Vastex International has announced that the LittleRed X1D dryer, originally available with a 46cm wide conveyor belt, now comes in a 76cm width to offer “greater flexibility to the small shop operator”.
Designed to match the output of DTG printing systems, the LittleRed X1D-30 features a 61cm wide heater that is said to cure up to 29 garments per hour when DTG-printed with digital white ink at two minutes dwell time. Screen-printed garments are said to cure at rates to 65 per hour for water-based inks or discharge, and 150 per hour for plastisols.
Mark Vasilantone, president of Vastex, said: “By curing DTG-printed garments in an infrared conveyor dryer, the garments avoid the flattened, ironed-on appearance and halo associated with heat-pressing of printed images.
“The dryer can also be employed to dry the pretreatment, relegating the heat press to flattening of raised fibres prior to printing with a one second ‘touch’ per garment.”
As standard, the LittleRed X1D-30 is equipped with features found on the company’s larger DTG-capable dryers, including an adjustable belt-to-heater clearance to accommodate bulky items, a dual digital PID temperature controller accurate to ±1°C, and an X-Series conveyor belt roller tracking system with Teflon-coated fibreglass belt. It also has a powered exhaust to remove moisture and air contaminants at a rate of 5 CMM while cooling the housing and controls.
Fully expandable, the X1D-30 can also accommodate additional heating chambers and belt extensions as business needs grow, added the company. The heaters of all Vastex dryers carry a 15-year warranty, and feature closely spaced coils that provide “high-density, medium-wavelength infrared heat for maximum cure speed without the cold spots or under curing associated with conventional units”.
