M&R brings the M-Link Xperience to FESPA Digital 2016

Textile printing and the technology used in this sector will be showcased and discussed at FESPA Digital 2016. The event will once again feature specialist areas dedicated to sectors of the industry including this one.

Stretching across Hall 4 and Hall 5, FESPA Textile will feature some of the major manufacturers in this sector and their respective technologies designed to help improve the output of companies in digital textile print.

One such firm that will have a presence within this specialist area of the show is M&R Companies, which will take its place on Stand G150 of Hall 1.

The company’s M-LINK direct-to-garment digital textile printer is one device currently proving popular with customers. In addition, M&R’s i-Prep technology automatically pre-treats black and coloured garments ready for direct-to-garment digital printing.

“FESPA Digital attendees are invited to bring a USB flash drive with a personal or public-domain raster-based PNG or PSD image file with transparent background―and let us show what the incomparable, award-winning M-Link X can do”, said Geoff Baxter, director of M&R’s Digital Products Division.

“The M-Link Xperience is a great way to do head-to-head comparisons among direct-to-garment printers. We’ll print a shirt using the attendee’s image file. Then the attendee can take the flash drive and M-Link-printed shirt to the booths of other digital printers and ask them for a print of the same image file. We’re certain the M-Link X print will prove to be superior in every way.”

“When we began work on M-Link, our goal was to design and build a digital printer with the highest print quality and the lowest per-print cost in the industry—all at a cost-effective price point,” said Stephen Chuddy, M&R’s Digital Division product manager, and the results exceeded all expectations: M-Links clearly have the highest print quality and the lowest per-print cost.”

The phenomenal image quality results from high-speed industrial printheads, M&R’s i-Colour RIP Software and exclusive Absolute Position Technology, DuPont Artistri BRITE inks, and print modes designed to minimize ink usage while producing printed garments that are softer, more breathable, and much closer to water-based screen printing.

The four most popular print modes are single-pass modes for printing on white, color, and black, as well as a single-pass highlight mode.

• White Print Mode prints C-M-Y-K with no underbase for use on white or light-color shirts.
• Color One-Pass Mode prints a gradated white underbase and C-M-Y-K on color shirts.
• Black One-Pass Mode prints a gradated white underbase and C-M-Y on black shirts, using the shirt’s color for black areas of the image.
• On light-color shirts with light pretreatment, Highlight Mode prints C-M-Y-K and a white highlight—but without a white underbase.

Since two white printheads are positioned ahead of the color printheads, M-Link and M-Link X are capable of printing the white and color layers in the same pass. On applicable artwork, this results in excellent images at maximum print speed.

“The one-pass modes speed up production, and the optimized RIP helps lower overall ink consumption,” said Chuddy. “In addition, M-Link and M-Link X are designed with integrated bulk ink-feed systems. This allows users to purchase ink in bulk quantities instead of being tied to expensive cartridge-based systems.”

“Our other goal was to introduce high-speed printing to cost-effective pricing,” said Baxter. “M-Link X prints superb full-size images on white shirts in an amazing 30 to 45 seconds and full-size images on dark shirts in less than a minute. And M&R’s standard M-Link prints white shirts in 45 to 60 seconds and dark shirts in two-and-a-half to three minutes—with the same outstanding image quality.

“The combination of speed, quality, and low ink cost makes M-Link X superior to direct-to-garment digital printers costing more than three times as much,” continued Baxter. “M-Link X isn’t the only printer for high quality prints. And it isn’t the only high-speed printer. However, it is the only affordable high-quality, high-speed printer. M-Link X is an incredible value.”

For more information about those companies due to attend the show, as well as the full list of speakers lined up to discuss various aspects of textile print and the wider industry, visit www.fespadigital.com. For FREE entry don’t forget to use code: ADOZ0117.