Press Pricing

[Inkworks]

As far as I know the Falcon E is a direct and shameless copy of the Challenger II, had I known the Challenger II's were available in single phase I may have gone that route, but the Falcon has been a good machine with every option we need and then some.... well except for programmable revolver option, but with a 12/14 we rarely need that.

[Gilligan]

I remember being very surprised when I found that the rpm didn't have that.

Seems simple enough.

[Croft]

Revolver is a must on our 6 colour sportsman , it has kept our customers happy without saying sort I can't do that.

[244]

To bring this back up and not for the purposes of flashbacks or revolver options, do the newer RPM machines or Mu$tangs have the ability to set the flash time from the main control panel?

Also, I assume IF the progressive falcons get the new OS and touch screen that they will have the above ability?

It's something I use every single time I print as I'm a one-man show and if the phone rings or a customer walks in during a print, I may be delayed 15min. When I get back to the press I up the flash time for a revolution or so and then back it down as I print.

Can you do this on a sportsman? Which M&R presses have that functionality?

This can easily be handled with the new Red Chili flash. Set the temperature you want the ink to be jelled to and regardless of the flash time you have set the unit will turn off when the ink reaches the set point. Does not have to be controlled by the press!

[Prosperi-Tees]

This is my thought process on the whole thing as it pertains to our shop.

I could upgrade our compressor for the current older 8 color Gauntlet and fix the issues on the press, mac valves, relevel etc etc at a cost of about 10K roughly and still have an older press that works great but doesn't have the functionality and control of a newer press.

I could sell the current press for about 10-12k and either pocket the
cash or put a down payment on a new press and have all the functionality
And control I could ever need and not have to upgrade the compressor.

So guys what are your thoughts? I keep going back and forth in my head on this. If I identified the biggest time waster in our process it is film output, screen burning and developing which would make you think of CTS even though we don't have the qty of screens per day to justify it and not only that the advantage of Cts and triloc cannot be utilized on the old Gauntlet.
So that's why my head always goes from one to the other.

[Binkspot]

If the Tri Loc will not work have you thought about making a custom reg system that will work. Is it just the front screen holder that needs to be notched to make it work or is there more to it?

[IntegrityShirts]

This is my thought process on the whole thing as it pertains to our shop.

I could upgrade our compressor for the current older 8 color Gauntlet and fix the issues on the press, mac valves, relevel etc etc at a cost of about 10K roughly and still have an older press that works great but doesn't have the functionality and control of a newer press.

I could sell the current press for about 10-12k and either pocket the
cash or put a down payment on a new press and have all the functionality
And control I could ever need and not have to upgrade the compressor.

So guys what are your thoughts? I keep going back and forth in my head on this. If I identified the biggest time waster in our process it is film output, screen burning and developing which would make you think of CTS even though we don't have the qty of screens per day to justify it and not only that the advantage of Cts and triloc cannot be utilized on the old Gauntlet.
So that's why my head always goes from one to the other.

Printing film doesn't take any extra labor while printing you're free to do other tasks. Exposure and washout won't speed up with a cts, even led will save you only seconds per screen. Most shops print 1-2 color jobs 80% of the time so in my opinion  a triloc  isn't even worth the time it takes to swap out the pallet for easy 1-2 color jobs. If you expose two images on each end of the screen for jobs then you'd have to load the screen twice in a cts for it to reliably register with a triloc on press.

If your press is worth 10-12k after you put 10k into it for repairs, I'd buy a new press. If it's worth that much right now without refurb I'd probably still buy a new press if it's not going to be usable for a few years reliably.

[Prosperi-Tees]

If the Tri Loc will not work have you thought about making a custom reg system that will work. Is it just the front screen holder that needs to be notched to make it work or is there more to it?

Yeah the notches have to be cut and Rich said the platen deflection makes it work less than it should.

[Prosperi-Tees]

This is my thought process on the whole thing as it pertains to our shop.

I could upgrade our compressor for the current older 8 color Gauntlet and fix the issues on the press, mac valves, relevel etc etc at a cost of about 10K roughly and still have an older press that works great but doesn't have the functionality and control of a newer press.

I could sell the current press for about 10-12k and either pocket the
cash or put a down payment on a new press and have all the functionality
And control I could ever need and not have to upgrade the compressor.

So guys what are your thoughts? I keep going back and forth in my head on this. If I identified the biggest time waster in our process it is film output, screen burning and developing which would make you think of CTS even though we don't have the qty of screens per day to justify it and not only that the advantage of Cts and triloc cannot be utilized on the old Gauntlet.
So that's why my head always goes from one to the other.

Printing film doesn't take any extra labor while printing you're free to do other tasks. Exposure and washout won't speed up with a cts, even led will save you only seconds per screen. Most shops print 1-2 color jobs 80% of the time so in my opinion  a triloc  isn't even worth the time it takes to swap out the pallet for easy 1-2 color jobs. If you expose two images on each end of the screen for jobs then you'd have to load the screen twice in a cts for it to reliably register with a triloc on press.

If your press is worth 10-12k after you put 10k into it for repairs, I'd buy a new press. If it's worth that much right now without refurb I'd probably still buy a new press if it's not going to be usable for a few years reliably.

Great point taken there

[ericheartsu]

This is my thought process on the whole thing as it pertains to our shop.

I could upgrade our compressor for the current older 8 color Gauntlet and fix the issues on the press, mac valves, relevel etc etc at a cost of about 10K roughly and still have an older press that works great but doesn't have the functionality and control of a newer press.

I could sell the current press for about 10-12k and either pocket the
cash or put a down payment on a new press and have all the functionality
And control I could ever need and not have to upgrade the compressor.

So guys what are your thoughts? I keep going back and forth in my head on this. If I identified the biggest time waster in our process it is film output, screen burning and developing which would make you think of CTS even though we don't have the qty of screens per day to justify it and not only that the advantage of Cts and triloc cannot be utilized on the old Gauntlet.
So that's why my head always goes from one to the other.

Printing film doesn't take any extra labor while printing you're free to do other tasks. Exposure and washout won't speed up with a cts, even led will save you only seconds per screen. Most shops print 1-2 color jobs 80% of the time so in my opinion  a triloc  isn't even worth the time it takes to swap out the pallet for easy 1-2 color jobs. If you expose two images on each end of the screen for jobs then you'd have to load the screen twice in a cts for it to reliably register with a triloc on press.

If your press is worth 10-12k after you put 10k into it for repairs, I'd buy a new press. If it's worth that much right now without refurb I'd probably still buy a new press if it's not going to be usable for a few years reliably.

actually to be honest, a CTS does speed things up immensely. Knowing that every screen is set up, with the image placed with the correct position 100% of the time, as well as not having to double check that films line up, and that it all printed ok, saves a ton of time.

We went from an average of 5-10 mins in setting up a 1 color film with our newman reg. system (from printing the film, to putting it on the carrier sheet, to putting it on the screen, to exposing it), to just under 40 seconds with exposure.

the majority of our jobs are 1 colors, but in the past two weeks we've done about a 6-8 color jobs, and even without using a registration system, it speeds up our set up.

[GraphicDisorder]

Most shops print 1-2 color jobs 80% of the time so in my opinion  a triloc  isn't even worth the time it takes to swap out the pallet for easy 1-2 color jobs.

Please tell me how to locate 1-2 color jobs.  We do about 1-2 of those a month.

[IntegrityShirts]

This is my thought process on the whole thing as it pertains to our shop.

I could upgrade our compressor for the current older 8 color Gauntlet and fix the issues on the press, mac valves, relevel etc etc at a cost of about 10K roughly and still have an older press that works great but doesn't have the functionality and control of a newer press.

I could sell the current press for about 10-12k and either pocket the
cash or put a down payment on a new press and have all the functionality
And control I could ever need and not have to upgrade the compressor.

So guys what are your thoughts? I keep going back and forth in my head on this. If I identified the biggest time waster in our process it is film output, screen burning and developing which would make you think of CTS even though we don't have the qty of screens per day to justify it and not only that the advantage of Cts and triloc cannot be utilized on the old Gauntlet.
So that's why my head always goes from one to the other.

Printing film doesn't take any extra labor while printing you're free to do other tasks. Exposure and washout won't speed up with a cts, even led will save you only seconds per screen. Most shops print 1-2 color jobs 80% of the time so in my opinion  a triloc  isn't even worth the time it takes to swap out the pallet for easy 1-2 color jobs. If you expose two images on each end of the screen for jobs then you'd have to load the screen twice in a cts for it to reliably register with a triloc on press.

If your press is worth 10-12k after you put 10k into it for repairs, I'd buy a new press. If it's worth that much right now without refurb I'd probably still buy a new press if it's not going to be usable for a few years reliably.

actually to be honest, a CTS does speed things up immensely. Knowing that every screen is set up, with the image placed with the correct position 100% of the time, as well as not having to double check that films line up, and that it all printed ok, saves a ton of time.

We went from an average of 5-10 mins in setting up a 1 color film with our newman reg. system (from printing the film, to putting it on the carrier sheet, to putting it on the screen, to exposing it), to just under 40 seconds with exposure.

the majority of our jobs are 1 colors, but in the past two weeks we've done about a 6-8 color jobs, and even without using a registration system, it speeds up our set up.

If you have a stack of films ready to tape to a reverse-lit registration board or modified triloc board without the carrier sheets, I'd argue that it's just as fast with a single operator. Now, nothing will match the precision of computer placed images on the screen and that level of accuracy is awesome for those high color count jobs that some shops specialize in.  MOST mom and pop shops are printing local orders for customers who want cheap event, club, church, family reunion shirts that 9 times out of ten are a one color front & back that you can expose on one screen then flip the screen 180 degrees midway through the job to print the backs.

Brandt, it's called local business lol. You gotta open your doors and answer the phone to get the onesie twosies!

[GraphicDisorder]

This is my thought process on the whole thing as it pertains to our shop.

I could upgrade our compressor for the current older 8 color Gauntlet and fix the issues on the press, mac valves, relevel etc etc at a cost of about 10K roughly and still have an older press that works great but doesn't have the functionality and control of a newer press.

I could sell the current press for about 10-12k and either pocket the
cash or put a down payment on a new press and have all the functionality
And control I could ever need and not have to upgrade the compressor.

So guys what are your thoughts? I keep going back and forth in my head on this. If I identified the biggest time waster in our process it is film output, screen burning and developing which would make you think of CTS even though we don't have the qty of screens per day to justify it and not only that the advantage of Cts and triloc cannot be utilized on the old Gauntlet.
So that's why my head always goes from one to the other.

Printing film doesn't take any extra labor while printing you're free to do other tasks. Exposure and washout won't speed up with a cts, even led will save you only seconds per screen. Most shops print 1-2 color jobs 80% of the time so in my opinion  a triloc  isn't even worth the time it takes to swap out the pallet for easy 1-2 color jobs. If you expose two images on each end of the screen for jobs then you'd have to load the screen twice in a cts for it to reliably register with a triloc on press.

If your press is worth 10-12k after you put 10k into it for repairs, I'd buy a new press. If it's worth that much right now without refurb I'd probably still buy a new press if it's not going to be usable for a few years reliably.

actually to be honest, a CTS does speed things up immensely. Knowing that every screen is set up, with the image placed with the correct position 100% of the time, as well as not having to double check that films line up, and that it all printed ok, saves a ton of time.

We went from an average of 5-10 mins in setting up a 1 color film with our newman reg. system (from printing the film, to putting it on the carrier sheet, to putting it on the screen, to exposing it), to just under 40 seconds with exposure.

the majority of our jobs are 1 colors, but in the past two weeks we've done about a 6-8 color jobs, and even without using a registration system, it speeds up our set up.

If you have a stack of films ready to tape to a reverse-lit registration board or modified triloc board without the carrier sheets, I'd argue that it's just as fast with a single operator. Now, nothing will match the precision of computer placed images on the screen and that level of accuracy is awesome for those high color count jobs that some shops specialize in.  MOST mom and pop shops are printing local orders for customers who want cheap event, club, church, family reunion shirts that 9 times out of ten are a one color front & back that you can expose on one screen then flip the screen 180 degrees midway through the job to print the backs.

Brandt, it's called local business lol. You gotta open your doors and answer the phone to get the onesie twosies!

Ya ya LOL

[dirkdiggler]

tri-loc will work on ANY GAUNTLET!  It does have to be notched, but I did it and its super easy on my first week of screenprinting back in the 90's.  Also, forget about trying to justify enough screens to own a cts!  So many benefits of having one, it doesn't matter how many screens you are doing.  I could give a long list.

[Shanarchy]

No brainer for me. The press is the heart of the business. Every other piece of equipment supports getting to/from press. It's also the most expensive equipment in your shop. Get a nice 8/10 with ac/servo and be done with it. Even if you have to keep saving.