Digital Textile and garment printers

1.16 SGIA 2004

At SGIA 2004, held from 6 to 9 October 2004 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA,

Kornit Digital of Moshav Magshimim, Israel, exhibited two robust inkjet

garment printers using Spectra AAA print heads, the single platen 930 and

double platen 931. Kornit configures its Spectra AAA print heads to shoot 77

picoliter droplets, thus enabling fast printing and greater ink deposit and color

saturation. Kornit uses mild solvent-based inks with its 930 and 931 printers, but

its versatile print heads can also fire water-based and UV-cure inks. Kornit has

configured its printers to yield 450 450 dpi, 540 540 dpi, and 630 630 dpi.

Kornit has focused its production efforts on its 931 printer in response to market

demand for a high production T-shirt printer. It also increased the frequency of

drop generation from its print heads, thereby increasing print throughput to

about 300 printed garments per hour for its 931.

Also at SGIA 2004, the US Screen Printing Institute (USSPI) introduced its

Fast T-JetTM garment printing device based on the Epson 2200, and Jumbo Fast

T-JetTM garment printer based on the Epson 7600. These devices print at 360

and 720 dpi resolutions. The Fast T-Jet is the lowest cost inkjet garment printing

device available. It can print a double-hit 12 inch by 12 inch print at 360 dpi in

about two minutes and the same size image at 720 dpi in about four minutes.

USSPI also offers a number of platens for its printers including a cap platen.