How many of us run auto's solo? (and what's your typical print speed?)

[jvanick]

I was running a job solo tonight, and it got me to thinking... how many of us here run their autos solo? and what's your typical print speed?

I run solo I'd guess about 30-40% of the time.

my normal, not pushing things speed is roughly 200 shirts an hour. 

[Prosperi-Tees]

Thats about right for me. If I push it I can do 300 but I don't like working that hard when it's 115 degrees in the shop like it is now.

[Screened Gear]

I print at 250 to 550 solo. 550 is only with gildans and pocket prints or small prints.

[3Deep]

This depends on the size press you have and dryer, with my setup being smaller than most I'll say 150 to maybe 200 no flashing, never really time myself, plus I stop during the runs to do other things.

darryl

[prozyan]

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but my "cruising" speed is 28-31 dozen per hour according to my panel readout.

[Inkworks]

I have doubts that anybody actually sustains over 34 doz./hour for normal prints, loading and unloading alone.

[Catnhat]

I run solo over 50% of the time.  Comfortable speed is 6-8 second index.  Puts the press at about 28-31 doz/hr. on the panel.


Sent from my iPad because pigeons, owls & ravens poop too much.

[gtmfg]

Depends on what it is. Ran 9am to 1 @ 40 doz. hr 1 operator.  But it's no bueno.

[IntegrityShirts]

I print alone 95% of the time and only for 2 hours at a time, 2-3 days a week. I try to maintain 35+ dz/hr on the readout because I need to print fast so I'm not stuck on the press more days of the week. If I were full time printing and at the shop for over 3 hours I would probably print slower.

[Get Shirts]

Do you guys just let the shirts fall, or do you have a cycle if loading and then catching?

[gtmfg]

People catching at the end of the belt. Most of our stuff is fold, bag & tag.

[pwalsh]

I was running a job solo tonight, and it got me to thinking... how many of us here run their autos solo? and what's your typical print speed?

I run solo I'd guess about 30-40% of the time.

my normal, not pushing things speed is roughly 200 shirts an hour.

There is a large textile garment screen-printer in North Carolina running a bunch of Challenger III presses most of the time with a single operator at speeds in excess of 50 dozen per hour.  One thing they do to boost production is to install a flash in the last print station. 

This allows the operator to unload and to "toss" the printed garment onto the dryer belt without the need to keep it 100% flat, or having the worry of wet ink offsetting. So... if you have the option of putting a flash into the last print station, you might consider giving this method a try. 

[kingscreen]

Depending on the print size, I can keep a steady (yet comfortable) pace of about 400pcs./hr. solo. I've done 500 but it's definitely not sustainable for long periods.

Having a catcher is a necessity for our shop. There's nothing worse than a giant pile in the shirt runner.

[jvanick]

when I run solo, it's truly just me in the shop.

so no catcher... no folder.. no ink manager... (that's what seems to slow me down the most on multicolor prints)...

guys that are printing 500+ shirts/hr solo... how are you pulling the printed shirt, and loading the next shirt, all while keeping them straight and aligned?

I do need to build a bigger catch bin tho... right now, the bin is slightly narrower than the belt, so if I throw some shirts on the belt that are shifted to one side, sometimes they hang up on the sides of the bin.

[alan802]

About 350-400/hr but that is with someone catching at the end of the dryer.  I've ran as fast as 480/hr but I couldn't keep that speed for an entire hour.  I grab the shirt as it's indexing to me and pull it off and essentially throw it on the dryer belt and by the time I'm done with that the table is in the up position and I load fairly fast.  I don't have to change my feet position that much, just slightly and you have to get good at pulling/throwing the shirt on to the belt without getting it all messed up.  It's all one motion and I try to keep the shirt as it was on the pallet straight to the belt without flipping it or swapping my hand positions, I try to copy the auto unloader as closely as I physically can.