Finishing & Art
New laser-engraving technology offers innovative finishing technique to textile manufacturers.
By Piergiuseppe Bullio, European Correspondent
Cititex's Droide Les 01 runs continuously with a production capacity that can reach 10 meters per minute and can create open-work motifs, degraded designs or shadings.
I
taly-based Eurofiniss S.r.l. is a fabric-finishing company started by Adelio Gatti in the
early 1990s after nearly 40 years of experience in the sector. At present, Eurofiniss employs 40
people who produce approximately 60,000 meters of fabric per day in processes including coating,
calendering, sanforizing, embossing, chintzing, wrinkling, laminating and burn-out. Silk, flax,
viscose, polyester, nylon, Lycra® and fine cottons are fiber types commonly processed at
Eurofiniss. The company has approximately 600 customers that operate in a variety of application
fields. Brand names the company supplies include Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Etro. “Most of
these articles are destined to high-end apparel, for customers who supply the best-known names of
the ‘Made in Italy’ brand,” Gatti said. “We also finish fabrics for furnishings and for other
technical applications.”
In all cases, and whatever the intended end-use, conforming to customers’ needs is essential. “ Customers expect that we present ideas, innovations, variants and diversifications from conventional standards; this is because novelties in name and in deed are always demanded to stimulate, in their turn, the market with original introductions, and to act as an effective impulse for the new collections,” Gatti said.
Eurofiniss recently purchased from Italy-based Cititex S.r.l. a Droide Les 01 laser-engraving machine, a revolutionary machine selected to add to the company’s innovation capabilities.
Italy-based Eurofiniss selected Cititex's Droide Les 01 laser-engraving machine to add to its innovation capabilities.
In all cases, and whatever the intended end-use, conforming to customers’ needs is essential. “ Customers expect that we present ideas, innovations, variants and diversifications from conventional standards; this is because novelties in name and in deed are always demanded to stimulate, in their turn, the market with original introductions, and to act as an effective impulse for the new collections,” Gatti said.
Eurofiniss recently purchased from Italy-based Cititex S.r.l. a Droide Les 01 laser-engraving machine, a revolutionary machine selected to add to the company’s innovation capabilities.
Italy-based Eurofiniss selected Cititex's Droide Les 01 laser-engraving machine to add to its innovation capabilities.
Laser Technology
After a slow ITMA 2003 in England, Andrea Citi started investigating the market to ferret out some kind of machinery or instrumentation with features and performance decidedly different from the usual established finishing machines.
“At last, on the occasion of a fair in Spain, we perceived the sign of a substantial attention to a fledgling technology, which was still in the experimental stage, so much so that no specific machinery was available,” Citi said. The technology centered on an innovative finishing process using a laser.
Convinced of the effectiveness of the project, Citi decided to take the plunge, and moved from agent/seller to trading operator. He singled out laser-sector market specialists who were associated with the textile production chain through the development of the Droide Les 01. This machine already is operating at several companies — including Eurofiniss, which, like others, has just placed another order barely six months after its first order with Cititex.
At ITM 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey, the Droide Les 01 was demonstrated in cooperation with Italy-based Ferraro S.p.A., a new partner in the global project.
The new Cititex-Ferraro joint venture displayed the Droide Les 01 at ITM 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting the machine to specialists devoted to denim production.
After a slow ITMA 2003 in England, Andrea Citi started investigating the market to ferret out some kind of machinery or instrumentation with features and performance decidedly different from the usual established finishing machines.
“At last, on the occasion of a fair in Spain, we perceived the sign of a substantial attention to a fledgling technology, which was still in the experimental stage, so much so that no specific machinery was available,” Citi said. The technology centered on an innovative finishing process using a laser.
Convinced of the effectiveness of the project, Citi decided to take the plunge, and moved from agent/seller to trading operator. He singled out laser-sector market specialists who were associated with the textile production chain through the development of the Droide Les 01. This machine already is operating at several companies — including Eurofiniss, which, like others, has just placed another order barely six months after its first order with Cititex.
At ITM 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey, the Droide Les 01 was demonstrated in cooperation with Italy-based Ferraro S.p.A., a new partner in the global project.
The new Cititex-Ferraro joint venture displayed the Droide Les 01 at ITM 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting the machine to specialists devoted to denim production.
Machine Operation
The Droide can laser-engrave or cut a variety of woven and knitted fabrics including denim and automotive. The laser technology is a heat process that etches the material by locally melting it, or by steaming it in the desired points. The laser CO2 is a gas discharge device with such power that it can etch a carbon steel blade with a penetration of up to 2.5 centimeters. The machine is available in a 1,800-millimeter (mm) or 2,300-mm cutting width and is powerful enough to engrave and cut in one process on a continuously moving bed.
Software developed by Cititex to control the laser’s speed and power offers precision and reproducible results every time, while also reducing costs. Movements between the axis and the fabric being processed can be programmed at will. The design is carried out by reflecting the laser between two mirrors, one for the x axis, and the other for the y axis. An active focusing system ensures the laser is directed to the working plan in all the areas concerned by the operation.
Droide Les 01’s software features the ability to import the most common image formats, including JPEG, TIFF and bitmap; color reduction to the 64 gray scale, ready for output conversion to the laser scanner; possibility of adding selected areas to the images; and structure identification from image colors to the laser’s output functions.
September/October 2006
The Droide can laser-engrave or cut a variety of woven and knitted fabrics including denim and automotive. The laser technology is a heat process that etches the material by locally melting it, or by steaming it in the desired points. The laser CO2 is a gas discharge device with such power that it can etch a carbon steel blade with a penetration of up to 2.5 centimeters. The machine is available in a 1,800-millimeter (mm) or 2,300-mm cutting width and is powerful enough to engrave and cut in one process on a continuously moving bed.
Software developed by Cititex to control the laser’s speed and power offers precision and reproducible results every time, while also reducing costs. Movements between the axis and the fabric being processed can be programmed at will. The design is carried out by reflecting the laser between two mirrors, one for the x axis, and the other for the y axis. An active focusing system ensures the laser is directed to the working plan in all the areas concerned by the operation.
Droide Les 01’s software features the ability to import the most common image formats, including JPEG, TIFF and bitmap; color reduction to the 64 gray scale, ready for output conversion to the laser scanner; possibility of adding selected areas to the images; and structure identification from image colors to the laser’s output functions.
September/October 2006
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