Screen Printing - October/November 2017 - 36

T30 OVAL

IQ-OVAL

MANUFACTURER

Flora Digital

MHM

YEAR INTRODUCED

2016

2016/2017

APPROX. NUMBER OF
INSTALLATIONS WORLDWIDE

PRICE

$65,000 (DTG unit only)

$834,000 (includes oval with DTG station)

MAX. PRINT AREA

35 x 43 in.

24 x 47 in.

COMPATIBLE SCREEN PRINTING INKS

Plastisol, HSA acrylic, silicone

Plastisol, water-based

INK HEADS (BRAND)

Ricoh Gen5

Ricoh Gen4L

INK HEADS (NUMBER)

8-12

48 (small), 64 (medium), 80 (large)

COLOR SCHEME

CMYK

RESOLUTION

300 x 605 to 605 x 1200 dpi

300 x 300 to 600 x 1200 dpi

APPROX. IMAGING TIME
(8.5 X 11-IN. IMAGE)

10 seconds @ 600 x 1200 dpi

6 seconds @ 600 x 1200 dpi

MACHINE COMPATIBILITY

Flora oval machine

MHM iQ-Oval

question of how many CMYK prints could be delivered and at
time that production wide-format systems were offered, most
what price, eventually leaving screen printing squeezed between
substrate-related challenges had been addressed, and that's
inkjet at the low end and offset at the top.
not yet so with DTG printing. Depending on their skill and the
In contrast, CMYK is not predominant in garment decoratechnology they use, not all DTG users in the field are able to
tion; in fact, many shops choose to avoid true process-color
get good results when printing synthetics. Most DTG work also
screen printing altogether because of its difficulty. Instead,
requires the garment to be pretreated. (Kornit has addressed
printers have put their energy into experimenting with special
this on the Vulcan with an inline pretreatment station, while
effects to create innovative looks that, in turn, resonate with
Aeoon offers an offline unit that can reportedly treat close to
consumers and command premium prices. That's not to
1000 shirts per hour.)
disparage the excellent imaging capabilities of today's DTG
Another key difference is that by the time wide-format inkjet
technology - from a screen printer's perspective, photorealtechnology developers set their sights on displacing screen
ism is itself a special effect, one they cannot come close to
printing, print buyers in segments like retail graphics had
replicating with their traditional equipment.
already been conditioned to design virtually all of their work
But imagine what might have
in CMYK. In hindsight, although
happened in commercial graphinline multicolor screen lines
ics if effects like DayGlo neons or
enabled printers to slash their
sparkle metallics had been fashturnaround times and remain comionable 10 years ago. The reality
petitive for many years longer than
is that not all spot colors can be
industry analysts had predicted,
reproduced by CMYK, and many
the shift to four-color process
special effects are beyond the limmoved the battle against other
its of the technology and likely to
printing processes to "enemy turf."
remain so, at least in a production
Screen printing's unique ability to
setting. Neons, for example, may
deliver an unlimited number of
someday be achievable via inkjet,
spot colors, dramatic clear coats,
but that's unlikely with dimensional
and special effects not reproduceffects such as high density.
ible by any other means was
The ability to combine finely detailed digital graphics with
Finally, garment decoration
virtually forgotten by print buyers. special effects such as the glitter on this shirt is unique to
hybrid printing. Courtesy of ROQ.
presents several unique challenges
Job quotes increasingly became a
36

SCREENPRINTING

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - October/November 2017