A good finish
Textile printing, or soft signage, is becoming increasingly popular, not just for flags and banners, but for a whole raft of signage that has, until recently, been the domain of PVC, vinyl, paper, and other substrates. While some applications can be printed using conventional wide-format printers, for high quality products more specialist dye-sublimation equipment is required.
Of course, that might be regarded as just the beginning of the story, as most soft signage will require some form of finishing, such as heat pressing, sewing, and welding, to make it fit for purpose and durable. As the old music hall saying goes – ‘It’s not done until the fat lady sings’.
Applying the heat
There are two methods of printing textiles – either direct-to-textile or using a transfer paper – depending upon the signage to be produced. For example, the direct process is generally used for flag production, as it gives better results in terms of show-through onto the reverse of the flag.
If you get inconsistent heat from the heat press then the colour will be affected and you will get rejects”
“A good textile with a good pre-coating, such as those available from companies like Soyang, will give best results,” says Northamptonshire-based I-Sub’s, Nick Davies. “The printing of paper transfers is fairly straight forward if the following quality points are adhered to - good paper, good ink, and most important a top class heat press machine like those from Monti Antonio. If you get inconsistent heat from the heat press then the colour will be affected and you will get rejects.”
The Monti Antonio range covers over 46 different models from small to large-format heat transfer related machine, bonding, and steaming machines, including both flatbed and rotary heat presses.
Macclesfield textile printing equipment specialist RA Smart has continued to see a steady growth in the number of signage customers looking to broaden their portfolio of products and offer their customers soft signage products.
Monti Antonio Model 72, one of the wide range of heat press machines supplied by I-Sub
“Whilst this may seem initially a little daunting for some customers, RA Smart is in a unique position of being able to offer these clients over 40 years of printed textiles' experience,” comments director Magnus Mighall. “As Mimaki’s specialist textiles' reseller in the UK, we are able to guide prospective customers to assist with their purchasing decision to suit their particular requirements.”
Most potential soft signage customers are likely to be interested in utilising polyester fabrics and, dependent upon on the range of products they wish to offer, they will require a heat press or a heat fixation unit.
“If they know they will only ever want to utilise disperse dyes for printing direct to the textile then the more cost effective heat fixation unit will be most suitable and is the perfect choice for customers looking to utilise pre-treated polyesters for flags/banners and display products,” continues Mighall. “If, however, customers also want to perhaps broaden their product range, they should consider the heat press option as not only will this allow for fixation of direct-to-textile printing, it will also allow for dye sublimation products to be produced.”
This machine is crucial to our whole operation in fixing the print and really brings the colours to life”
This process has the advantages of not requiring a pre-treated fabric, so that a far greater range of products can be utilised, and also removes the need for any additional post treatment for products which would otherwise require washing after printing, if printed direct, such as soft furnishings/deck chairs, apparel etc.
“RA Smart recognise the need to offer both solutions and we have recently introduced our new Transmatic Heat Fixation Units which can be used both in-line with the printers, so the fabric is fixed in one pass, or the unit can be used off- line. This is, of course, far more advantageous than having an integrated fixation unit within the printer as the fixation units can normally service multiple printing machines, thus avoiding the unnecessary investment in additional fixation capacity when integrated with the printer.”
RA Smart’s Transmatic units, up to 1.8m-wide, utilise fully insulated radiant heat technology to allow precise temperature control across the width of the fabric whilst the new fixation units, up to 3.2m-wide, uses Transmatic’s proven oil-filled drum technology from their heat press range to ensure the accurate temperature control required across these wider widths.
Transmatic 1800 radiant fixation machine from RA Smart uses fully insulated radiant heat technology
“Transmatic has continued to expand its range of heat press machines and as well as introducing new, cost effective solutions for our apparel and sportswear customers, we can also offer bespoke systems for specialist applications and larger diameter drum machines to cope with the ever increasing speeds of the digital printers,” concludes Mighall.
Your Print Partner in Lincoln was one of the first companies in the UK to install a Transmatic heat fixation unit and uses it mainly in the production of feather flags, street branding, and internal retail display banners.
“It works perfectly linked in with the Mimaki print presses or as a stand-alone machine, but we use it as a stand-alone,” explains Your Print Partner director, Stuart Maclaren. “It’s very simple to use, makes life a lot easier and gives good results. It’s also very cost effective. This machine is crucial to our whole operation in fixing the print and really brings the colours to life.
These are easy to install, easy to operate solutions for the sign-maker”
Maclaren initially established Your Print Partner as a print broker but was unhappy with the fact that many printers sub-contracted work outside of the UK.
“It is important to us to ensure that everything we supply to our customers is produced in the UK wherever possible. We, therefore, took the decision to change the direction of the business and provide our own print service in-house to enable to ensure maximum quality control for our customers,” he says.
All sewn up
For applications where a sewn finish is required, a wide range of sewing equipment and machinery is available, starting with simple systems with attachments for attaching silicon strips for back-lit boxes and POS aluminium frames, and cutting systems similar to those regularly used in the general signmaking industry.
“The skill set for this is no more difficult than sewing or cutting for a standard banner,” says Davies. “Sewing of flags can be a little more tricky, but it’s all down to good templates and good webbing/yarn to ensure a robust finished flag. Again quality of product purchase is really important”.
Portsmouth-based Solent Sewing & Welding has been in the business of industrial sewing and fabric handling for 50 years, with a history of manufacturing attachments and modifying sewing machines with different arm lengths and configurations.
“Since becoming Miller Weldmaster’s sole UK distributor nine years ago and because of the wide range of finishing solutions Solent has available, our customers range from one man bands to some of the largest printers in the UK,” comments Solent Sewing’s Martin Morrissey.
The company’s wide range of solutions specifically for the textile market includes the high performance Texsew Pro, a single needle lockstitch machine for sewing textiles. This machine will sew light to medium weight materials and comes with the feet and guides to attach latex strip onto digital fabrics for banner in frame systems. It also features auto thread trimmer, auto backtack seam start and end, auto footlift, LED light over work area, custom feet, and tools to sew latex strip on digital prints.
Your supplier, with good historical knowledge, will be key to your quick success”
Another machine available from Solent Sewing is the Miller Weldmaster Impulse Extreme. Operation is made simple with a front fabric trough, rear table, and alignment guides and a user-friendly touch screen allows settings to be stored for your most commonly used fabrics such as PVC. For non-weldable fabrics the Impulse uses a special heat activated laminated tape that has a very strong adhesive on both sides followed by pressure from the weld bars.
“These are easy to install, easy to operate solutions for the sign maker, backed by the experience and quality of Solent and Miller Weldmaster,” adds Morrissey
Finishing off
Sewing on a latex strip using the Texsew Pro single needle lockstitch machine from Solent Sewing & Welding
As with all signage, a good finish is critical to the quality of the end product in textile signage and it doesn’t pay to cut corners. Specialist companies are there to assist with their wealth of knowledge and experience and in the end it all starts – and finishes - with quality.
Summing up, I Sub's Davies comments: “To start with you need to purchase a good quality product that will enable you to get great consistent results. Secondly, you need to ensure you purchase from a company who specialises in all aspects of sublimation and textiles. The variables and vagaries of this process should not be ignored and your supplier, with good historical knowledge, will be key to your quick success.”
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