New arrivals at the MTex UK Digital Textile Printing Demo Centre

IndPrint

Last week saw the arrival of two new digital textile printers at their new home in the MTex Technologies Demonstration Centre in the heart of the Midlands, on the Derbyshire and Leicestershire border. They are the first in a suite of dedicated textile solutions being installed in the centre, the company’s new base for UK and Ireland demonstration and testing for the sign and display market, as well as the home textile and fashion industries.

Unlike many print solutions in the sign market that were designed for production banner and vinyl printing with temporary textile printing capabilities, MTex only manufactures dedicated digital textile printing and finishing equipment and understands the process from fibre to fabric.

UK managing director Stewart Bell said, ‘We are delighted at the arrival of the first two printers in our demonstration centre – the MTex 1800 and the 5032Pro. They will be followed by the TurboSub and 500C for fashion fabrics later in the year. The MTex PAD, Steamer and W&D are also being prepared for shipment to the UK so companies with a need for pre-coating fabrics, steaming and post print washing and drying will be able to put them through their paces. When all the machines are in, we will have the most comprehensive demonstration suite of direct to textile digital printers in the UK. It’s a very exciting time to be involved with digital textile printing and it is our aim to help sign and display makers and creators, interior designers and fashion houses to harness the power of digital using our equipment and bolster the strong and lasting heritage of textile printing in the UK.’

The MTex printers, using direct disperse inks, all have in line heat fixation that only kicks in when you are printing and within a metre, the colour is revealed as it uses a single path method. There is no need to keep it hot like traditional calenders, using up energy and money even if it is not in use. Because of the nature of direct to textile all in one printing and fixation, there is no waste dye sub or protection paper involved and the potential for spoilage or damage is virtually nil.

The MTex 1800 was the first to be installed at the centre and is aimed at medium sized display graphic and home textile companies that want a machine that will print dedicated textiles with punchy colours. It is 1.8 metres wide and prints extremely high quality vibrant colours at up to 48 square metres per hour and has a two litre bulk ink system for continuous printing.

The 5032Pro has also been installed ready for demonstration and customer testing. This machine is a 3.2 metre wide direct to textile printer with integrated fixation and runs at 58 square metres per hour. It is the second generation version of the 3.2 metre wide MTEex 5032. Different fabrics can have varying tensions across the roll, so MTex developed an electro-pneumatic feeding system that handles the challenges inherent with printing onto textiles with ease, and prevents errors occurring during the print process. The feed and take up system has compressed air shafts which can now handle bigger and heavier rolls of material than the previous model and is married with the uninterrupted bulk ink feed system for continuous printing. This printing solution will enable users to produce a wide range of fabrics for a huge variety of applications including soft signage, interior displays, home textiles, flags, retail point of sale, lightboxes and more.