Good Deal?

[mimosatexas]

This guy just popped up on digitsmith: http://www.digitsmith.com/brown-mfg-automatic-press-8-color-10-station-49125.html

Wondering if it would be worth unloading the javelin, compressor, etc and grabbing this guy vs moving or upgrading electrical service.  I know they don't have the best reputation, but neither do the V-squeegees on the javelin.  Just curious what others think.  Thanks!

[im_mcguire]

Honestly, I would save a little bit more and get a used M&R or a newer workhorse.  Ive never herd good things about brown, but I've also never ran one.  Maybe King Screen can chime in, I know those guys use to run one of those presses.

This press is in my area, and it is a great press for the price, and impression count.  I think it is in the neighborhood of $17k with 280k impressions.
http://screenprintingproducts.blogspot.com/2016/05/2002-m-sportsman-with-2002-reno-flash.html

A ton of stuff is out there now, so it should be easier to get a decent deal on some used equipment, with the end of the year rolling around, and people scrambling to take advantage of the tax write off.

[mimosatexas]

So the main reason I was interested is the issue I have with my space being limited to 100 amps. I'm hunting for a new space, but striking out at the moment. Spent 4 hours driving around and calling people this morning and not a single place fit my budget and has 200 amp service and water.

[im_mcguire]

Ahh. Makes sense. Well, then what I could say is, if it will help you produce faster with the quality your customers are use to, then get it, use it, until you are ready to move up.
We bought our first auto (1984 American Rototex) all electric 4 years ago, and it got us to a point where we can accept larger orders.
We gained enough customers to then look into a brand new auto. The nice thing about the Brown, is it is 8 color. Already after 3 months of our new press I wish we had opted for the 8 color. So that is a plus.

[mimosatexas]

I would love to have one of those old rototex presses.  Almost grabbed one a few years back, but it was 1500 miles away and I ended up deciding against it.

[Sbrem]

I've never cared for Brown, just something about the build, looks cheap. I agree with a used M&R, we bought a '94 Gauntlet in 2006 as our second auto, for 10K with the compressor if you can believe it, and it still runs great...

Steve

[rusty]

Please correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the guy who listed that just relist stuff he finds on craigslist or other forums. I've seen him get called out a few times.  As a person looking for used equipment also I am just wary of used dealers.

Sorry for the derail.

[kingscreen]

We used to run two ElectrPrints.  One Stealth and one Junior.  They are what they are. Simple but reliable.
Honestly, they're built like tanks and we never had an issue with ours but they are limited.
I will say that we sold both ours for well over that amount, so to answer your question, yes it is a good deal.  That being said, I'd personally never buy anything from a broker. Too many horror stories. Hunt down the shop selling it and buy direct.  They're likely selling it even cheaper.

[screenxpress]

I happened to run across this

http://www.cosmexgraphics.com/used_textile.htm

Is that really just a 110v/5 amp draw?

They're in Canada so would be a haul for you.

Even though these guys don't have much available now, it might be worth bookmarking for the future
http://www.lawsonsp.com/screen-printing-equipment/used-equipment

Here's an 8 color M&R
http://www.realperformance.com/equipment.html

[Prince Art]

We used to run two ElectrPrints.  One Stealth and one Junior.  They are what they are. Simple but reliable.
Honestly, they're built like tanks and we never had an issue with ours but they are limited.

Scott, in what ways are they limited? Speed, print area, control over print stroke (pressure, double stroke, etc), pallet options, flash? Screen size (I know the Junior is slim here, but is the Stealth less than 23x31)? Something else?

[kingscreen]

Scott, in what ways are they limited? Speed, print area, control over print stroke (pressure, double stroke, etc), pallet options, flash? Screen size (I know the Junior is slim here, but is the Stealth less than 23x31)? Something else?

Juniors only take 20x24 screens.  The full size does 20x24 and 23x31 but it's not practical to switch back and forth.
Manual screen lock downs which for us meant very tedious set ups.  Print speed is slow although we got decent numbers out of it.  But it's still better than printing manually!
Pallets are proprietary so unless you also have a Brown manual there's no way to borrow from another press or have universal pallets. (ie. one set of pocket pallets for multiple presses).  Their new program is pretty great from what I hear.  You can program it a lot more ways than mine was able. (I had a 2006).  Brown's "Batch Mode" is basically Revolver.
One big thing to remember is that it's all mechanical; no chopper style options and controls.   I personally think of the ElectraPrint as a great starter auto if you're buying used.  They're easy to use and easy to convert to from just manual printing.

[Prince Art]

Thanks Scott. I'm in a similar situation to mimosa - small shop looking at what we can do to keep stair-stepping up. I've had experience with an M&R Gauntlet, but no other autos. I don't expect to be stepping to that next, so it's helpful to get details on other autos, especially the "entry level" ones.

This seems obvious, but the Stealth does have micros... right?

[kingscreen]

They both have micros.  They work quite well actually. 

Depending on your budget, maybe take a look at a new Freedom Express or Cutlass.

[Prince Art]

Thanks!

[Steve Harpold]

Hey all,

Thanks to Scott on a fair evaluation and some productive feed back on items to work on. Scott was working on used machines for 2006. Those machines were 10 years old and still received good reviews. Some on the machines being compared to were not even in existence in 2006! Keep your minds open, be prepared for what Brown is capable of in the future!