Textile Printing

Roller printing
• A technique first developed in 1783 done with
engraved metal cylinders. Each color of the
design requires a separate cylinder.
Sometimes referred to as cylinder or machine
printing.
 Roller printing
➢ Engraved roller printing is a modern continuous
printing technique developed in the late 19th and early
20th century.
➢ Until the development of rotary screen printing, it was
the only continuous technique.
➢ In this method, a heavy copper cylinder (roller) is
engraved with the print design by carving the design
into the copper.
➢ Copper is soft, so once the design is engraved, the
roller is electroplated with chrome for durability. The
print design development and color separation are
identical to that used for screen printing.
Roller printing
• B- Pressure bowl
• C- Blanket
• D- Back grey
• E- Fabric to be printed
• G- Furnisher
• F- Engraved roller
• H- Colour box
• J- Colour doctor
• K- Lint doctor
 Pattern fit
• Pattern fit from time to time is necessary.
• The fabric will be allowed to stretched and
relaxed to a minute degree between rollers.
Multicolor roller printing machine
 Disadvantages
• limit to the fabric width that can be printed
• Large design (wider width not more than 1.8 m) is not
possible
• Horizontal lines and large blotches are difficult to produce
• If back grey is used then stitch impression
• Sequence of colors printed (light colors earlier than darker)
• Higher coloring effect not possible
• Design change time is high
• Lower production in case of more colors
• Engraving of rollers is expensive
• Not suitable for short runs
 Advantages
• High production
• Upto 16 colors can be used
• Complex designs are possible
• Fine vertical lines can be produced
• Sharp lines can be produced
• Floral designs can be produced
 Stencil printing
• A method of transferring a pattern by
brushing, spraying, or squeeging ink or paint
through the open areas of a stencil cut from
thin metal or cardboard.
 Screen printing
• It is also called table printing. The following parts are used
in hand screen printing.
• Flat stable Screens “conventionally these screen fabrics
were made from silk, cotton, viscose rayon and cellulose
diacetate. But with the invention of synthetic fibers these
screens are made from polyester and nylon”.
• The Squeegee “a flexible rubber blade used to spread the
printing paste across the screen and force it through the
open areas”.
• Printing table “it is 50 to 60 yard long printing table made
from concrete or wood”.
• Woolen blanket or water proof cover like rexin.
• Print paste
 Hand Screen Printing…

➢ In hand screen printing method, the Printing is carried out on a flat, solid
table covered with a layer of resilient felt and a washable blanket
(usually coated with neoprene rubber). Heat for drying the printed fabric
may be provided either under the blanket or by hot air fans above the
table.
➢ Fabric movement or shrinkage must be avoided during printing in order
to maintain registration of the pattern.
➢ The fabric to be printed is laid on the table and stuck to the blanket
directly, using either a water-soluble adhesive or a semi-permanent
adhesive.
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 Hand screen printing
• Requirements
• Flat screen
• Squeegee
• Printing table
• Woolen or rubber blanket
• Print paste
 Advantages
• Designs are easy to transfer to screens
• Frame size can be easily varied
• Freedom to choose repeat size
• Pressure applied is much lower than roller
printing
• Texture surfaces are not crushed
• Freshness of design maintains
 Factors affecting on amount of print
paste passing through screen
1) The ‘mesh’ (threads per inch) or ‘raster’ (threads
per cm) of the screen fabric.
2) The hardness and cross-section of the squeegee
blade; a hard rubber squeegee with a sharp cross-
section is suitable for outlines, whereas a soft,
rounded blade applies more paste and is suitable
for blotches
3) The viscosity of the print paste
4) The number of squeegee strokes
5) The squeegee angle and pressure
6) The speed of the squeegee stroke
Accurate registration of print paste in
hand screen printing
➢ Before printing begins, the screens must be carefully
positioned on the fabric.
➢ The area printed by a screen must fit exactly alongside
the adjacent one, a slight overlap being preferable to a
gap.
➢ To achieve accurate registration a bracket is attached to
the frame which locates against fittings, known as
‘stops’, on a guide rail along one edge of the table.
➢ The stops are spaced exactly one screen repeat along
the whole length of the table and two adjustable
screws are also available to set the distance of the
frame from the rail.
Accurate registration of print paste in
hand screen printing
➢Repeat crosses known as ‘pitch marks’ may be
incorporated at one or both sides of the
screen and the positions of the following
screens checked against the first pitch mark.
➢Often registration marks are printed along the
selvedge. One such scheme is illustrated in
Figure as shown.
 Semi-automatic flat screen printing
• The manual process has been semi-automated by mounting the
screen in a carriage and driving the squeegee mechanically across
the screen, as shown in figure.

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 Semi automatic flat screen printing
machine
➢ Long tables, typically 20–60 m long, are used, and
some provision is usually made for drying the
printed fabric.
➢ Semi-automated flat-screen printing is still very
popular where the scale of production is not
large, or where capital investment is limited.
➢ In both hand and semi-automatic flat-screen
printing the colours are printed one after another
with time for drying, which means that the
situation approaches ‘wet-on-dry’ printing.
Thank You