Traditional printing and its existing problems
There are many kinds of traditional printing, such as hand printing, flat screen printing, direct printing, discharge printing, resist printing, rotary screen printing, etc.
At present, traditional printing technology is quite mature, and the most common ones are rotary screen printing and flat screen printing.
Rotary screen printing is a method in which the color paste in the rotary screen is printed on the fabric under the pressure of a scraper.
Rotary screen making can only be completed after more than ten processes, and it can carve very precise fine lines so that it can print detailed and soft patterns.
There are three kinds of flat screen printing processes for flat screen printing: manual platen, semi-automatic platen, and full-automatic platen, which occupy a large area.
Flat screen printing not only needs accurate color separation but also needs to find out the circulating unit pattern, so the production speed is slow and the output is low.
With the development of printing technology, traditional printing, and digital printing have coexisted. After years of technical updates and the development of digital printing, digital printing machines are becoming more and more advanced, and the problems of traditional printing are becoming more and more obvious:
1. Traditional printing water uses a lot of electricity, consumes a lot of energy, and causes serious pollution.
2. Due to the limitation of color registration, a printing machine can only print more than ten colors at the same time, and the natural gradient color can’t be printed.
3. Limited by edition, the pattern size is also limited, and too large a pattern cannot be printed and dyed.
4. Due to the limitation of time and cost, the plate-making time is too long and the process is complicated, while the response of small batch and personalized orders is slow and the cost is high.
5. The pattern is required to be a color-separable pattern with certain repetition rules, otherwise, it can’t be printed, which limits the designer’s pattern design.
Advantages of digital printing machine
With the great improvement of people’s consumption level and the sharp increase of export trade opportunities, labels such as “personalized, small batch, fast consumption, and environmental protection” have become fashionable demands in the textile market, which are brought about by the rapid development of digital printing technology and digital printing printers, and at the same time create unprecedented opportunities for the textile industry. Compared with traditional printing technology, digital printing technology has the following main advantages:
1. Computer software design pattern
The whole digital printing machine shows that the process from design to production is controlled by a computer, and the most important thing is pattern design.
The designer designs the pattern through computer-aided design software, and the pattern color is richer, which can realize the gradual change of various colors without any restrictions and can be modified to the satisfaction of customers at will.
Because the digital printing machine can print almost all patterns, computer-aided design software has created many special digital effects of patterns.
By combining patterns, graphics, and images with filters, special pattern effects that are difficult to achieve in traditional hand-drawn pattern design can often be designed.
2. High printing accuracy
The printing accuracy of the digital printing machine can reach more than 2000dpi, and the fineness of the printed image can be comparable to that of the photo, realizing the 3D realistic stereoscopic effect, at the same time, it can also print the gradient color from simple color to multi-color.
Digital printing uses four basic colors CMYK, namely blue-green, magenta, yellow, and black, plus two or four special colors, namely gold, orange, red, and blue, which can print as many as 16.7 million flower colors with a wide color gamut and bright colors.
3. Quick response and pursuit of individuality
Digital printing can respond quickly to popular elements, the fashion cycle of clothing is getting shorter and shorter, and the pattern changes are becoming more and more diverse.
The emerging fashion patterns can be imitated, redesigned, and produced immediately to meet the market demand. Consumers can also design their patterns and tailor them according to fashion trends.
4. Small batch production
Digital printing machines have realized printing from one meter and truly realized small batch production. Digital printing machines don’t need color separation and drawing, screen making, color matching, and other processes, which saves time for customers and reduces printing costs.
As long as customers provide pattern design manuscripts, they can be customized freely, and single pieces and multiple pieces, one meter, and one kilometer can be produced.
5. Environmental protection
The digital printing machine is mainly controlled by a computer, which can be distributed according to needs. There is no need for water and color paste in the printing process, no waste of dyes, and no waste of water. When printing and dyeing equipment, there is no noise pollution and green production is realized.
