What is Digital Apparel Printing?
AnaJet Inc. develops and manufactures digital apparel printers. This class of equipment is used for decorating garments and other fabric items such as aprons, bags, head gears, pillow cases and other decorative items. Direct to garment apparel printers provide a clean, easy and convenient way to decorate garments, and it replaces conventional screen printing or silkscreen processes. The technology comparison page provides comparative advantages of various garment decoration methods.
How to Choose a Digital Apparel Printer?
•Good and Consistent Ink Flow
Ink flow and the need for excessive amount of head cleaning are common problems in many direct to garment printers on the market today. Good ink flow requires high quality inks, closed-loop ink delivery system, and ink supply system which is sealed from open air. Such systems maintain the necessary internal pressure balance and prevents inks from touching open air in the ink bottles - essential factors for good ink flow. That is why all major OEM inkjet printer makers use closed loop ink delivery systems. Some "direct to garment" printers using open ink bottles may not provide consistent ink delivery.
Experience AnaJet's ink delivery system to appreciate better ink flow. Its bulk ink cartridges also provide a convenient way to replenish inks, avoiding the mess of adding inks to open ink bottles. Avoid contamination and ink flow problems with the choice of a bulk ink cartridge based system.
• Ink Volume Control and Single Pass Print
The second important feature to look for is if the printer has sufficient ink flow to provide full ink saturation in a single pass print. Some "direct to garment" printers do not have enough ink flow volume, and require over-printing to get sufficient inks on the garment. Over-printing can lower print quality and slows production.
AnaJet has 15 levels of ink volume control. Its high ink flow rate assures a single pass print for a wide range of fabrics, even for sweat shirts. Single pass prints naturally mean higher production speed.
• Quality of Inks and Color Vibrancy
Higher quality inks mean good ink flow and high optical density for color vibrancy. Resistance to repeated wash and sun-light is also important. Ink formulation is a complex science. In depth evaluation of ink quality is essential.
AnaBright Inks have superior optical density providing noticeably higher color vibrancy. AnaBright Inks also have excellent durability. Printed white shirts will match the longevity of screen printed shirts. Printed black shirts will last as long or longer than any competitive printers.
• Efficiency of Loading and Unloading Garments
The most time consuming part of digital apparel printing is loading of garments. Frame-based garment loading is a very time consuming and cumbersome method. Look for a table based system like AnaJet.
• Printer Maintenance and Ambient Humidity
All direct to garment inkjet printers, like large format printers, require regular maintenance such as printhead and maintenance station cleaning. They also require ambient humidity to be above a certain level. You should research carefully to see if the printer requires excessive amount of maintenance and head cleaning. AnaJet with its closed loop ink delivery system will perform well, given the required maintenance which will compare well with any other direct to garment printers.
There many be many other factors to consider based on your specific production needs. But focus on the above essential factors in evaluating an apparel printer.
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