Colourful Textiles
Printed textile production post-Covid-19 has started to see large
gains and the retail and commercial sectors have seen the capacity for
printed materials growing strongly in terms of demand. There are a
number of machines in the market but two that can very suitably provide
the resources to provide high volume, wide-format capacity.
The Epson SC-F6400 and F6400H have a substrate width of 1,118mm
(44”) with both able to produce superior quality printed textiles with
reliability but with a keen eye on the cost of ownership and
production.
The difference between the two models is mainly the ink
configuration you need. The SC-F6400 comes with a bank of process
colours (CMYK) whereas the SC-F6400H comes with the process set but with
the ability to print light cyan and magenta. The SC-F6400H can extend
the colour gamut to include fluorescent pink and yellow along with
capacity for orange and violet ink as it is a six- opposed to a
four-colour printer.
The ink capacity of the printers is 45% larger at 1,600ml but more
importantly they come in easy to use ink packs. There is no need to
transfer the ink from container to printer, as users can simply shake
the pack to agitate the product and insert it into the printer. The
increased size of ink pack not only allows for longer uninterrupted
running but also reduces waste and improves the green footprint of the
machine.
The increased size of ink pack doesn’t only allow for longer uninterrupted running but also reduces waste
and improves the green footprint of the machine”
Regardless of which printer you choose, both come with inkjet heads
containing the now proven Epson Thin Film Piezo (TFP) technology. The
technology contained in the head is deemed by Epson to be a market
leader and is in a large number of the manufacturer's printers. In 2007,
they came to the market with this new concept TFP technology which is
used across the complete range of printers and are now truly tried and
tested.
The demand for printed and personalised textile prints has increased since Covid-19
The Piezo element of a print head is common to all printers using
this technology and has to be produced in very thin sections. Epson
chooses not to follow this path and instead actually uses a proprietary
process to form a dense piezo crystal element that is just one micron
thick on a silicon wafer.
The heads are produced with what Epson calls Micro Electro
Mechanical Systems (MEMS) which means elements of the head are placed
84.7 microns apart on silicon or glass. With ink channels and nozzles
produced by the MEMS process, Epson claims the PrecisionCore Micro TFP
printheads can produce almost perfectly round dots with great precision.
With the PrecisionCore Micro TFP printheads having the print chip
less than one hundredth the width of a human hair in thickness, by using
materials this small you can have a relatively small print engine and
large ink deployment.
The PrecisionCore TFP printhead can place dots extremely accurately
in both size and position in the colour gamut which is why Epson
claimed the raw specification of DPI is now an “obsolete way to compare
print systems” in its 2013 PrecisionCore White Paper.
Epson also argues that resolution measured in dots per inch (DPI)
is not necessarily the best way now to quantify print quality. The
manufacturer does however agree that DPI is part of the methodology with
greyscale and accurate dot placement also a key consideration.
Wrapping up the printhead technology is Nozzle Verification
Technology (NVT) which ensures the optimum condition of the printhead
itself.
NVT monitors the signals sent to each nozzle; it expects to see no
resistance to the impulse squeezing the Piezo Electric film. Should it
detect a rebound signal from the drive impulse, this is almost certainly
due to the nozzle being blocked and the NVT technology adjusts the
nozzle pattern to override the blocked nozzle, maintaining print
quality.
Supporting Ink Technologies
The dot is laid onto the substrate with the help of patented
technology called Look-up Table (LUT). LUT technology has been
developed in collaboration with the Munsell Color Science Laboratory at
the Rochester Institute of Technology in the US. The purpose is to
increase the colour fidelity and gives a smoother graduation between
colours.
The Piezoelectric printhead uses the well-proven specially
developed inks which are known as the UltraChrome DS range. This range
of inks are developed to be Nickel-free and low odour meaning the SC
range of printers can be installed in office environments which mostly
now have air conditioning for airflow.
The UltraChrome DS range of inks are also developed with the
ability to print up to 98.2% of the PANTONE solid-coated colours which
greatly enhance the printer’s ability to produce the eye-catching
effects needed for advertising products.
UltraChrome DS inks can print on a wide range of substrates also
demanded for point of sale (POS) products such as canvas and other
similar POS substrates.
Colour and the accurate deployment of dots is nothing without the substrate itself being controlled.
Ease of Operation
All printers in the range come with Epson Edge Print which is a
software solution to make preparation and production as simple as
possible.
The main interface shows you a list of the current and past jobs
for you to review and edit if needed. A set of tools sit in the toolbar
at the top of the page and to the right of the split screen is a pane to
allow the manipulation of the image needed for the job under
preparation. Each Epson Edge Print can control up to four printers at a
time, with tabs at the bottom of the screen detailing what each is
doing.
The main interface shows you a list of the current and past jobs for users to review and edit if needed”
The Epson Edge Print Dashboard is an integrated product where you
can download up to 250 different media profiles ensuring the printer is
set at an optimum performance level so the most demanding client is
satisfied.
Wrapping up these two printers, they come packed with trusted and
reliable Epson technology, it is a copper bottom purchase should you be
looking for a dye-sublimation printer. The printers do not cost you vast
sums to own and operate, Epson as always has the Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) in mind with easy maintenance and access meaning
downtime is kept at a minimum.
Statistics
- Printheads: Dual PrecisionCore TFP
- Colours: SC-F6400 4 colours & SC-F6400H
- 6 colours
- Resolution: 600 x 1,200 dpi (max)
Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu
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