Screen Printing - October/November 2017 - 37

digital Squeegee

victOryOne Hybrid
digital PrintHead

Paradigm ii

rOq Hybrid

M&R Companies

Kornit

ROQ Digital Solutions

2017

2016

2012

2017

3 (beta)

> 40

n/a

11 (beta)

TBD

not provided

16 x 20 in.

21.7 x 27.6 in.

15 x 19.5 in.

29.5 x 35.4 in.

HSA, urethane, water-based

Plastisol, discharge

ROQ Micropigment screen printing base

Kyocera KJ4B

Ricoh Gen5

Spectra Polaris

Fujifilm Dimatix

8-12

CMYK

Max. 900 x 1200 dpi

Max. 600 dpi

400 x 600 to 600 x 1200 dpi

5 seconds @ 900 x 1200 dpi

10 seconds @ 900 x 1200 dpi

18 seconds @ n/a

8 seconds @ 600 x 800 dpi

Gauntlet III, Challenger III, Stryker

VictoryOne

n/a

All ROQ automatic presses

for inkjet where white ink is concerned. Printing white proved
to be a hurdle for wide-format inkjet OEMs as well, and was an
important milestone in the development of UV flatbed printers. But those devices didn't have to achieve opacity on highly
absorptive, often dark-colored substrates. Ironically, at roughly
the same time that many screen printers were learning how to
print thinner underbase whites to gain better control of their
production and provide garments that were more comfortable
to wear, DTG developers faced the opposite challenge: how to
get adequate opacity on a dark background with a process that
laid down just a fraction of the ink volume.
DTG technology has been capable of printing sufficiently
opaque whites for many years now, without the stiff hand that
screen printing can be prone to, especially when not done well.
But it takes more ink, which brings time and expense into the
equation. Many DTG developers employ multiple white printheads in order to achieve these thicker ink deposits faster, but
on most systems, printing on dark garments still slows the process down. (The Vulcan is an exception, with quoted speeds of
up to 250 garments per hour regardless of the shirt color.) And
at any print speed, the additional ink increases the per-piece
cost, which can be a limiting factor as the run sizes go up.

Today's Hybrids
The concept behind hybrid printing is simple and hasn't
fundamentally changed since the first Paradigm units were
marketed five years ago. Instead of thinking in terms of one
technology versus another, the idea is to use each process
to its strengths. (Note: The charts accompanying this article

provide basic specifications on the hybrid lines available in
mid-2017. One additional manufacturer, the Italian company
Tek-Ind, exhibited the Alfa Digital hybrid press at FESPA 2017,
but did not respond to requests for information.)
All hybrid print lines include an inkjet station that takes the
place of one of the printheads on a carousel or oval automatic
screen press. These DTG stations print in CMYK only, not
white; instead, jobs are configured so that one or more underbase colors are screen printed and flashed before the platens
advance to the DTG unit. After the CMYK digital inks are
printed, additional screens can be used to print highlight or spot
colors, special-effect inks, adhesives for flock or foil application, and more. Then the finished shirts are put through a conveyor dryer, just as with a conventional screen line. Often, the
line will be supplied with an interface that allows both the DTG
and screen heads to be run from the master print controller.
Assuming that the underbase covers all of the design areas
where the CMYK ink will be applied, hybrid printing eliminates the need to pretreat the garment; the print goes onto the
underbase, not the garment itself. Printing the underbase via
screen instead of DTG reduces ink costs and eliminates the
speed of printing the white ink as a production consideration.
It also reduces the amount of fluid being applied to the shirts,
which can facilitate faster drying times. In most situations, at
least four conventional screens are eliminated, further reducing costs and simplifying the job setup. The number of flash
stations also goes down.
Hybrid printing presents an interesting combination of benefits that differ from those that commercial graphics printers
OctOber/nOvember 2017

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