Atlas Achieving perfection

Studio

 

Our studio has over 25 years experience in the dye sublimation industry, working with many high profile companies and brands.

 

Using industry standard equipment and software, we take your design or idea and produce a full colour electronic approval sheet showing how the design will look. If there is a situation where the design may produce incorrectly due to limitations of the process, our studio will offer an alternative layout or advise on the best way to achieve the desired result.

 

Once the design is approved print ready files are produced for either flexographic printing rollers or digital dye sublimation.

Colour Matching

 

Working from with a number of base dyes we provide a highly specialist colour matching service ensuring colour consistency regardless of the run length. It is a manual, highly skilled process but our experience has shown that this is the best way to achieve long run colour continuity. We match to popular colouring systems as well as swatches that you may need us to match to.

Transfer Paper Printing

 

We produce multi colour decorative transfer papers from 15mm to 220mm, flood coat single colour ‘uni-papers’ generally in 160mm and 250mm widths and digital papers in widths from 105mm to 420mm. Full specifications will be added to the site soon.

 

Unlike other print processes such as screen printing, transfer paper delivers very low rates of waste because the quality variants (consistent colour, image position, accurate image repeat lengths) are controlled by us so that they are not a problem for you.

 

Conventional decorative paper provides fixed length (repeat) designs in 1 to 4 colours. This paper is produced on our flexographic machines where each colour is printed onto the paper by a separate printing unit. This means that for each design it is necessary to produce a print plate or laser engraved roller for each colour. Generally, this process is used for long runs such as sports trims.

Uni-paper is a solid colour transfer paper which can be used as a replacement to dyeing fabrics, it is widely used in the woven label trade to create the base colour for the labels and also packaging ribbons. Our uni-paper replaces the need for manufacturers to keep stock of pre dyed yarns on beams. Fabric is coloured as and when needed in a clean and environmentally friendly process.

 

Digital now covers everything else! The process uses ink jet printers to ‘spray’ colour onto the transfer paper which is subsequently heat transferred onto fabric. Unlike the conventional process we have no restrictions in either design length or the number of colours produced in a design. Our longest repeat length so far has been 35 metres and this digital process allows us to apply long messages to fabrics such as the extending barrier (queue) systems.

 

The Atlas heat transfer product conforms to all health and safety legislation, is environmentally friendly and can be safely disposed of after use with no restrictions.

 

The Atlas sublimation system provides a high quality, consistent print process with very high levels of light and wash fastness, all of our dyes comply with the oeko-tex standard.

Fabric Heat Setting

 

Most narrow fabrics, especially elastic and webbing, will require heat setting prior to printing in order to remove any ‘movement’ due to shrinkage when printing. All of the rotary heat transfer calendars use a friction system where the transfer paper and the fabric are ‘pulled’ through the machine under pressure.

 

Without heat setting, the fabric could shrink while passing through the heat transfer machine but the transfer paper would not. The result would be a ‘blurred’ image on the fabric.

 

Fabrics are fed through the heat transfer calendar at a high temperature and will set the fabric, it will remove any shrinkage, which might cause ‘blurring’ of the print, and it will improve the surface of the fabric.

 

We also provide a stand-alone heat setting service to improve the finish and handle of dyed or un-dyed narrow fabrics.

Heat Transfer Printing

 

Atlas use two 24” Bates transfer calendar machines to provide both a heat setting facility together with the application of transfer papers onto customer’s own fabrics on a one off or contract basis, holding customer’s stocks in-house. We maintain print records and samples for all designs so that batch to batch colour matching can always be checked

 

Before starting any orders for fabric printing or heat setting please ensure that we have processed samples of your fabric and reported back on any detrimental issues such as shrinkage or cockling under heat. We will reply with a report detailing any potential problems (i.e. shrinkage) so that the correct amount of fabric can be supplied).

 

We print onto 100% polyester and some nylon mixtures. Our operating temperatures are normally 205 – 220° C so the process is not suitable for polypropylene, acetates and other synthetic fabrics with a low melting point.

 

Please ensure that any joins in the fabric are either sewn or joined with a heat resistant tag or tape. We cannot offer any pre-inspection of fabric and we run the risk of causing significant damage to the machine if plastic joins melt on the bowl and/or blanket

 

Fabric is normally returned loose in boxes unless agreed prior to production.

HeatTransfer

Digital Print

 

Our digital production uses inkjet technology, just like your desktop printer, to apply heat transfer inks onto paper in a roll to roll process.

 

The ability to produce unlimited colour combinations in short production runs together with extra long design repeat lengths and low setup costs are some of the attractive advantages brought by our digital systems.

 

Still operating mainly within product development and prototyping, the digital systems allow customers to explore print possibilities.