Which inkjet printer for large format proofing of fabrics? Encad's
old textile proofer
Encad
used to offer a special printer to help designers proof their textile
patterns, the Encad NovaJet 1500. This allows proofing everything
from wallpaper to floor designs to high fashion to table cloths. Now
you can get basic printing on textiles from their regular Encad NovaJet
850. Thus the Encad 1500 is no longer listed on their web site, nor
any other textile printer.
Since
I am interested in indigenous Maya textiles of Guatemala and Mexico
I have begun to research the various wide format printers which can
print on fabric. Of course many generic printers can handle some form
of textiles, but Encad and ColorSpan
all make special printers which are carefully outfitted to handle
cloth and a variety of fabrics.
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Downside
of the Encad is that, if I remember correctly, the textile models were
the older 300 dpi, with the awkward ink system that had to be primed
and sucked by hand. The newer Encad printers from the 600e onward had
slightly better systems. The newest Encad 750 and 850 are improved over
that. Since we have only the original Encad Novajet Pro 36" we
know every quirk of this printer.
Since
the summer 2001 you can find all kinds of sophisticated solutions, from
the DisplayMaker FabriJet XII which uses special textile inks to the
basic Hewlett-Packard
DesignJet 5000 which prints on textiles with it's regular
inks.
At
DRUPA
printer trade show (May 2000) I saw a remarkable textile printer,
the Sintesi ColorSurf.
This is a dye sublimation printer, the most sophisticated of the entry-level
that I have seen. The ColorSurf uses ColorGate RIP software.
Another
popular printer that prints on textiles is the HP DesignJet 2xxx series
(36") or the 3xxx series (54"). These Hewlett-Packard printers
handle silk and a wide variety of textiles. In the FLAAR facilities
we have two HP 5000 printers which achieve outstanding results printing
on textiles.
ColorSpan
does an outstanding job of printing on textiles, indeed their FabriJet
printer can use the special inks that do a better job on textiles than
regular inks. Mimaki makes a series of printers which accept all the
special textile inks. It is ironic that Encad made one of the earliest
wide format printers to handle textiles but it was Mimaki, Stork, and
ColorSpan who continued this class of printer.
Now
that FLAAR has a larger facility on the campus of Bowling
Green State University, we have the opportunity to print
on a wider range of fabrics with our HP DesignJet 5000ps. The results
look great. We have tried cotton and mesh from 3P and polyester from
TAL. The HP 5000 is so versatile it seems to print on almost anything .
FLAAR has now reports on the Epson 4800, Epson 7800 and Epson 9800 |
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Last
checked Jan. 15, 2003,
Previously updated July 8, 2002,
June 2, 2002 |
