The machines, which are aimed at medium-sized businesses, feature a recirculating ink system to reduce ink consumption and to further optimise reliability, as well as a doubled number of nozzles to increase productivity of up to 40% over previous Storm configurations.
The Storm 1000 is the standard configuration and features 12 heads in a CMYK plus white configuration. It produces up to 170 garments per hour in high productivity mode, including inline pretreatment, and prints an area of up to 500x700mm.
The Storm Hexa, which can also produce up to 170 garments per hour in high productivity mode, has 16 printheads and two additional colours for full CMYK, red, green and white support.
The manufacturer said this specification is suitable for colour-conscious applications such as promotional and branded garments.
Kornit EMEA marketing director Oliver Luedtke said: “We had this configuration in the Avalanche Hexa system before but this is the first time we’ve bought it to the Storm mid-range systems.”
Both machines are based on Kornit’s NeoPigment printing process and offer 1,200dpi resolution.
They are equipped with productivity features such as a built-in pretreatment system, a quick replace pallet mechanism, a four-litre bulk ink system, an integrated humidity system and a backup power system for a quick and easy system start.
The devices are compatible with fabrics including cotton, polyester blends, denim, silk and wool and are geared towards industrial mass-customisation applications.
“We expect to see a lot of mid-level businesses with a garment decoration background at Fespa; either screen printers that want to switch to digital or digital printers that want to pick up garments as a new offering,” said Luedtke.
The firm is taking orders for both new devices at Fespa Digital. Pricing was not revealed but the business said the new machines would cost less than its Avalanche systems, which produce up to 300 garments per hour.
The Avalanche 1000 – the company’s flagship model – is also being shown on the firm’s stand.
