VISUAL IMPACT: BALL & DOGGETT
Ball & Doggett had a busy stand at Visual Impact, with solutions from partners Metamark, Kornit, HP, Roland DG and its turnkey Eclipse DTF solution all shown at the expo.
In addition Poli-Tape and eProductivity Software, which Ball & Doggett represents, had their own stands right next door to Ball & Doggett’s.
Metamark was launching its new MIA architectural film, which the company says can be applied to any substrate, such as doors, a locker a kitchen, even a hotel room. There are currently 27 designs ranging from wood to metal, which will grow to around 50.
The company says MIA will dramatically reduce the cost for makeovers, meaning for instance rather than replacing a kitchen it can instead be covered in the MIA media, or rather than ripping out an entire hotel room and putting it into a skip, you can actually use resurface and give it a second, third or fourth life. It also means there is no loss of income for the client, as resurfacing could be done in a day, rather than the time it takes to replace.
It comes in 50 meter rolls, which are 1.2 metres wide.
Ball & Doggett was also showing its turnkey DTF solution, DTF Eclipse. Sales exec Brad Creighton said, “So what we're about here is creating finished transfers to do your traditional heating onto cotton, polyester, nylon, denim, you name it. With DTF Eclipse you are open to whatever fabrics the customers bring."
The system was printing CMYK finishing with white, then applying the powder, and then curing the powder. Creighton said, “ What we've got here is quality, we're doing nine square meters an hour, and we can go up to 12 square meters in our app production. And we've done some samples under six point text and design at nine square meters an hour. So it is production orientated, quality printing.
Creighton said, “We'll also be providing end-to-end solution regarding ink, film and powder. We work with premium mills regarding film. We provide all the all the necessary needs for customers to get into production.”
The Ball & Doggett DTF Eclipse is available for a $32,000 investment in the full turnkey system, which includes rip and training, which Creighton says takes a day or two.
Poli-Tape was showing its new Poli-Flex Turbo, a versatile polyurethane transfer vinyl. It is equipped with a “special” hotmelt you can use for fast application at low temperature.
The vinyl does not contain PVC, plasticisers or heavy metals, in accordance with Oeko-Tex Standard 100 category I. It comes in 63 colours and you don't need to transfer it with an application tape, you just press it on.
Poli-Tape says one of the key reasons for its success is that it controls every aspect of the manufacturing process, nothing is bought in from third parties. It is one product that does eco solvent, solvent, and latex inks, and a specific product which is made for UV printing.
Poli-Flex Turbo is suitable for transfer to textiles like cotton, polyester, uncoated nylon, mixtures of polyester /cotton and polyester/acrylic. It can be used for lettering on T-shirts, sport & leisure wear, sport bags and promotional articles.