New Press

[mx798]

Hi, im new to the forum. Im looking to start my own screen printing business. I have looked into ryonets 4 color 1 station press. Can anyone tell me how their stuff is? and if this is a good press. Heres the link the one i was looking at-http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/silk-screening-kit-4-color

I might be better off buying used equipment. I don't really know so if someone could help that would be awesome!

[Printficient]

What experience do you have?  There is a lot more to printing than the press.  I would encourage you to get a 6 color 4 station or a 4 color 4 station press to start so you can flash your shirts.  Feel free to call me.  Sonny.  404-895-1796

[mx798]

I don't have any experience, I currently own a clothing line, i got my stuff printed by someone but would like to do it myself now. I don't wanna spend over $1000

[Denis Kolar]

Buy a heat press and order transfers!
If you have only a $1000, that is my suggestion.

But, if you want to make money, you will have to spend money. It is not only a press, you need, exposure unit (70% of the print quality comes from the exposure unit), flash unit, conveyor, washout booth and a power washer.

You can get away with $4-5K, but 1K will not do it.

Or, just keep outsourcing

[mx798]

Will it hold up as well? if you look on the link i sent, it has the press all the supplies a flash drier and an exposure unit.

[Sbrem]

Another idea may be to get a job at a shop somewhere nearby, and learn the trade, even if only for a few months so you can get a realistic idea as to what goes on in a t-shirt shop. It is not as easy as it as some make it look...


Steve

[Homer]

just an FYI, the press, that's the cheap part....add on the dryer, flash, ink, film printer, accessories, 1k$ really isn't much to work with....there are some great contract printer here if you want to get it done that way...save yourself the headaches and late nights.

[jvanick]

a bit over 4 years ago, I started with nearly the same setup that you linked up above.

the learning curve was huge... and really didn't start to make sense until I wasted TONS of blanks, and even ended up taking some classes to learn how to print better.

$1000 is likely what you might spend in blanks, ink, wasted emulsion and chemicals just to learn how to print semi-decent prints... and those prints will be no where near GREAT at the beginning either.

not trying to dissuade you, but realize that there is a LOT more to it than a starter kit.

[GraphicDisorder]

I would advise contracting out the work until you can save enough to get a better set up.  Then look at bringing the work in house. 

[Frog]

First off, welcome to the board, and possibly to the world of screen printing production. However, as some have pointed out, $1000 is probably not going to get you very far into commercial quality and volume. Unless the initial $1000 is purely disposable and just to get your feet wet, it could be a huge waste, and will certainly make your learning curve much steeper than real equipment. Heck, if you read enough here, you may see that some of us experienced printers have occasional problems even with good, industrial level equipment, you could only imagine what it would be like for a beginner working with hobby stuff. (I wouldn't be surprised if your local Craigslist wouldn't have a few deals on similar packages from either folks selling after throwing in the towel, or even a successful attempt that is now stepping up to real stuff)

If you already have a successful line, you have already crossed a great hurdle, and should probably concentrate on more sales. More sales could also help generate the larger amount needed to get real equipment if you still want to bring it in house, and apparently, branch out to print for others as well.

Perhaps you could elaborate on why you are thinking of changing the production to in-house.

[mx798]

i was a little frustrated with my current screen printer, so i decided i might as well try to do it myself. I would like to just start small and make shirts for my company and for people in my town. i have been looking on craigslist.

[mk162]

not knocking at all, but here is probably what is happening....

the printer(s) you are using doesn't want to do fulfillment or small runs without high fees, so your thought is to bring it in house to save money.

The problem is the time and money it will take to turn out a decent product will more than likely be wasted by the time to takes to learn how to print well...but you would gain an understanding of why your printer doesn't like small runs of shirts.

[bulldog]

a bit over 4 years ago, I started with nearly the same setup that you linked up above.

the learning curve was huge... and really didn't start to make sense until I wasted TONS of blanks, and even ended up taking some classes to learn how to print better.

$1000 is likely what you might spend in blanks, ink, wasted emulsion and chemicals just to learn how to print semi-decent prints... and those prints will be no where near GREAT at the beginning either.

not trying to dissuade you, but realize that there is a LOT more to it than a starter kit.

I will second this.

I started much like the OP, had/have my own clothing line and wanted to do things in house to produce more designs faster at less minimums so I wouldn't have to sit on so much inventory.

I got that same kit with a compression exposure unit and epson 1430 printer.

I'm still pretty new to screen printing and I've since replaced everything in that kit.

Here's what I can tell you. If you buy this kit you need to go into it looking at it as a throw away investment just to decide if you like screen printing enough to keep going. If you try to do anything beyond one color you will hate life. You will go through a lot of blanks. You might even get something registered and the next shirt it will be out of register. That's just how it goes.

There was a thread recently about biggest regrets buying equipment and my biggest regret is not buying proper/quality equipment to start with.

My advice...get a M&R Kruzer, if you find out you don't like printing it will still have some value. Get a good exposure unit, there are tons of deals to be had on people getting rid of their old metal halide units. Get a conveyor dryer. You cannot properly and accurately cure a shirt with a flash unit. It may work sometimes but it won't be consistent and you'll wind up with some of the edges washing off. Not good for the reputation of your own line (nor a customer for that matter.)

Just my two cents.

[Inkworks]

You can't open a restaurant with an easy-bake oven.

There are reasons shops charge what they do. There are shops that can print cheaper and faster than you will be able to in the next few years no matter what you spend. ie: you won't realize true cost savings for a long time by becoming a printer.

There are two sizes of t-shirt lines that work, very small and huge, getting from one size to the other weeds out 99.9% of those that try it.

[Gilligan]

I posted here:

http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,12782.msg122076.html#msg122076

About my current setup that I'll be selling.  Don't need much more than that to get started and this is a pretty good setup.  I'm getting an Automatic and that's my only reason for upgrading.  The press is one of the best manual presses out there, the dryer is a fine dryer, flash is one of my favorite pieces of gear and my exposure unit IS my favorite piece of gear.

It's a bit more than you were looking at, but it's really the bare minimum I'd suggest getting to do it right and not fight the headaches that everyone is warning you about.  I did about 2 jobs with a flash cure as my final cure and I was done with that.  I was about to be printing with a home made screen printing press and a 12' conveyor dryer because curing with the flash just wasn't happening.  I ended up landing into a great deal on the press and flash that same weekend and came home a full fledged shop (well, almost... was still exposing with a home made vacuum system... once I got the MSP 3140 I realized what a time waster that was as well!)