Belgium-centred weaving technologies specialist Picanol introduced its new wide air jet and rapier weaving machines at ITMA 2015 fair. Celebrating its 40th year in the production of rapier weaving machines, Picanol launched new OptiMax-i and TerryMax-i during the fair held in Milan. Besides, Terryplus Summum exhibited at the fair drew a great deal of attention.
Exhibiting Omniplus Summum, the air jet weaving machine, at its booth at ITMA, Picanol demonstrated the weaving processes of various fabrics from shirt fabric to denim, from terry to automotive and technical textiles to the visitors through ten weaving machines displayed. Besides, Picanol exhibited jacquard OptiMax-i at the booth of Bonas and Omniplus Summum at the booth of Staubli.
TerryMax-i and Terryplus Summum
Introducing new rapier TerryMax-i and new air jet Terryplus Summum, both of which were developed for terry cloth, at ITMA 2015, Picanol is the only supplier in the market that offers both rapier and air jet terry machines. Thanks to the direct electronic drive of the cloth fell mechanism, the machines offer a perfect pile formation and enable the enterprises to program not only pile height loop by loop and also beat-up distance of every single filling yarn. Offering significant advantages in the field of design, these machines increase efficiency thanks to OptiSpeed, pile height monitoring and needle roller control.
40 Years in Rapier Weaving
Johan Verstraete, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Services at Picanol which celebrates its 40th year in the production of rapier weaving machines, said in his explanation that, “The year 2015 means that we manufactured our first weaving machine with a rapier insertion exactly 40 years ago. Since the launching of the first rapier machine long ago, we have sold more than 90 thousand rapier machines throughout the world. Just like in ITMA Milano in 1975 where the first rapier machine was launched, we are proud of having exhibited some of our rapier innovations at ITMA Milano. With its speed up to 750 rpm, new OptiMax-i is now the fastest industrially manufactured rapier weaving machine without doubt. The striking features of this new rapier machine include increased performance, robust construction, new applications, smart energy efficiency, improved ergonomics and user friendliness. OptiMax-i can be offered with reed widths ranging from 190 to 540. Thanks to the optimized rapier drives, it is the fastest rapier machine with the Guided Gripper (GC) system and the most versatile machine thanks to the Free Flight (FF) system.”
Continuing his remarks, Verstraete expressed that enterprises now could combine and blend the most difficult filling yarns thanks to the Free Flight Positive Gripper (FPG) and the other features added are Electronic Filling Tensioner (EFT), SmartEye filling detector and SmartCut filling cutter.
