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3D textile printer
Direct-to-Textile 3D Printing - Stratasys
Since its unveiling at New York Fashion Week last fall, the ability to 3D print directly onto fabric has drawn significant interest from the world of high-end fashion. Exemplified by the works of fashion designers threeASFOUR and Travis Fitch on NYFW’s catwalk, this technological milestone gave the world a preview of what fashion design could look like when combining the geometric and aesthetic freedom of 3D printing with the comfort of fabric.
Since then, Stratasys has been working closely with a number of household fashion brands to optimize its novel PolyJet Technology™ to meet the needs of modern-day apparel fabrication and make customized fashion design commercially viable.
As the company works towards this goal, Stratasys is proud to reveal today two collaborative works with esteemed fashion designers Julia Koerner and Ganit Goldstein. The works form part of Re-FREAM, a collaborative research project funded by the European Union bringing together artists, designers, engineers and scientists to co-explore the use of technology and 3D printing for the future of fashion.
ARID Collection – Julia Koerner.
At today’s virtual ARS Electronica Festival, Koerner unveiled her latest collection: ARID. The works are built on research focusing on digital processes from 2D to 3D for nature-inspired geometries and the connectivity and adaptability of textiles with multi-color 3D-printed parts – with an underlying focus on material efficiency and sustainability.
ARID amalgamates this research into a collection of 38 3D-printed parts that can be combined to form a full-dress, or cascade into a number of different looks and combinations. Using Stratasys’ PolyJet Technology, the digital designs were 3D printed directly onto sustainable fabrics in vivid colors, creating an enigmatic shimmer effect when the garment is in motion, while maintaining the comfort and wearability of fabric garments.
The collection also allows for the easy adaption of personalized sizes through modified 3D printed connectors, which are derived from 3D scans of the wearer.
There is no sewing involved in the final assembly of the parts. Instead, all seams are connected with 3D printed joinery, which is the first time 3D printed connectors have ever been used in the assembly of textiles.
Customized Design – Ganit Goldstein.
Goldstein teamed up with Stratasys to achieve her mission of customized fashion design by combining craft methods with direct-to-textile 3D printing to produce a Japanese-style dress (see video here).
“Looking at the fashion world today, I want to introduce a new way of manufacturing – moving away from mass production to customized design,” says Goldstein. “3D printing has always offered the potential to personalize design in ways not possible before, but to truly create a new way to manufacture requires a new kind of textile.
My goal is to create a new hybrid world of crafts and multi-color 3D printing – connecting past, new and future techniques to evolve fashion design.”
Goldstein spent a year in Japan to learn interweaving and was inspired by Asian craft embroidery and textile painting. Her kimono design follows the Japanese ‘ikat’ coloring method. While Japanese embroidery is the soul of the project, direct-to-textile multi-color 3D printing is at the heart of it. The kimono follows an algorithm that is composed on the 3D body scan and translated to the print surface during the printing process.
For the first time in 3D printed fashion, textiles can be leveraged as the skeleton of the garment. This allows for extra movement within the fabric, but also enables full gain between the capacity and material thickness that is printed on top of the fabric. This enables designers to bring unique designs to market that are not possible in any other way. It also challenges Stratasys to take the technology to places it’s not been before to support the emerging demand for direct-to-textile printing.
“In fashion, it’s important that we continually optimize and evolve to introduce new design forms,” says Goldstein. “During the past year, I experimented with numerous different fabrics and technologies to incorporate 3D printing within textiles. Achieving this milestone takes us away from 2D design and opens up a world of wearable 3D garments.”
Koerner and Goldstein leveraging Stratasys’ direct-to-textile printing technology exemplifies Re-FREAM’s goal of fully digitizing design workflows – from design through to production. In doing so, it demonstrates the possibility for localized manufacturing and mass customization – regarded by many as the future of fashion.
As Goldstein attests to in her video, direct-to-textile 3D printing has the potential to be a game-changer for the fashion industry. With the commercial interest in this innovative technique already at an advanced stage and pilot-testing underway, it may not be long before potential becomes reality.
To find out more about the latest developments from Stratasys in design and fashion, check out the latest podcast from The Artian featuring Stratasys Creative Director for Art, Design, and Fashion, Naomi Kaempfer.
3D printing on fabric - Art and new techniques
3D printing on fabric: an innovative technique
3D p3D printing always surprises us with its wide range of applications: here, we’ll discover a new technique to create shapes. It’s an innovative way to design: algorithms are used to generate patterns of curves that, through tensions, develop structures.
Design is always influenced by manufacturing, and the change in a process also changes the way to think about shapes that can be reached. The progress of technology permits to rethink of esthetics and creates new cultural values.
Can 3D printers print on fabric?
3D printers can print on fabric, and It is effortless to do! You can easily create new shapes or give a new life to your old fabrics with any printer you have.
Here are some tips to print and some case studies from which you can get inspiration.
How to 3D print on fabric
3D printing on fabric is easy, and it doesn’t require many other additional components. The only things you need are pins and, in some cases, a platform to raise the printing bed. In this workshop, students learned how to print on textile with their small printers, Delta WASP 2040 PRO. Trying small pieces before shifting to a larger scale is really useful.
The more difficult part is the design process: when you print you don’t see the final result until you release the tensions of the pins on the textile. This can be really exciting, for the continous experiments and the discovery of new shapes. It’s a totally different way to design.
The textile needs to be stretched on the bed and fixed well to print the layer of curves in the same way. If it is not tested regularly, It can lead to deformed geometry.
When the melted filament is deposited on the fabric, it merges with the material, and with the cooling, they are united forever.
Click here to see the full workshop article
Fashion industry: 3D printed clothes
We will see how 3D printing is revolutionizing the fashion industry. It’s a new technology in this field, so not many people know how and why to use it. Plus, the design of the clothes is complex: it requires knowledge of 3D modeling and 3D printing. But it’s also a new way to visualize the artwork more realistically.Until now, it has been confined to Haute Couture, artists, and passionate hobbyists.
As we expected, the knowledge and enthusiasm are spreading worldwide, and there are many examples also in the mass fashion market. Other than accessories, 3D printing is used more for shoes, bags, and functional clothes. Also, NASA has its research laboratory where scientists study how to upgrade spacesuits with 3D printing.
Flexible filament
The materials that suit the creation process of 3D printed clothes are those with flexible features. TPU is the most used filament to create objects that need to be in contact with skin because it adapts its shape to body curves. So it is widespread in medical and fashion fields. For example, Balenciaga released new pair of 3d printed decolletè, all made in transparent TPU.
Haute couture: Iris Van Herpen
Iris Van Herpen is for sure one of the most iconic example of 3d printed artworks in fashion industry. Her stunning dresses are famous worldwide, worn by actors and singers in gran galà and other important events. Her creations are unique pieces, like sculptures.
She has always combined art and technology, inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci mindset. Nature is her biggest counselor and all colors and shapes combinations come from animals and plants. This interest in nature and eco-systems leads Iris to care about sustainability and the purpose to create pieces environment-friendly.
Fashion and sustainability
Sustainability is one of our generation’s battles: choosing the suitable materials to produce in a more respectful way for the planet. Fashion is under pressure for the continuous turnover of new clothes production every season.
Fast fashion is one of the problems of these times, so everybody is now focused on trying to reduce the impact of the industry. 3D printing is a valid partner to face it because it permits avoiding waste of materials and can use recycled materials.
A student creates her 3D printed fashion line
Milan-based student of Politecnico di Milano, Chiara Giusti, has designed and produced a clothing line for her University project. She printed her collection at Superforma, Milan WASP Hub, using WASP’s large-scale 3D printer 3MT.
Chiara aims to create fashion and comfortable clothes, adding complex 3D printed patterns to textiles.
This example demonstrates that 3D printing clothes can be done by everyone simply at home (with a little bit of practice).
Art, design and architecture
3D printing on textile is interesting to create something to wear, but it can also be a way to build remarkable structures and furniture pieces. The rigidity that 3D printed curves bring to the textile creates a steady system that can sustain itself.
The shapes created on fabric are also interesting for furniture pieces like lamps. In these examples, created by Drag and Drop Design studio, emerges the structure and the articulate shape achievable with this process.
This large-scale piece exemplifies how 3D printing on fabric can also be applied to significant structures and challenge how we build installations and structures. This effect of soft spikes comes from the tensions of printed layers on the textile.
Large scale 3D printer
Delta WASP 3MT INDUSTRIAL 4.0All these masterpieces have been created with the 3MT 3D printer.
This is the best printer for creating medium-large pieces thanks to its wide printing bed area of 1m in diameter.
Textile printer for printing ribbons, t-shirts
Textile t-shirt printer is not cheap, multifunctional and implies professional and large-scale use - otherwise it will not pay off. The fabric, or more precisely, the clothes on which the image is applied, has a number of features that make conventional technologies useless.
Large Format Printer
Image Transfer Feature
Typically, printers designed to work with a fairly large surface area can only transfer images onto flat materials. Some relief is allowed - no more than 5 mm, but a homogeneous solid structure is definitely required.
Clothing definitely does not meet these requirements. Features of working with it are as follows:
- T-shirt is most often made of mixed fabric, in which there is a proportion of cotton and artificial fibers. In addition, the material implies a certain weaving.
Accordingly, the fabric is heterogeneous, which means that the printing device must somehow take this into account; - clothes loose on the table and worn have different sizes. Simply put, the fabric stretches, which means that the image is deformed. The transfer must take this into account;
- different pieces of clothing are subjected to different tensions and configurations. If on a conventional device the drawing is transferred to a conditionally rectangular fragment, then more complex outlines must be taken into account;
- fabric absorbs paint in a completely different way. In addition, the latter must be safe for health and endure numerous washings. Accordingly, only special inks can be used.
This textile printer fulfills these requirements for printing T-shirts and ribbons.
Printing a T-shirt
General Operation
Textile printers are produced by a small number of companies. The most famous include Epson, Konika Minolta, Cornit.
The cheapest models can be found in the Brother line. Epson produces only a couple of models in this direction, but it is known that many devices produced by it - the same Epson 1410, can be used as a base for a flatbed machine for printing on T-shirts.
T-shirt textile printer
The device has a complex structure and is very demanding to maintain. If such equipment is necessary, you should weigh your options in advance.
- The device from Epson, Rosprinter, Brother needs to be looked after. For example, printheads should be cleaned after each use.
- Align the heads before starting each next cycle. Otherwise, one of the colors may be unused. Before the main print, it is recommended to do a test.
- Textile printers from Rosprinter, Cornit or Epson are equally whimsical. Make sure service and repair is possible.
- Each procedure requires customization. What it is? To obtain a high-quality image, you need to specify the contrast, white value, brightness, shadows, and so on.
- The machine must be located in a well-lit area so that if a defect appears on the clothing, it is immediately noticeable.
Digital direct textile printing
Varieties of textile printers
Different technologies are used for different materials. Accordingly, devices for working with T-shirts and ribbons operate on the basis of different technologies. What it is?
The problem is the transfer of the image. So-called direct printing is possible, that is, direct application to the fabric, and transfer through an intermediate carrier. These methods have their advantages and disadvantages.
Direct printing on textile printer
- Direct printing on a textile printer - digital. The textile base is impregnated with a special water-soluble paint. During heat treatment under pressure, the paint polymerizes and is firmly fixed on the tape or T-shirt. The device consists of 2 devices: the direct printer itself and a thermal press.
First, they get a layout of the drawing - they develop it on a computer, they download it. Then the clothes are placed in the machine. The paint according to the specified scheme is applied to the fabric and impregnates it. Then the thing is transferred to the tablet heat press. The T-shirt is pressed against the heating plate, the temperature rises to 220-250 C. In such conditions, the paint is firmly fixed on the fabric.
Textile printing
These machines include, for example, Konika Minolta Nassenger Pro 60, which can be seen in the photo. Other famous brands are HIX, Insta HTP.
- Sublimation machines - or thermal transfer machines. This method assumes an intermediate carrier. The design is first applied to sublimation paper. Paper does not absorb ink, but does not allow them to spread. Then the product is placed in a tablet thermal press, where under the action of high temperature and pressure the paper burns out, and the paint is in the fabric.
The thermal transfer method is more suitable for synthetic fabrics: ink is absorbed much better on such fibers. On cotton, the image gradually fades and is washed off after each wash. The representative of the thermal transfer unit is Epson 1410. Also, such models can be found at Rosprinter.
Epson printer
- Stencil method - to transfer the image, first create a series of stencils. Each of them is designed for parts of the same color. Fragments are printed on special paper and processed with photographic emulsion. The textile ribbon printer most often works on this principle.
In the stencil machine, the pattern is transferred to a frame with a mesh base, textiles are stretched onto the table in the machine. A stencil with ink is placed on top, which is forced through the small cells of the grid. Each paint is in its own section and is pressed separately. Devices can be manual, automatic or semi-automatic. After transferring the pattern, the product must be dried so that the paint is absorbed and fixed.
The video demonstrates the operation of the device from Rosprinter.
Souvenir, textile printer
UV flatbed printer is designed to print
on a wide range of materials andobjects of different heights,
namely:lighters, notebooks, flash drives, business cards.
Printing materials forare plexiglass, glass, plastics, wood, MDF, composite materials, leather, wax, paper
and many more.
UV printers are widely used in the advertising industry, in souvenir production. Due to its low cost and versatility, the UV printer can significantly expand the range of services for both large advertising agencies and beginner printing houses.
Small format UV printer prints with UV curable ink in CMYK+White+Varnish.
UV inkhas a high degree of adhesion to most materials, repeating complex surface irregularities,
and curvatureup to 2mm.
If necessary,can be printed with
varnish anda three-dimensional effect from 1mm high can be created,
anda glossy varnish effect is created. It is possible to print
with effect3D,
and, such as transparent film, glass, plexiglass.
For start-up advertising agencies and industries, we recommend the A4UV UV Printer. The printer is capable of direct printing on any materials and products up to 5mm high and up to 180×300mm in size.
Possessing a relatively low print speed compared to more expensive counterparts, the printer is able to print with high quality, typical for expensive Japanese and German printers. UV printer A4UV comes with professional WhiteRip software and a starter set of ink 6 jars of 250 ml.
The image printed on the UV printer dries instantly, thanks to the UV LED lamp, which works
in automatic mode -that is, turning on.
LED lampis cooled by water pumped by water pump
with flow sensor.
Service life ofLEDs
not less than 30000 hours.Thus, the printed image is ready immediately after printing is completed
for sale,no need for
post-press drying or post-press processing.
