Page 143 - Industrial Cutting of Textile Materials

130 Industrial Cutting of Textile Materials

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(such as marking (MRK) option by Pathfinder ). Pen holder can be equipped with
standard ballpoint pen, felt-tip marker, or chalk. Pen tools are electrically or pneumat-
ically driven.

9.3.7.2 Inkjet marking

An inkjet printer may be mounted on the cutter for more involved marking require-
ments with a lot of texts. Different colour marking/printing can be performed on
plastic overlay or directly on the cut components with various fast-drying inks fitting
to different materials and also for nonabsorbent surfaces and highly textured and
rough materials that can't be marked with a pen or adhesive labels. Inkjet marking is
faster than pen marking, and it also may be wipe- and wear-resistant depending on
the ink used.
The components are marked automatically either before or after the cutting pro-
cess. For simpler and less productive cutters, marking tools are fixed in the same
cutting head together with other tools. More productive cutters perform cutting and
marking at separate work zones by a marking toolhead fixed on a separate gantry.
Depending on the spreading and cutting system used, marking can be performed also
on the spreading table, on the spreading conveyor after spreading, or on a buffer ta-
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ble/conveyor (JetPRO by Eastman , inkjet printing system (IJP) by Pathfinder , and
others).
9.3.7.3 Airbrush marking
Airbrush marking is used in applications where contactless marking is essential. The
ink is fed from a reservoir mounted on the toolhead. Air pressure sends the ink to
a spray head and onto the material. Variety of inks and paints can be used and are
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particularly useful for marking irregular or rough surfaces (EasyMark by Eastman ,
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Airbrush (ABR) by Pathfinder , and others).
9.3.7.4 Adhesive labels
An adhesive label printing and permanent or nonpermanent placing on the compo-
nents is one more marking option. Self-adhesive labels suiting customer's require-
ments may be printed by a off-load label printer in the take-off area of the cutter. Then,
an operator manually fixes the labels on the cut component surface or plastic overlay
unloading the components. More productive cutters use label printers integrated in the
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cutting head (LabelPRO by Eastman , Label Modul by Eurolaser , and ‘Cut Collect
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Assistanť by Gemini ). The cutter can also use fully automated labelling system that
is fixed on a separate gantry. The system interfaces with any CAD system to generate
labels; a label printer prints and fixes the labels before component cutting (‘SLS3
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Stack Labeling System’, ‘Joker 380’ by Morgan Tecnics , ‘Automatic Labeller 908’
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by IMA SPA , and ‘P-LAB’ by Shima Seiki ) (see Fig. 9.16) or after it (‘PostPrinť
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by Lectra ). Label data can be barcoded or printed with multiple fonts.
33 https://www.eurolaser.com