artwork to be created for each variant. 16-bit rendering allows for smoother gradients and fast data transfer is supported via a 10GB/sec Ethernet interface.
