Jumping to an Auto - Your Wisdom Needed

[Biverson]

Hey All,

Long time lurker here. Looking for some advice on going to an auto.

TL;DR - I have very limited space as I'm home based, but need to speed-up production. I'm in WI and have M&R, Anatol, and a Workhorse Distributor fairly close. I'm about a 1 hour out of Madison and assume there's shops with all these machines so getting a tech around shouldn't be too difficult.

Question #1: "How has Anatol's customer service/products been since the intro of the Volt?" I'm looking at a Volt (all electric) or maybe a Vector. I read all 17 pages of the 14' post on them and wondering if anything has changed. Seems like they're trying.

Question #2: Would you go with a 7/8 Diamondback C or a 6/8 Workhorse Freedom? I like the fact that I could use the flashback with the Workhorse. M&R is renown for their customer service, machinery, and seems like I can't go wrong. Looks like the Workhouse is a little more affordable though.

I'm home based and been full-time for almost 2 years. I've been growing very rapidly and need to speed up production as I do everything - Graphics, seps, printing, embroidery, web management, advertising, you name it, etc. I've gotta' keep things lean. I just got a Barudan 6 head and that has sped up embroidery like no other and love it. I need to do the same for my screen printing. Looking at the jobs coming in now I've got a couple 100+ piece orders coming in (an 800 piece front back, 400 front/back, 300 front & back, 200 front & back, couple 100+ contract orders, and more. Things have definitely not slowed down month to month, but continue to increase). I'm looking at that and my body is starting to ache. I'm still pretty young and spry at 28 but I can only burn so much of the midnight oil to get these orders out! Adding an employee is out of the question as I'm home based. I'm at a point where I need an automatic to keep things moving along and allow me to stay at home until I can put some more away for a building, then employees, etc. My print shop is in my basement (Vastex V2000HD 6/6 and Vastex Econored II) and then I have my garage with the 6 head. Auto would go in the garage. It'd be very tight. Needs to be around 10' wide, no larger. It couldn't be 11' or 12' as I'm giving myself a little extra space for flash, moving around and such. I'm okay with it being a little crammed, it's just what I've got to do and work with. I'm looking at 3 brands/Models - M&R Diamondback C 7/8, Workhorse Freedom 6/8, and Anatol Volt S or a Vector S 7/8. Most of my jobs are 2 - 3 colors for schools, with the occasional 4-color and 5/6 color here and there.

Anatol - I like the fact that the Volt is all electric and I wouldn't need a compressor or chiller. That'd save on space and noise. I'm not sure what the price is on it yet compared to the others as I haven't heard back from any salesmen yet (submitted yesterday to all vendors). Vector is also an option as it looks like it doesn't need as big of compressor and chiller. I've read they've struggled with customer service in the past, but it's mostly followed by "but they're trying to get better." Are they there yet? Is the Volt a viable option for my scenario?

Workhorse Freedom - I'm attracted to the Workhorse for the Flashback. I like being able to still retain a print head when having a flash in there. This would require compressor and chiller. I'd probably go with the Eaton Silent Air PLUS series as it's quieter. I can't afford/justify a rotary screw air compressor at the moment. The freedom also  has a smaller print length at 15" versus the Volt and Diamondback 16" print length. 

M&R - Tried and true from what I've heard. The Diamondback C 7/8 looks to be the best press suited for my space at 9' 4". From some research it looks like this is about 5k-6k more than a Freedom. No doubt it's a fine piece of equipment, but are the features make it that much more than a Freedom Express?

I'm not far from Chicago (DAX) and am thinking of making the trip down there and checking out the presses in person this week. Only problem is my wife is due with our 3rd any day. That's another reason for the Auto is so I'm not working so much and can be more physically, and "mentally," present when the family is home. Looking possibly nag a "show special" or can I just call anytime as say, "Hey, I need XYZ?" I know this will get brought up, but I know I still need to upgrade my electrical (everything needs to be single phase) and am aware of making sure that 100% feasible.

What would your recommendations and experiences tell me? I'm looking for ease of use, one-man operation, and a good investment. I'm looking to lease as I'm not planning on being home based forever and would like the option to trade up in the future.

[Nation03]

I'll be 28 next month. Printing manually for over ten years and finally had enough. I found a used Freedom near me a few months ago and we're up and running with it now. This is the older one so I can't speak of the new Freedom Express, but for the price I got it at, I can't complain. Workhorse service has been hit or miss for me, but we have a tech in the area that can fix pretty much anything so I'm not too worried. The flashback does work, but it seemed the only way for us to run it was painfully slow, so I ended up putting the flash on head 2 and I run it as a standalone flash. Still a great concept and works for many shops, but for me, I usually just run 1 color jobs around the press twice if it's a smaller order.

I would say the volt is perfect for a home based business since it's quiet and you don't need any extra space for a compressor. One thing everyone learns going auto for the first time is how many other expenses there are. electrical work, install, bigger screens depending on the press, fork lift rental, etc. That stuff adds up real quick. Luckily I'm past that part now and have some large orders lined up to really get my ROI on this thing.

Sorry to go on about my own situation. Overall, I like the Volt for a home based operation, and would consider it for my next press. I had a sales rep in my shop last week that said they can get an 8 color in there easily, so that gave me some confidence in the space I'm in to upgrade eventually.

[Prince Art]

In your 10' limitation, pay attention to how screens load in. Make sure you're going to have room to do so at all heads.

And you've probably thought about this, but if not- is a shorter maximum stroke length going to work for you? And will it keep working for you far enough into the future? For us, we do a lot of 17"-18" length prints, so that rules out the most compact presses for us. (I'm also in the process of considering auto options for our limited space.)

[Biverson]

Thanks Nations and Prince (still green here to your real names)!

Nations, I enjoyed reading your post about jumping to an auto. Looks like you got a smokin deal! Finding a used one would be neat for me, but I had a not so great experience getting some used, and 1 new, SWF Embroidery machines. Let's just say I had to run a 300 piece hat order on a single head - that sucked. Made getting the Barudan that much nicer and easier! Feel free to talk more about your situation as it sounds pretty similar to mine! Your shop looks really nice by the way and wish I had that kind of space!

Prince - I've been paying attention to the print length on all the presses. The minimum I'd want to go is 15" x 15", no less. I do a lot of sponsor shirts and need at least 15" for the back. 16" or 18" is preferable, but I'll have to take what I can get (and fit!). I'm also considering the flash as that will stick out a couple inches or more too. I'd like to get a quartz versus inflated. M&R's Reno would stick out too far.

For screens I've thought of that too and is a question I'm going to ask the reps. I'd like to find a machine that takes 20" x 24" as that's what I have. I'm wondering if that won't let me utilize the full print length on the machine though as there needs to be room to account for the chopper?

Had our third boy yesterday so looks like my wife is letting me go to DAX! Unfortunately I'm in Urgent Care right ensuring I don't have strep or influenza. That's the downside of manual printing. When I'm sick I'm done. No one wants to be pulling squeegees feeling like crap. With an auto I'm also hoping my friends (who I pay, haha) will be able to help out more as it's just loading the shirt, ensuring there's ink, quality control, etc. I have a hard time having them print manually as it just slows me down as I have to teach them and usually be around to quality control.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[tonypep]

First get well soon. Theres a bug going around here and now I have it but too busy to be home. Second 23x31 for screen size pls take note of this!
tp

[mk162]

Ok, the first thing you need to realize is you don't have to do the work yourself.

Don't be afraid to go out and find a great contract shop.  Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

As far as equipment goes I would check used first.  You can get some very solid presses for next to nothing out there.  A mid-late 90's gauntlet is a great press for the money if it's in good shape.

You don't have a ton of space, so you are going to have to probably get end clamps and not side clamps on the press.

[Prince Art]

Congrats on #3! Being sick & figuring out press details has to be dealt with, but a new kid is a good thing! 

[Stinkhorn Press]

probably not being considered for other reasons (understandably), but the ROQ press design is VERY small for the number of heads/size of print.