Solvent-based dye sub solves the problems of water-based and oil-based inks.

April 17, 2006
Hilord introduced its new dye sublimation ink for solvent printers at the ISA show April 6, 2006. It's the first ink of its kind that can be used in all solvent printers without the worry of head strikes and drying problems known for ink with water-based compositions. Hilord inks were featured when Keundo introduced the SupraQ 3300 DS printer. Hilord showed the solvent type dye sublimation ink working in a Roland solvent printer as well. The printers exhibited the new system nicely using Beaver paper in Acworth, GA and transfer fabric from Fisher textiles in Indian Trail, NC. The show booth also contained a large transfer press from Practix Manufacturing in Acworth, GA that demonstrated the systems ability to work for grand format printing. The solvent based system is also available for other solvent printers, such as the Scitex XLJet and Mimaki JV3 printers.

"This is the obvious future of ink jet dye sublimation printing," says Donald H. Balbinder, President and CEO of Hilord Chemical Corp. "The interest from users, distributors and printer manufacturers at the show was extremely positive." A statement issued from Keundo says: "As a reliable Korean printer manufacturer, Keundo Technology Co., Ltd. provides top quality grand-format inkjet printers. All of its leading products, ranging from top grade SupraQ3300Pro to economical SupraQ3300S, can be easily interchangeable from a solvent inkjet printer to a solvent dye sublimation printer using the well known inks from Hilord Chemical Corp. When used with the designated Hilord inks, the printers offer brighter colors in fabric with no harmful solvent fume emission. Also, with limited applications, the printers are capable of printing direct on flag materials. No wonder why the Keundo printers are considered the industry's leading and the most versatile grand format printer at the most competitive price.

"We are very excited. This ink system has raised the bar for quality of Dye Sublimation” says Marco Alverez, from Fabric Images, Inc. Eligin, IL, who bought the SupraQ DS from the show floor. “It has the best blacks and a rich color gamut. It worked right off the bat and we were able to run production immediately. Because of the drying, we see a great potential for direct to fabric applications.”

Why use Solvent?
Water-based dye sublimation inks provide excellent print density and are compatible with many printers. Water-based inks printers do not require venting, emit little odor, and have minimal environmental hazards. However, one of the primary disadvantages of using water-based inks is that it causes paper cockling when printing on water-based paper. Another disadvantage of water-based inks is that they will not work on grand format solvent printers.

An oil-based dye sublimation ink does not cause paper cockling the medium on which it is printed. Furthermore, oil-based dye sublimation inks are compatible with most grand format printers with some minor modifications to the printer components. One disadvantage, however, with such oil-based inks is that they generally exhibit a lower print density.