"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
At how many units would you bother setting up 2 screens on auto when printing white on darks 1 colour print?
50, that's where it makes sense for us to set that 2nd screen up. And yes, depending on the garment you can definitely achieve a great white with that one screen and no flash. That's one if the major benefits to discharge! What are you waiting for?
IMHO, the answer to this question starts with what does it cost you to process a screen? In this case the second screen would use the same art / film as the first so you would be looking at a list of expenses for the second screen that include; Coating, Exposing, Tape & Block out, Set-up on Press, then Cleaning the Screen, Squeegee, and Flood bar, and Reclaiming the screen after the print run. I don't know your business, but typical costs for a second screen without film would range from around $10.00 at the low end, up to $15.00 at the high end. Once you have this number the math is fairly simple; "Is a $12.00 investment in a second screen going to save you more time and produce a better print than PFP with a single screen?" Another way of looking at it is the additional cost per print for the second screen. Example $12.00 screen expense divided by 24 shirts = $0.50 per shirt The attached image is a screen shot of a simple production cost calculator that I developed to try and identify screen-print production costs. Please feel free to PM or email me with your contact email if you're interested in the Excel working copy of this file.
Ours is about 50pcs. also. It will vary depending on several factors though. Typically we will run discharge though.How feasible is it for you to order ink from your neighbor(Australia) down there? Is shipping killer? I know if a distributer there that would be able to offer a wider range of discharge options for you.