my field trip

[tonyt79]

I have been in the market for a auto, and researching. I have a good friend that is a director for the Dallas Cowboys and has told me many times that we can go check out what he calls their "sweat shop" also sent me many pics. He doesn't work in that area but can take me there if I want to see. That had my mind set into a huge shop! Still have not gone but my rep from GSG took me to a shop today to show me a diamondback at work and that made my thoughts of the cowboy shop look like chump stuff
 I am sure now that all their challengers are way more than I had expected.

Anyway this is about my trip today. I could not believe the amount if space this place had. They did not just do shirts, in fact the person that walked us out said they only did them because they had all the equipment and knowledge from the sign and Label printing. It was all a lot to take in. But on the shirt printing, they had an older gauntlet, a sportsman, a diamondback, and an oval all over printer. Pretty much all serving a different purpose. I was there to check out the diamond back, which they mainly use for tag and sleeve printing.

It was crazy how much was going on in that place! It makes my mom and pop shop look horrible. I guess they had something secret they were printing cause they made us not go back to an area we came from and go out another door.

I can't even imagine how hard a place like is to run. It was definitely an experience. Also it is an eye opener to how much work is out there. I know a lot of shops like me and even a lot bigger ones still have work to find

[jvanick]

not to derail your thoughts on the Diamondback, but do yourself a major favor and look at machines with AC heads instead of Air... while Air has come quite a far way, you'll never get the consistency, or early-morning, cold-ink printability of AC heads from an air press.

After owning our new Sportsman and having to almost never 'adjust print speed/pressure' on the same ink we just ran yesterday problems (unlike with our Air-driven Javelin), it's eye-opening to see how much faster production can be.

[tonyt79]

I am still in my decision making mode. The place just made me think damn. There is a lot going on in those shops

[jvanick]

yup.  and you'll get there too... our first auto increased our orders by 3 or 4x, and made us more confident to take larger orders... we've printed more on our new auto (sportsman) in 6 weeks than we printed the entire last year.

[dirkdiggler]

Beg, borrow, and steal to get AC heads, thank me later!  Although I do also have a diamondback parked right next to my CH3D and I use it EVERYDAY and still love it.

[Printficient]

You could try the SA Evo

[ZooCity]

We have an all air press and an an ac/servo-  Gauntlet and now a Sportsman.  And while newer isn't always better overall (the heads on our brand new sporty flex more than that ancient gauntlet for instance) electric/ac is definitely the way to go for the print heads, wherever possible.   We have been very relieved to be printing with them so far. 

That said, air heads will teach you a lot about printing and they will do 90% of what ac, belt driven heads can do if you know how to use them.  The difference I see is not in the print so much in how the print is done.  Air heads will force you to print a certain way, like it or not.  Seems like with AC you can pretty much do what you like with each run. 

Also, you can record what you did far more accurately.  The RPM is the only press mfg that has seen the advantage to digitally reading out head speed but all the others have a 1-10 type dial that can be used for mostly accurate recording of settings.  Those AC heads will print the same speed, every time, if set to the same number on the dial.  Air head speed adjustments are basically just air pots, not a reliable point of reference.   Our press sheets for stroke speed on the air machine have such non-specific terms as, fast, medium, slow, super slow, etc., obviously inferior to referencing a number. 

[tonyt79]

With the decision to get an auto means my showroom is a gone. Have to move  some desks up front. So I made this tonight

[jvanick]

The RPM is the only press mfg that has seen the advantage to digitally reading out head speed but all the others have a 1-10 type dial that can be used for mostly accurate recording of settings. 

Not totally true...

on M&R presses that have VFDs on the heads (and maybe others that have the little plexi window where you can see the vfd readout), you can see the speed of the current stroke expressed in HZ.  that number is far more accurate than the 1-10 knob.  (of course, it doens't show it on the cool display like the RPM, but you can definitely find it and record it).

[ZooCity]

The RPM is the only press mfg that has seen the advantage to digitally reading out head speed but all the others have a 1-10 type dial that can be used for mostly accurate recording of settings. 

Not totally true...

on M&R presses that have VFDs on the heads (and maybe others that have the little plexi window where you can see the vfd readout), you can see the speed of the current stroke expressed in HZ.  that number is far more accurate than the 1-10 knob.  (of course, it doens't show it on the cool display like the RPM, but you can definitely find it and record it).

True! but you can only see that during the print stroke.  It displays flood speed at rest.  I have used it to sync up print speeds while the press is printing which is nice.  I'm just saying other manufacturers don't have a dedicated digital readout  for this purpose.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[kingscreen]

Take a long hard look at the Workhorse Sabre.  I'm sure glad I did. 

[spotcolorsupply]

Take a long hard look at the Workhorse Sabre.  I'm sure glad I did.

^^^That^^^ 

[ZooCity]

The OS on that Sabre looks fantastic.  Would make for a smoother transition to auto printing I imagine.

[tonyt79]

My major concern is space limitations and being my first auto, I am leaning towards the diamondback. It's cheap and small enough to fit where I need it. I am probably going to have to move in the next year or so. By then hopefully I would need another auto. Then I could upgrade from the original.

[AntonySharples]

Had we not gone with the sRoque, we would have went with the Sabre.