G3 Install and Updates

[alan802]

I don't have a lot of time, as I'm now down to one employee left but luckily we're semi-closed this week and not a ton of work in queue so I have a few weeks to hire and train up (ha, it won't be that easy) but I'll try to dump as many pics and check in as much as I can.  Trying to print a few jobs while I can so I have time next week to work on hiring at least 2 full timers and maybe a part-timer as well. 

When we got it in position, disregard the pallet tape I have on the base, I was using a damn chainsaw to hack the pallet up and I didn't want wood chips all inside the machine.


Well, screw trying to keep everything in chronological order.  Here are the pics in no particular order.








And I didn't get a pic for almost a whole day but oh well.










I'll get more up later, little bit busy.  I haven't checked my email in about a week.

[TCT]

Dude, whats with all the tin foil on the walls? Worried aliens are going to read your mind and steal your superior screen printing knowledge?  I'm messing with ya!

Looks great man! Congratulations and good luck(in a good way) finding a new kick ass team!

[ericheartsu]

i don't know if you've had that tech Walter before, but man, when he was here, we were SUPER disappointed in him, and how he installed the press, and gave training.

[tonypep]

We were lucky enough to get the best for our 2 wk install of multiple stuff..........Wally is the best for sure.

[blue moon]

'was going through new press install withdrawal and then you posted this. Thanx a lot!

all kidding aside, that looks great!

pierre

[RICK STEFANICK]

'was going through new press install withdrawal and then you posted this. Thanx a lot!

all kidding aside, that looks great!

pierre

LOL..

[alan802]

i don't know if you've had that tech Walter before, but man, when he was here, we were SUPER disappointed in him, and how he installed the press, and gave training.

I met Walt last week at another install close to our shop and he was busy and I didn't get the best vibe from him but so far he's been great.  I didn't get a whole lot of time with him and I was just some dude hanging out getting in the way for all he knew.  I've not checked any of the calibration type stuff on this machine because they just started a few hours ago.  I did check the other diamondback install as far as the pallets go and they were near perfect.  The heads could use a little work in my opinion but I also know my standards for press calibration/parallelism are, let's just say, the other side of extreme.  I don't know that an M&R tech in any situation would install a machine to as high of a tolerance as I would my own press.  And if I were an M&R tech I'd probably get fired for spending 8 hours paralleling a 10 color sporty so I'm trying to limit my expectations on how precise the G3 is going to be.

We've actually got 3 guys here but one is in training, and the 3rd was sent to give specific training on the new DX flash units to Walt and the tech in training, along with myself.  I don't want this to come off as putting the other guys down and you know how it always sounds when you say "ole Jimbob is a freaking stud and is the MVP of the team" and it makes it seem like the rest of the crew is chopped liver, which isn't the case here either, but the tech Sean is really a top notch performer.  In any profession there are tiers, or levels of performance and individuals and I think every one here is in the upper tier, but Sean is just a bit different, I don't know how else to say it without it sounding like there is disappointment with the other guys.  I feel as if I were an M&R tech I'd strive to be as close to Sean as possible with maybe a sprinkle or two of some of the other techs I've met and dealt with over the years.

Unfortunately our flash units aren't going to make it here this week so we are going to have to figure out a way to get trained properly when they do arrive.  I think with our history with the RPM flashes having a few more features than the average flash it will help, but the DX's have way more in features than any other flash M&R has made so who knows how easy I'll be able to pick up the features.

Here's few more pics.  1st is from the scissor lift with the placement of both machines in their final resting places.


We literally cleaned most of the RPM with a toothbrush.  We've still got a few spots that we missed with lots of dust bunnies and some grease/oil to get rid of but I doubt there is a cleaner 8 year old press anywhere in the US.


Walt and Derrick are just about to spoon and take a nap underneath the machine in this action pic...I shouldn't HAVE to say this but I will, JUST KIDDING.  They're working hard here.




You can see the two big spots on the RPM that we didn't get cleaned yet.


Not quite sure where the manual is going to end up.  It won't stay there, it's a 4-5 step walk from the dryer if it stays there which isn't the end of the world with as little as it will get used, but I'd like to find a better place for it.

[Gabe]

Looking all blue there Señor, except for the RPM thou

[GaryG]

Yeah real nice.
Hope you can get the right guys in there to run like you deserve.

[Maxie]

Alan, Looks good, how wide is your belt?      Will you be able to run both presses together?
All your photographs you have posted don't show what what a spacious place you have.
Here's one I took two years ago.

[jvanick]

awesome to see everything coming together!

Love seeing a clean shop with clean gear.  Make me want to touch up some of our dusty spots on our press now.

[dirkdiggler]

We were lucky enough to get the best for our 2 wk install of multiple stuff..........Wally is the best for sure.

Wally is THE MAN!  Nobody can touch him!  I said it!

[alan802]

Alan, Looks good, how wide is your belt?      Will you be able to run both presses together?
All your photographs you have posted don't show what what a spacious place you have.
Here's one I took two years ago.

It's a 60" belt.  The dryer will handle both autos at full tilt I believe as long as both prints aren't too large.  Basically as long as the image area doesn't exceed 18" in length on both presses it will handle it. And we've got plenty of room left on the settings with belt speed and temp.  I'm running the dryer at 360 degrees and belt speed of 26 so I've got a lot of room there if we need it.  Then if I need to, we've got the ability to increase our dryer length by 20' or so with ant combo of chamber or feed length.

So the guys finished up yesterday around noon.  We had set up several hours for training but there weren't too many functions/features that I didn't know how to do.  Even though the G3 is so different in control panel operation I've spent enough time around the CH3 and G3 to have picked up a lot and the job we printed yesterday went smooth although not very fast setup.  Just getting used to the different buttons and ways of setup will take a few weeks and I intend on being the press op for as long as possible to make sure we learn and USE every single feature of the G3.  I believe that because I ran the RPM for as long as I did, we were able to increase our efficiency and quality over what would happen if someone not as invested would have been the press op.  And the fact that I've lost my 2 full timers and my part timer since October I don't have many other options . 

I still have intentions of doing as many videos as I can but I don't know a thing about editing and most of you guys know me well enough to know I don't like doing things halfway and want the videos to be as entertaining and educational as possible and if I can't present good content I won't be doing it at all. I have the GoPro 5 black version and will be using a PC to upload and edit if anyone has any advice for me or has experience with doing VLOGS, I'M all ears. I've got a few videos I need to edit and upload and maybe I can do that by the end of the weekend.

Update on the DX flashes:  I think they shipped out on Thursday but it might have been yesterday.  Our electricians will be in on Tuesday to install the plugs for them so by Wednesday the G3 will officially be "Auto 1" and will be used for 99% of the jobs until we have our electrical capacity beefed up since we don't have sufficient amps to run both with 2 flashes and multiple colors. We can technically run both  autos but only at half capacity. The RPM with both flashes and 8 heads running showed only about 6p amps coming thru the line even though the plates for everything we had running showed we should have been close to 150 A.  When the air compressor kicked on it bumped up to 95 A for a second but went down to 75.

I'll try to Round up some additional pics or maybe I'll go up to the shop and take more this afternoon. 

[Prosperi-Tees]

Hey Alan, what do you believe is the reason people don't seem to want to stay working for you?

[Nation03]

Looks good Alan, congrats!

In terms of video editing, I'm in the process of learning how to do so myself, as I'd like to do some regular vlogging around our new setup. I'm looking into getting the GoPro Hero 5 Black as well. From what I've researched, Go Pro has a free editing software that you can use or download from their website. It looks fairly simple to use and there seems to be a decent amount of YouTube tutorials on how to do basic edits to make your footage look more professional. I've been messing around with iMovie since I'm on a Mac and it is pretty simple as well. The most important thing is to get the footage. Even if the edit isn't 100%, good content is what it's all about. Only other thing I can think of is to use an external mic for the camera. Good audio goes a long way to help videos feel more professional.